Adult Autism Testing In Minnesota
WONDERING IF YOU MIGHT BE AUTISTIC? AN EVALUATION CAN HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR EXPERIENCES.
You may have spent years wondering why certain parts of social life, relationships, sensory experiences, routines, or everyday demands seem to require more effort than they seem to for other people. You may also have become skilled at adapting, masking, or figuring out what is expected of you, even when doing so takes a great deal of energy.
A comprehensive autism evaluation can help clarify whether autism, ADHD, anxiety, or other factors help explain your experiences. It can also give you a clearer understanding of your strengths, support needs, and aspects of how you think, communicate, and experience the world that may have been overlooked earlier in life.
Do You Relate to Any of the Following?
Social interaction can require a lot of conscious effort. You may find yourself thinking carefully about what to say, when to speak, how to respond, or how you are coming across to other people.
Social situations can be exhausting. Even enjoyable interactions may leave you needing time alone to recover.
You may strongly prefer predictability or become deeply focused on your interests. Interruptions, changes in plans, or shifting attention can take extra effort.
You may communicate or connect differently from many people around you. You might prefer direct communication, find unspoken expectations difficult to interpret, or feel more comfortable in certain kinds of relationships or conversations.
Sensory experiences may have a strong impact on your daily life. Noise, lighting, clothing, textures, movement, crowds, or other sensations may be distracting, uncomfortable, or overwhelming.
You may experience emotions intensely or have difficulty identifying what you are feeling.
You may have learned to mask in order to fit expectations. This can make autistic traits less visible to others while still requiring substantial effort.
You may have felt different for much of your life without fully understanding why.
If several of these experiences feel familiar, an autism evaluation can help you understand how they fit together.
a Deeper Understanding of Yourself And What to Do Next
A comprehensive autism evaluation can help you better understand how you think, communicate, relate to others, and experience the world, including your strengths, support needs, and why certain situations or environments may require much more effort.
You will come away with individualized recommendations for work, relationships, daily life, and other areas that matter to you, including supports and environments that better fit your needs and give you more room to be fully yourself.
How it Works
What Happens During Adult Autism Testing?
Step 1: Intake (1 to 2 hours)
We begin with a virtual meeting to gather background information, learn about your current concerns, and understand what you hope to get from the evaluation. This helps us plan the assessment around your individual needs. There is nothing you need to do to prepare.
Step 2: Testing (3 to 5 hours)
The in-person testing appointment typically takes place about one week after the intake. During this appointment, you will complete a combination of structured tasks, questionnaires, and other activities that help us better understand the areas being evaluated. Breaks are available as needed, and testing can sometimes be divided across more than one day.
Step 3: Feedback (1 to 2 hours)
About two to three weeks after testing, we meet virtually to review the findings, discuss any diagnoses, answer questions, and talk through practical next steps. You will also receive a comprehensive written report with the evaluation results and individualized recommendations.
FAQs About Adult Autism Testing
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Many adults seek an autism evaluation after years of feeling different, working hard to navigate social expectations, or wondering why certain parts of daily life require more effort. Some have also spent a long time considering whether autism, ADHD, anxiety, or another explanation might better account for their experiences.
A comprehensive adult autism evaluation considers your developmental history, current experiences, sensory differences, communication style, masking, attention, emotional well-being, and other relevant areas. It can help clarify whether autism or other factors best explain your experiences and support needs.
For adults whose autistic traits have been less visible or were overlooked earlier in life, the evaluation also considers more internalized and highly masked presentations.
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The evaluation process is designed to be collaborative, comfortable, and as predictable as possible. It typically begins with a virtual intake appointment where we talk about your developmental history, current concerns, strengths, daily experiences, and the questions you hope the evaluation will help answer.
The in-person appointment may include a combination of structured tasks, questionnaires, conversation, and other activities depending on your needs and the areas being evaluated. Breaks are available as needed, and we can adjust the pace when possible based on your comfort and regulation.
After the testing portion is complete, we meet for a feedback appointment to review the findings, discuss any diagnoses, and talk through what the results mean for your everyday life.
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You do not need to do anything special to prepare for the evaluation. If there are items that help you feel more comfortable or regulated, such as headphones, a fidget, a drink, or a snack, you are welcome to bring them.
If you have prior psychological, neuropsychological, educational, or medical records, you are welcome to share them. These can sometimes provide helpful background information, but they are not required.
When helpful, we may also invite input from a parent, partner, or another person who knows you well and can provide additional information about your development or current experiences.
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Adult autism diagnosis involves considering your current experiences alongside your developmental history. We look at social communication, sensory experiences, routines and flexibility, interests, attention, emotional well-being, masking, and how these areas have shown up across different stages of life and settings.
The evaluation may include interviews, questionnaires, cognitive or other psychological testing, and structured autism assessment measures. When helpful, we may also gather information from a parent, partner, or another person who knows you well.
We also consider other factors that can overlap with autism, including ADHD, anxiety, trauma, and other mental health concerns. The goal is to understand the overall picture and determine which explanation, or combination of explanations, best fits your experiences.
If you are specifically wondering whether you may be autistic, have ADHD, or both, learn more about our adult autism and ADHD evaluations in Minnesota.
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Yes. Some autistic adults develop ways of navigating social situations that make their differences less obvious to others. They may make eye contact, have friendships or relationships, succeed in school or work, and appear socially comfortable while using significant effort to manage these situations.
A comprehensive adult autism evaluation considers developmental history, internal experiences, sensory processing, social communication, and masking or camouflaging strategies. This can be especially important for adults whose autistic characteristics are more internalized, less visible, or were overlooked earlier in life.
If this describes your experience, learn more about our high-masking autism evaluations for adults in Minnesota.
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Some autistic adults find that everyday expectations become much harder when they feel pressured, have little choice in the situation, or feel that something is being imposed on them. This can show up as feeling overwhelmed or trapped, becoming irritable or anxious, shutting down, putting things off, or finding it very difficult to make yourself do something even when it is important to you.
For some people, this is part of a broader pattern sometimes described as a PDA profile, or pervasive drive for autonomy. An autism evaluation can help explore whether this pattern is part of your experience and how it relates to autism, ADHD, anxiety, or other factors.
You can learn more about our PDA evaluations for adults in Minnesota.
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After the evaluation, we meet for a feedback appointment to review the findings, discuss any diagnoses, and talk through what the results mean in the context of your everyday life.
You will also receive a comprehensive written report that summarizes the evaluation findings and includes individualized recommendations based on your strengths, areas that are more difficult, and support needs.
When appropriate, the report can also provide documentation that may be helpful when requesting workplace or school accommodations or when sharing information with other providers.
Want to Learn More?
Explore an affirming framework for understanding autism in our blog post Understanding Monotropism: An Affirming Theory of Autism.
What Our Clients Are Saying
“I had a truly positive experience throughout the assessment process. The level of care, thoughtfulness, and professionalism Dr. Matt put into the process made me feel comfortable, understood, and supported from start to finish. The resources and recommendations provided afterward were especially valuable and have helped me better understand myself in ways that have been both validating and empowering. I’ve had so many meaningful ‘ah ha’ moments and finally feel a stronger sense of belonging and self-acceptance. I’m incredibly grateful for the guidance and support provided throughout this experience.”
-Adult Assessment Client