More Than a Diagnosis: Answers, and a Clear Path Forward
Dr. Kiersten Sippio, PsyD · Neuropsychologist
Dr. Sippio completed a two-year postdoctoral residency in neuropsychology and has built her career around one thing: figuring out how a child’s brain actually works, then translating that into recommendations a family, a prescriber, and a school can each use. Her recent caseload has centered on autism spectrum, ADHD, and dyslexia and reading disorder evaluations.
Specialized training:
Children, teens, and adults aged 6 through 55 who are located in Texas can complete a neuropsychological evaluation for ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or executive function concerns by secure video with Little Dove Psychology. Evaluations are Texas only; therapy is also available in the other PSYPACT states. A licensed psychologist conducts the interview, standardized testing, and feedback, and produces a report schools, colleges, and employers accept.
When you are looking for an ADHD, autism, or learning evaluation, you will find a wide range of options, and a wide range of prices. That can make it difficult to understand what you are actually getting.
Some evaluations are designed primarily to answer one question: do I meet criteria for this diagnosis? Our evaluations are designed to go further. We want to understand why you or your child is struggling, identify strengths as well as areas of difficulty, and provide recommendations that are actually useful in everyday life. That is why even our targeted ADHD, autism, and dyslexia evaluations are comprehensive in nature.
A comprehensive evaluation is built to sort out what is actually driving a child’s difficulties, especially when the picture is mixed or earlier answers have not added up. It brings attention, learning, language, emotional functioning, and autism-spectrum differences into one picture, so the answers rest on data rather than guesswork. New to this? Our guide, What Is a Neuropsychologist?, is a good place to start.
A comprehensive evaluation looks at the whole person rather than relying on a single questionnaire, interview, or test. Depending on the referral question and the age of the client, an evaluation may examine:
Not every client needs every measure. Your psychologist selects the battery based on your individual concerns, history, age, and the questions the evaluation needs to answer. Testing may also be expanded or adjusted when information that emerges during the evaluation suggests another area needs to be explored.
This is one of the most important differences between a comprehensive evaluation and a brief diagnostic assessment.
Imagine that you have struggled with concentration, organization, procrastination, forgetfulness, and completing tasks for years. You understandably wonder whether you have ADHD. But difficulties with attention and executive functioning are not unique to ADHD.
A comprehensive evaluation asks: is this ADHD? But it also asks: if it isn’t ADHD, what might be causing these difficulties? Your psychologist considers your symptoms alongside your developmental history, cognitive functioning, executive functioning, emotional functioning, and other relevant information.
The same principle applies to autism. Social difficulties, sensory concerns, emotional regulation difficulties, rigid thinking, executive-function problems, and feeling different from peers can have multiple explanations. Our goal is not to confirm the diagnosis you arrived expecting. Our goal is to understand your individual pattern of functioning and determine which explanation is best supported by the available information.
Our ADHD evaluations involve considerably more than completing an ADHD questionnaire. Depending on age and clinical needs, an ADHD evaluation may include assessment of:
The goal is not simply ADHD: yes or no. The goal is a clearer understanding of how you think, where you struggle, where you are strong, what is contributing to the difficulties you are experiencing, and what may help.
Comprehensive ADHD Evaluation: $1,750 self-pay, or billed to insurance for in-network members
Autism evaluations are similarly comprehensive, and our autism testing page covers them in more detail. Depending on age and clinical presentation, the evaluation may include:
Comprehensive Autism Evaluation: $1,750 self-pay, or billed to insurance for in-network members
A reading evaluation looks beyond whether someone is simply "good" or "bad" at reading. The evaluation may examine cognitive strengths and weaknesses, word reading, decoding, reading comprehension, reading fluency, phonological processing, orthographic processing, and, when relevant, attention, executive functioning, and emotional or behavioral factors.
The goal is to understand the nature of the reading difficulty, whether a reading disorder is present, and what accommodations, interventions, and learning strategies are appropriate.
Because our evaluations are fully virtual, learning-disorder evaluations currently focus on dyslexia and reading-related disorders. Some aspects of mathematics and written-expression testing require in-person administration and therefore cannot be comprehensively assessed through our virtual service.
Comprehensive Dyslexia/Reading Evaluation: $1,750 self-pay, or billed to insurance for in-network members
ADHD and autism frequently overlap, and some individuals have both. When both are significant concerns, we can conduct a combined evaluation rather than thoroughly assessing one condition while only briefly screening for the other.
A combined evaluation may examine cognitive functioning, objective attention, executive functioning, ADHD symptoms, autism-related symptoms, social communication, developmental history, a structured autism observation, adaptive functioning, emotional and behavioral functioning, and relevant differential diagnoses. The findings are then integrated into one diagnostic picture.
Possible outcomes are not limited to ADHD or autism. The evaluation may support ADHD, autism, both conditions, another explanation, or a pattern of strengths and difficulties that does not fit neatly within either diagnosis. Adults can read more about combined ADHD and autism evaluations for adults.
Comprehensive ADHD + Autism Evaluation: $2,500 self-pay, or billed to insurance for in-network members
Sometimes the concern cannot be reduced to a single diagnosis. You or your child may be experiencing a combination of difficulties involving attention, memory, learning, executive functioning, emotions, behavior, social functioning, or everyday independence.
In these situations, a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation allows us to investigate the broader picture. Depending on the referral question, assessment may include cognitive functioning, attention, executive functioning, learning and memory, reading and academic functioning, language, emotional and behavioral functioning, personality, adaptive functioning, ADHD symptoms, autism-related functioning, and other areas relevant to the presenting concerns.
Comprehensive Neuropsychological Evaluation: $3,200 self-pay, or billed to insurance for in-network members
Every evaluation below includes testing, scoring, record review, interpretation, an individualized written report, and a live feedback session.
| Evaluation | Fee |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive ADHD Evaluation | $1,750 |
| Comprehensive Autism Evaluation | $1,750 |
| Comprehensive Dyslexia/Reading Evaluation | $1,750 |
| Comprehensive ADHD + Autism Evaluation | $2,500 |
| Comprehensive Neuropsychological Evaluation | $3,200 |
You may find ADHD, autism, or other diagnostic evaluations advertised at lower prices. Those services may be completely appropriate depending on what you need. However, not all evaluations include the same services.
A lower-cost evaluation may focus primarily on a diagnostic interview and questionnaires. A comprehensive evaluation may involve several hours of testing in addition to scoring, reviewing records, interpreting results, integrating information from multiple measures and informants, developing recommendations, preparing a written report, and meeting with you to explain the results. Much of the psychologist's work actually occurs after the testing appointment ends. The price of an evaluation therefore reflects much more than the number of hours you spend meeting with your psychologist.
When comparing evaluation options, it may be helpful to ask:
A less expensive evaluation is not necessarily a poor evaluation, and a more expensive evaluation is not automatically better. The important question is whether the scope of the evaluation matches what you need from it.
One more thing comprehensive does not mean: more tests just to do more tests. We do not believe every client needs every available measure. Comprehensive assessment means gathering enough of the right information to answer the referral question responsibly, and integrating the results rather than interpreting any single test in isolation.
Teleneuropsychology, meaning standardized testing administered over secure video, has been studied for more than a decade and became mainstream practice in 2020. The evidence supports it for most measures, with specific exceptions that shape what we offer.
A 2017 systematic review and meta-analysis in Neuropsychology Review pooled studies comparing videoconference and in-person administration and found small, mostly non-significant differences across tests, with timed and motor-dependent tasks the main exception. In 2020, a study in Psychological Assessment reported equivalence between remote digital administration and traditional in-person administration of the WISC-V, the most widely used children's intelligence test. The same year the InterOrganizational Practice Committee, representing the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, the National Academy of Neuropsychology, the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology (APA Division 40), and the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology, published guidance for conducting teleneuropsychology, including which measures translate and how to handle the ones that do not.
We follow that guidance. It is why our evaluations use reading, attention, executive function, and cognitive measures with support for remote administration, and why processing-speed and motor-dependent subtests are not part of our evaluations, so we do not report a Full Scale IQ. The section below lists exactly what is in and out of scope.
Sources: Brearly et al. (2017), Neuropsychology Review, 27(2), 174 to 186, doi:10.1007/s11065-017-9349-1. Wright (2020), Psychological Assessment, 32(9), 809 to 817, doi:10.1037/pas0000939. Bilder et al. (2020), The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 34(7-8), 1314 to 1334, doi:10.1080/13854046.2020.1767214.
Because testing is fully virtual, we are clear from the start about exactly what that model can and cannot assess. We will always tell you what your child’s evaluation can and cannot include before you begin.
Our evaluations are provided virtually to eligible clients throughout Texas, which means families can access specialized assessment without traveling to a major metropolitan area. The measures we use are selected specifically for appropriate virtual administration, and when a referral question requires an assessment that cannot be adequately completed virtually, we will discuss that limitation and recommend an appropriate next step. Virtual describes where the evaluation takes place, not the depth of the evaluation.
This kind of evaluation tends to be the right call when:
The value of an evaluation is not simply receiving a diagnosis. At the end of the process, you receive:
Reports are written for the people who have to use them. Prescribers get diagnostic reasoning, symptom documentation, and what to monitor if a medication trial begins. Schools get findings framed in educational terms, with specific, defensible accommodation recommendations. Reports are delivered about two to three weeks after the final testing session, and Dr. Sippio is available by phone to talk through any case she has evaluated. Our goal is for you to leave the evaluation with a better understanding of yourself or your child and a clearer idea of what to do next.
Comprehensive ADHD evaluations, 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. Members pay their plan’s copay or cost share instead of the self-pay fees listed above. 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 you can submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and evaluations are HSA and FSA eligible.
A note on academic testing: academic achievement testing conducted specifically to evaluate a learning disorder is generally not covered by medical insurance and is offered as a private-pay service. We will always be clear about what is included, and what your evaluation will cost, before you begin.
We evaluate children age 6 and older, through teens, college students, and adults. For children under 6, virtual testing tools are not validated, so we will point you toward an appropriate developmental evaluation instead.
For most of what we assess, yes. A 2017 meta-analysis in Neuropsychology Review found small, mostly non-significant differences between videoconference and in-person test administration, and a 2020 study in Psychological Assessment found the WISC-V equivalent when administered remotely. The exceptions are timed and motor-dependent measures, which we do not administer, so our evaluations do not include a Full Scale IQ or the learning-disorder subtests that depend on them. We follow the InterOrganizational Practice Committee's teleneuropsychology guidance and tell you before you book what your evaluation can and cannot include.
Yes, within a clearly defined scope. ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and dyslexia and reading disorders can all be assessed remotely using measures with strong support for virtual administration. A complete cognitive battery with a Full Scale IQ, and broader learning disorder assessment in written expression and mathematics, are not part of our evaluations. We tell you exactly what your child's evaluation can and cannot include before you begin.
Our neuropsychologist, Dr. Kiersten Sippio, PsyD, completed a two-year postdoctoral residency in neuropsychology; her recent caseload has centered on autism spectrum, ADHD, and dyslexia and reading disorder evaluations, and she writes reports that hold up to school eligibility review and prescriber scrutiny.
Yes. Schools get findings framed in educational terms with specific, defensible accommodation recommendations, and the same documentation supports extended-time requests for the SAT and ACT and college disability services.
A comprehensive ADHD, autism, or dyslexia/reading evaluation is $1,750, a combined ADHD and autism evaluation is $2,500, and a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is $3,200. Every evaluation includes 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. Comprehensive ADHD, autism, 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. We verify your specific benefits and handle any prior authorization before scheduling, and we tell you what you will owe. For private-pay families we provide a superbill for possible out-of-network reimbursement, and evaluations are HSA and FSA eligible. Academic achievement testing conducted specifically to evaluate a learning disorder is generally not covered by medical insurance and is offered as a private-pay service.
Not currently. Psychological 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. If you are outside Texas, the free consultation is still the right first step; we will tell you what we can offer and help you find a local evaluator if needed.
Evaluation appointments are typically available within one week of your first call, and your written report is delivered about two to three weeks after the final testing session, followed by a live feedback session with your family. Dr. Sippio is also available by phone to talk through any case she has evaluated.
Start with a free 15-minute consultation. Call (512) 240-2633 or reach out online.
