Little Dove Psychology offers in-network autism evaluations for children, teens, and adults ages 6 to 55 located in Texas, done virtually and billed to Aetna, BCBS of Texas, and Optum/UnitedHealthcare.
Usually someone else said the word first. A teacher mentioned it at a conference. A pediatrician asked a question on a checklist and paused a little too long. A friend whose child was diagnosed last year said, gently, that some of this sounded familiar.
Sometimes the picture is the child who holds it together all day at school and comes apart the minute she gets in the car. The kid with one consuming interest and no idea why the other kids stopped listening. The daughter who studies friendship like a school subject, carefully and exhaustingly, and still ends up on the outside. The teen who has been told twice that it is anxiety, and the treatment helped a little but never quite fit.
And sometimes it is an adult who read an article, or sat through their child’s feedback session, and recognized themselves in most of it.
Whatever brought you here, you deserve an answer that rests on real data, from people who look at the whole picture rather than a single questionnaire.
Every evaluation is conducted by our neuropsychologist, Dr. Kiersten Sippio, PsyD, who completed a two-year postdoctoral residency in neuropsychology and whose recent caseload has centered on autism spectrum, ADHD, and dyslexia evaluations. Depending on age and the questions you bring, the evaluation may include:
Social difficulty, sensory sensitivity, meltdowns, rigid thinking, and feeling different from peers all have more than one possible explanation. Our goal is not to confirm the diagnosis you walked in expecting. It is to work out which explanation the evidence actually supports.
ADHD and autism overlap often, and some people have both. When both are real questions, we can do a combined ADHD and autism evaluation rather than assessing one thoroughly and screening the other in passing. The result may support autism, ADHD, both, something else, or a pattern of strengths and difficulties that does not fit neatly under either label. Each of those is a useful answer, because each points to different help. Adults can read more about combined ADHD and autism evaluations for adults.
Plenty of autistic people are not identified in early childhood, especially bright kids and girls who work hard to fit in and manage well enough that nobody raises the question until the social and academic demands of middle school, high school, or college outgrow the effort. We evaluate teens, college students, and adults through age 55.
For adults, we build the developmental history carefully from what you remember and, where possible, from a parent, sibling, or partner who knew you then or knows you well now. Old report cards help if you have them, but you do not need decades-old records to be evaluated. For general background on autism signs and diagnosis, the CDC’s autism pages are a good plain-language source.
Autism spectrum disorder is within the scope of our virtual evaluations, using measures with support for remote administration. We would rather tell you the limits before you pay for anything than after:
If a referral question needs something our virtual model cannot do well, we will say so on the free consultation and help you find the right next step. More detail, including the research on testing by video, is on our psychological testing page.
A diagnosis, when one is supported, is only part of it. You receive a written report and a live feedback session covering what the testing found, your or your child’s real strengths, what is contributing to the difficulties, and specific recommendations for home, school, college, or work.
Reports are written for the people who have to use them. Schools get findings framed in educational terms, with specific, defensible recommendations for a 504 plan (school accommodations under Section 504) or an IEP (an Individualized Education Program for special education services). Our guide to IEPs, 504 plans, and ADA accommodations explains how each of those readers uses a report.
A comprehensive autism evaluation is $1,750 self-pay, and a combined ADHD and autism evaluation is $2,500, or either is billed to insurance for members of our in-network plans. Evaluations are eligible for Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds. We do not accept Medicaid or CHIP.
Autism evaluations and combined ADHD and autism evaluations are billed to Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, and Optum (UnitedHealthcare), and Oscar Health plans are in network as well, for children, teens, and adults located in Texas. Members pay their plan’s copay or cost share rather than the self-pay fee. Before anything is scheduled, we verify your benefits, handle any prior authorization your plan requires, and tell you what you will owe. Families on other plans receive a superbill (an itemized receipt you can submit to your insurer) for possible out-of-network reimbursement. We do not accept Medicaid or CHIP. Details are on our Fees & Insurance page.
Yes. Our clinicians are in network with Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, and Optum/UnitedHealthcare (including Oscar plans administered by Optum) for psychological testing as well as therapy, so members pay their plan’s copay, deductible, or coinsurance rather than the self-pay fee. We match you with an evaluator your plan covers on the free consultation. We do not accept Medicaid or CHIP. Families on other plans receive a superbill (an itemized receipt) for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and evaluations are HSA and FSA eligible.
Some plans require prior authorization for psychological testing and some do not. We verify your benefits, submit any prior authorization your plan requires, and tell you what you will owe before anything is scheduled, so you are not guessing about the bill.
Evaluation appointments are typically scheduled within one week of your first call, with evening and weekend options. After an intake interview and online rating scales, testing usually takes two to three sessions by secure video. The written report and live feedback session follow about two to three weeks after the final testing session.
A comprehensive autism evaluation is $1,750 self-pay, and a combined ADHD and autism evaluation is $2,500. Both include testing, scoring, record review, interpretation, an individualized written report, and a live feedback session.
Children, teens, college students, and adults ages 6 through 55 who are located in Texas at the time of the appointment. Testing requires Texas licensure and is not covered by PSYPACT (the interstate agreement that lets psychologists provide telehealth across participating states), so we cannot evaluate clients outside Texas. For children under 6, virtual testing tools are not validated, so we will point you toward an appropriate developmental evaluation instead.
Yes, within a clearly defined scope. Autism spectrum disorder can be assessed remotely using a structured observation, interviews, rating scales, and cognitive measures with support for virtual administration. We do not report a Full Scale IQ, because processing-speed and motor-dependent measures are not given by video, and we tell you exactly what your evaluation can and cannot include before you begin.
Our neuropsychologist, Dr. Kiersten Sippio, PsyD, who completed a two-year postdoctoral residency in neuropsychology and whose recent caseload has centered on autism spectrum, ADHD, and dyslexia evaluations.
Keep it simple and honest: tell your child they will do puzzles, questions, and activities with a doctor on the computer, and that there are no grades. Set up a quiet room with a reliable internet connection and a device with a camera, and have glasses or hearing aids handy if your child uses them. It also helps to gather earlier evaluations, school reports, and any 504 plan or IEP documents so the psychologist can review them. We go over the setup with you before the first session.
Possibly. Autism can look different in girls, and in bright kids of any gender who work hard to fit in. Some manage well enough at school that the difficulty only shows up at home, or only once the social demands of middle school or high school increase. A comprehensive evaluation looks at developmental history, a structured observation, and information from people who know her in different settings, rather than a single checklist.
That is a real answer and often a useful one. Anxiety, ADHD, language differences, and other conditions can produce social difficulties that look like autism from the outside. Because the evaluation is comprehensive, we are looking at those possibilities the whole time, so you leave with an explanation and recommendations either way.
You get a live feedback session and a written report with specific recommendations for home, school, college, or work. Schools get findings framed in educational terms, with specific, defensible recommendations they can consider for a 504 plan or an IEP discussion, and the same documentation supports requests to college disability services. If the recommendations include therapy for anxiety, emotion regulation, or family stress, our therapy team works with children, teens, and college students. For services we do not provide, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, or ABA, the report explains what to look for. There is no fixed re-evaluation schedule; families often update an evaluation at a major transition, and public schools must reevaluate students in special education at least every three years.
Take the first step with a free 15-minute consultation. Call (512) 240-2633 or contact us online.
