Autism Evaluations for Children & Teens in Minnesota
YOU KNOW YOUR CHILD. AN EVALUATION CAN HELP YOU SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE.
You may have wondered why certain parts of everyday life seem more difficult for your child or why some things seem to take more effort than expected. A comprehensive autism evaluation can help bring those pieces together and give you a clearer understanding of your child’s strengths, areas of difficulty, and support needs.
Do any of these Sound like your child?
Social situations can take extra effort. They may connect deeply with a few people or through shared interests, while group conversations, changing friendships, or unfamiliar social situations are harder to navigate.
They feel more comfortable when they know what to expect. Changes, transitions, uncertainty, or unexpected demands can take a lot of energy to manage.
Their interests can be deep and absorbing. They may spend a lot of time learning, talking, thinking about, or engaging in activities related to topics that capture their attention.
Clear, direct communication often works best. Sarcasm, vague directions, indirect language, or unspoken expectations can be confusing or easy to miss.
Sensory experiences can have a big impact. Noise, clothing, food textures, lighting, crowds, or other sensations can be distracting, uncomfortable, or overwhelming.
They can seem very different depending on the setting. Some children work hard to manage expectations at school or in social settings, then need significant recovery time or become much more overwhelmed at home.
If several of these sound familiar and you have been wondering about autism, an evaluation can help you better understand how these pieces fit together.
ANSWERS THAT HELP YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT
A comprehensive autism evaluation can help you better understand how your child thinks, learns, communicates, experiences the world, and navigates everyday demands. It can also help make sense of why certain situations take more effort, feel overwhelming, or require additional support.
You will come away with individualized recommendations for home, school, and daily life, including supports, strategies, and environments that fit your child’s needs, along with a clearer sense of what to focus on next.
How it Works
What Happens During An Autism Assessment for Children and Teens?
Step 1: Intake (1 to 2 hours)
We begin with a virtual meeting with parents or caregivers to gather background information, learn about current concerns, and understand what you hope the evaluation will help clarify. This helps us plan the assessment around your child’s individual needs. There is nothing your child needs to do to prepare for this appointment.
Step 2: Testing (3 to 5 hours)
The in-person testing appointment typically takes place about one week after the intake. Your child will complete a combination of structured tasks, questionnaires, and other activities based on their age and 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. Depending on your child’s age, needs, and preferences, they may participate in some or all of the feedback appointment. You will also receive a comprehensive written report summarizing the evaluation findings and individualized recommendations.
FAQs About Child and Teen Autism Testing
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Parents often consider an autism evaluation when they notice that certain parts of everyday life seem to require more effort for their child, or when they are trying to better understand differences in social communication, sensory processing, emotional regulation, flexibility, attention, or learning.
A comprehensive evaluation can help clarify whether autism, ADHD, anxiety, learning differences, or other factors help explain your child’s experiences. It also provides a clearer picture of your child’s strengths, areas of difficulty, and support needs.
The findings can help guide practical supports at home and school and provide useful information when discussing accommodations or services with your child’s school or other providers.
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We provide autism evaluations for children, adolescents, and adults. For children and teens, the evaluation process is tailored to their age, developmental level, communication style, and individual needs.
For younger children, the evaluation may focus more on early development, communication, play, sensory experiences, and behavior across settings. With older children and teenagers, we may also explore more subtle or internalized presentations, including masking, social exhaustion, executive functioning difficulties, and the increasing demands of school and daily life.
For more information about evaluations at different ages, learn more about Autism Evaluation for Toddlers and Preschoolers in Minnesota, Autism Evaluation for School-Age Children in Minnesota and Autism Testing for Teens in Minnesota.
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A neurodiversity-affirming autism evaluation looks at the whole child, including their strengths, communication style, sensory experiences, emotional regulation, interests, and areas where they may need more support.
We consider information from multiple sources and settings, including developmental history, parent input, school experiences, questionnaires, testing, and direct interaction with your child. We also consider how masking, environmental demands, expectations, and the fit between a child and their surroundings may affect what others see.
Our goal is to understand your child as accurately and fully as possible and provide recommendations that fit who they are, what they need, and the environments in which they spend their time.
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We try to make the evaluation process comfortable, predictable, and developmentally appropriate. Parents typically begin with a virtual intake appointment so we can learn about their child’s development, strengths, concerns, and everyday experiences before testing begins.
During the in-person appointment, your child will complete a combination of structured activities, testing, and more conversational or interactive tasks depending on their age and the questions being evaluated. Breaks are available as needed, and we adjust the pace when possible based on your child’s comfort and regulation.
For younger children, parents may remain involved for portions of the appointment. School-age children and teenagers typically spend much of the testing session working directly with the psychologist.
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After the evaluation, parents participate in a feedback appointment where we review the findings, discuss any diagnoses, and talk through what the results mean for your child in everyday life.
You will also receive a comprehensive written report that summarizes the evaluation findings and includes individualized recommendations for home, school, and other settings.
When appropriate, the report can also provide documentation that families can share with schools or other providers when discussing accommodations, services, or additional supports.
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Some autistic children and teens can become very overwhelmed by everyday expectations, including things like getting ready, leaving the house, starting homework, stopping a preferred activity, or being told what needs to happen next. They may become very upset, shut down, argue, try to get away from the situation, or have a meltdown.
For some children, these reactions are part of a broader pattern in which everyday demands can feel especially difficult or overwhelming. This is sometimes described as a PDA profile, or pervasive drive for autonomy. An evaluation can help us better understand what is contributing to these reactions and what kinds of support may be most helpful.
You can learn more about our PDA evaluations for children in Minnesota.
Autism Evaluations For Children and Teens
Autism can look different as children grow and expectations change. Learn more about Autism Evaluation for Toddlers and Preschoolers in Minnesota, Autism Evaluation for School-Age Children in Minnesota and Autism Testing for Teens in Minnesota.
What Families Are Saying
"Dr. Matt was professional, empathetic, and extremely knowledgeable and we were able to get an appointment relatively quickly. Finally having a thoughtful, proper diagnosis and action plan has already had a profound effect on our parent-child relationship as well as many other things in her daily life. We highly recommend Dr. Matt and White Bear Psychological Services."
— Parent of an Evaluation Client
"Dr. Rebecca was wonderful to work with. She was warm, compassionate, and thorough. She helped put our son, who was not initially sure about the whole thing, at ease and made him feel comfortable and heard. Dr. Rebecca was knowledgeable but also able to present the findings in a way that both ourselves and our son could understand. We found the process, from start to finish, to be a very positive one."
— Parent of an Evaluation Client