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Adult Autism Assessment

At The Autism Assessment Centre, we understand that autism can look very different from person to person.

Our assessments are designed to build a clear and thoughtful understanding of your experiences, strengths, differences and support needs. The aim is not simply to determine whether you meet criteria for autism, but to help make sense of your experiences and provide useful recommendations for what comes next.

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Common signs of autism in adults can include:

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Autistic people may:

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  • Prefer familiarity, routine or knowing what to expect.

  • Find unexpected changes, uncertainty or disrupted plans particularly stressful.

  • Experience social situations as effortful or tiring, even when they appear confident or capable.

  • Prefer direct and clear communication and sometimes find implied meanings, sarcasm or social banter less intuitive.

  • Need more time to process thoughts, emotions or conversations.

  • Experience difficulty identifying or communicating their own emotions at times.

  • Develop strong or highly focused interests.

  • Experience sensory differences relating to noise, light, touch, smells, food, clothing or busy environments.

  • Use masking or camouflaging strategies to navigate social situations or meet expectations.

  • Need time alone to recover after work, social events or other demanding situations.

 

Having friendships, relationships, a career, making eye contact or appearing socially confident does not rule out autism.

Benefits of an adult assessment

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An assessment can:

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  • Help you develop a clearer understanding of your strengths, differences and support needs.

  • Help family, friends, partners or colleagues better understand your experiences where you choose to share this information.

  • Provide an autism diagnosis where the clinical evidence supports this.

  • Help explain experiences that may previously have been misunderstood or attributed to other factors.

  • Support requests for appropriate adjustments at work, college or university.

  • Help identify strategies, environments and supports that may work better for you.

  • Provide a framework for making sense of long-standing experiences and understanding yourself in a more compassionate way.

 

For many adults, assessment is not simply about receiving a diagnostic label. It can provide clarity, validation and a better understanding of what helps them feel comfortable, regulated and able to thrive.

The Assessment Process

A brief outline of each step of our assessment process is provided below. Further information is  available following your consultation and booking confirmation. 

1  |  Clinical interview (1 -2.5 hours)
2  |  ADOS (observational interview 1:1) (1 -1.5 hours)
3  |  Additional questionnaires
4  |  Review of relevant medical or professional reports
5  |  Multidisciplinary team diagnostic meeting
6  |  Feedback appointment
7  |  Comprehensive assessment report

Worried that masking could make autism harder to recognise?

Many autistic adults have spent years developing strategies to fit in, manage social situations or appear to cope.

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Our assessment process is designed to look beyond how someone presents in a single appointment. We consider masking, camouflaging, compensatory strategies, developmental history and the amount of effort involved in navigating everyday life.

Masking does not automatically prevent autism from being identified.

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If you are unsure whether an assessment may be helpful, we are happy to talk through your experiences and explain the next steps.

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