Adult Autism & ADHD assessments in Melbourne.

Because they very commonly co-occur, and a combined presentation (AuDHD) can look quite different from either alone — traits can mask or offset each other, which is one reason so many people reach adulthood without a diagnosis. Assessing both at once gives the fullest picture.

Yes. Childhood information adds helpful evidence, but it is not required for the assessment to go ahead.

Yes — assessments are available in person at St Kilda or via telehealth, whichever suits you.

We can't guarantee that. Our reports are comprehensive and completed to a high standard, and can include NDIS-relevant recommendations — but the NDIS assesses eligibility on individual functioning levels among other factors, and we're unable to assist with the access request process. If NDIS access is your primary goal, alternative services may suit you better.

Call (03) 9131 8737 or email stkilda@claritypsych.com.au to discuss the options and schedule your initial consultation.

Common threads: social interaction that requires conscious effort others don't seem to need, exhaustion from masking, deep focused interests, strong need for routine and predictability, sensory sensitivities (sound, light, texture), and a lifelong sense of processing the world differently. Many adults — especially women — arrive after years of explanations like anxiety that never quite fit.

There isn't one, formally — current diagnosis uses support levels rather than mild-to-severe rankings, and what people usually mean ("level 1", "high-functioning", or the retired Asperger's label) often looks like competence at enormous hidden cost: holding down work and relationships while masking, then crashing in private. "Mild" measures how others experience you, not how hard your days are. If that hidden-cost pattern is familiar, assessment can be clarifying regardless of labels.

Current diagnosis uses one umbrella — autism spectrum disorder — with individualised support levels, replacing older separate labels like Asperger's. The spectrum isn't a line from mild to severe; it's a profile of differences across social communication, sensory processing, and flexibility that varies person to person.

The evidence points to genetics as the dominant factor — autism runs strongly in families — interacting with early brain development. It is nobody's fault, and it isn't caused by parenting or life events. Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference present from early life, even when recognition comes decades later.

The "90%" figure floating around online comes from twin studies estimating that most of the variation in autism is heritable — roughly 80–90% attributable to genetics. That's real science, but it's often repackaged online as if a single cause had been found. There is no one gene and no environmental culprit: autism reflects many genes interacting with early brain development. What the research firmly rules out: parenting, vaccines, and anything you or your family did.

Not a clinical rule — it's a social-media communication tip suggesting you pause several seconds after asking an autistic person a question, allowing extra processing time before expecting a reply. As a courtesy, the underlying idea is sound: many autistic people process verbal information more deliberately, and silence isn't disengagement. But it has no role in diagnosis, and no fixed number of seconds applies to anyone.

Yes, in two distinct ways. Psychologists with the right training can assess and diagnose autism in adults — that's the assessment work described on this page. Separately, therapy can help with what often travels alongside autism: anxiety, low mood, burnout from masking, and working out the strategies and accommodations that fit your life. Good autism-related therapy is neurodiversity-affirming — it supports you as an autistic person rather than trying to make you less autistic.

A comprehensive adult assessment involves detailed clinical interviews about your developmental history and current life, standardised measures, and where possible input from someone who knew you young — though assessment without childhood informants is still very possible. You receive a full written report with recommendations.

Partially, in some circumstances — it depends on referral pathway and item eligibility. The honest answer is that funding for adult assessment is patchy, which is why we explain costs clearly before you commit. Full details: is an autism assessment covered by Medicare?