A Comprehensive Autism Evaluation for Children, Teens, and Adults, Entirely Online
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 one of our two neuropsychologists: 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, or Dr. Donald Caudle, PhD, formerly a pediatric neuropsychologist with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. 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.
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.
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 or an IEP discussion. Our guide to IEPs, 504 plans, and ADA accommodations explains how each of those readers uses a report.
A comprehensive autism evaluation is $2,500 self-pay, and a combined ADHD and autism evaluation is $3,000, or either is billed to insurance for members of our in-network plans. Evaluations are HSA and FSA eligible.
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 for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Details are on our Fees & Insurance page.
Ages 6 through 55: children, teens, college students, and adults located in 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.
One of our two neuropsychologists: 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, or Dr. Donald Caudle, PhD, formerly a pediatric neuropsychologist with Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.
Evaluation appointments are typically available within one week of your first call, with evening and weekend options. The written report and live feedback session follow about two to three weeks after the final testing session.
A comprehensive autism evaluation is $2,500, and a combined ADHD and autism evaluation is $3,000. Both include testing, scoring, record review, interpretation, an individualized written report, and a live feedback session. Those are self-pay rates. For members of our in-network plans, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Optum (UnitedHealthcare), and Oscar Health, evaluations are billed to insurance instead.
Yes. Autism evaluations and combined ADHD and autism evaluations are billed to Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Optum (UnitedHealthcare), and Oscar Health for clients located in Texas, so members pay their plan’s copay or cost share rather than the self-pay fee. We verify your benefits and handle any prior authorization before anything is scheduled. Families on other plans receive a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and evaluations are HSA and FSA eligible.
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.
Yes. Schools get findings framed in educational terms, with specific, defensible recommendations they can consider for a 504 plan or an IEP discussion. The same documentation supports requests to college disability services.
Not currently. Testing requires Texas licensure and is not covered by PSYPACT, so evaluations are available only to clients located in Texas at the time of the appointment. Therapy is available across Texas and the other PSYPACT states.
Take the first step with a free 15-minute consultation. Call (512) 240-2633 or contact us online.
