Autism

Depending on age and other factors, your child might see our paediatrician or one of our psychologists for the assessment. We are currently only offering this service for children aged 5 to 17 years.
 
Below is a breakdown of the process:

• Screening questionnaires: for autism and other behaviours (parents, teacher, and child if suitable). Teacher needs to complete a school form, and parents need to complete a detailed developmental history form. All these forms need to be completed prior to the in-person session. 

• Initial assessment: Psychologist/Paediatrician will meet with the child and parents to discuss current concerns and go through developmental, family, education, social, and behavioural history. 

• Clinical interview: Interview with parents (60-90 mins).

• Child clinical interview and observation: Using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (60-90 mins).

• School liaison.

• Feedback session to discuss the results.

• Report writing.

It would also be helpful for us to have access to past educational (e.g., end of term reports) and medical reports to aid in the assessment process.

Cost: $1800*
*All prices are inclusive of GST.
 
Additional costs: 

• School observation: This will be discussed with you beforehand if we require further information. 

• Medication review: See fee section under Specialist Paediatrician Services for follow-up session costs.

The psychologist will meet with you and your parent(s)/caregiver (if possible). The reason for involving a parent is that there needs to be evidence of autistic traits in childhood (prior to age 8). We understand that it might not always be possible to have parent involvement. If this is the case, please let us know and we can think of another source of information (e.g., sibling, partner). To meet the gold standard, we only offer in-person assessments.

Below is a breakdown of the process:

• Screening  questionnaires: Autism, mood disorders, and developmental history form prior to the in-person session.

• Initial assessment: During this session, we will discuss your current concerns and go through developmental, family, social, educational, and work history. It would also be helpful if your parent or someone else who knows you well (e.g., friend, partner) attends the session. If at this stage we think that another condition might explain your current concerns better than autism, we will discuss this with you at this point. If this is the case, we will only charge for the cost of the initial assessment ($330) and stop the assessment at this stage. 

• Clinical interview and observation: Over 1-2 sessions (up to 2 hours). The assessment includes using a semi-structured interview protocol to cover autism symptoms in detail and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS, if needed). The ADOS is an assessment of behaviour and social interaction between you and the examiner . In some instances, we may also have an observer in the room for the purpose of note taking and record-keeping. 

• Information from whānau: The psychologist will follow up with an in-person or online session with your parent(s)/caregiver (if required). 

• Feedback session to discuss the results.

• Report writing.

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We would appreciate access to any past medical or educational reports (e.g., end of term school reports). This is not always necessary, but may be required if we do not have sufficient information from a parental interview, developmental background, etc.

Cost : $1800*

* All prices are inclusive of GST. For more complex cases, we may need to charge extra (based on our hourly rate of $210, incl. GST).

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