Our Approach
At our clinic, assessments are about understanding, validation, and empowerment. We know that every brain works differently, and our goal is to create a safe, supportive, and collaborative environment where your experiences are respected and heard. Whether exploring ADHD, autism, or both, we aim to help you gain clarity, recognise your strengths, and access practical strategies and supports that fit your life. Assessments are tailored to you, conducted at a pace that feels comfortable, and are designed to leave you feeling seen, understood, and equipped to thrive.
We take a strengths-based, collaborative, and deeply respectful approach to neurodiversity assessment. Our goal is not to “find what’s wrong,” but to understand how your mind works — and to recognise the unique abilities, patterns, and challenges that shape your daily experience.
Rather than forcing you to fit into a diagnostic framework, we work with curiosity and compassion to understand your lived reality — sensory needs, energy flow, executive functioning, emotional processing, and how your environment either supports or overwhelms you.
The assessment process is paced safely, with transparency at every step. We actively invite your voice, honour your autonomy, and ensure you feel seen and understood — not judged, pathologised, or reduced to a checklist.
Ultimately, our role is to help you gain clarity, language, and self-understanding — to validate your experience, remove self-doubt, and equip you with recommendations that are actually practical, respectful, and empowering for the way you think and move through the world.
We want assessments to feel relaxed and respectful — a process of discovery rather than evaluation. We truly love this work, and believe that gaining a deeper understanding of yourself can be an incredibly meaningful step toward self-acceptance, confidence, and wellbeing.
Psychologists support people with a wide range of emotional, behavioural, and psychological challenges.
The Benefits of an Autism Assessment
An autism assessment can be a powerful step toward understanding yourself more fully. It offers:
- Clarity and Self-Understanding
Helps you make sense of long-standing differences in sensory, communication, or social processing — reducing self-blame and confusion. - Language to Advocate for Your Needs
Gives you the words to explain your experience to others — at work, in education, at home — without needing to mask or over-explain. - Access to Supports and Accommodations
Opens pathways to adjustments that honour how your brain genuinely functions, rather than forcing you to push through environments that don’t fit. - Validation and Relief
Many people describe the process as permission to exhale — realising there was nothing “wrong” with them, just a different wiring all along. - Better Alignment in Relationships
Helps loved ones understand your communication style, sensory needs, and boundaries — reducing tension, misunderstandings, and burnout. - A Framework for Thriving, Not Just Coping
Creates space to design life around what works for you, rather than constantly adapting yourself to fit others’ expectations.
What to Expect in Adolescent (16+) and Adult Assessments
Our assessments are designed to be comfortable, collaborative, and thorough, ensuring the process is meaningful and accurate. We use a range of trusted tools and methods to understand your unique experience.
Typically, an assessment includes:
- Questionnaires and reflective tasks to help you share your experiences in your own way
- A semi-structured interview using the highly regarded MIGDAS-2
- Observation and discussion during the session
- Review of relevant background information
- Optional input from a person you nominate via a short questionnaire, providing additional insight into your developmental history and traits
Sessions can be conducted face-to-face or via telehealth, depending on your preference. You’re welcome to have a support person, a favourite fidget toy, or anything else that helps you feel comfortable and at ease.
The Benefits of an ADHD Assessment
An ADHD assessment can offer clarity, understanding, and practical tools for moving forward. It provides:
- Understanding Why “Simple” Things Feel Hard
Reframes executive functioning challenges (e.g., organisation, time, motivation) as neurological — not laziness, failure, or lack of willpower. - Tools That Actually Match Your Brain
Opens the door to strategies, supports, and sometimes medication that work with — not against — your natural cognitive style. - Relief from Chronic Shame or Self-Doubt
Offers a compassionate reframe of your past — helping you recognise that you were working hard all along, just in a system not built for you. - Improved Wellbeing and Energy Management
Helps you untangle overwhelm, burnout, decision fatigue, and emotional intensity with more insight and care.
Supports in Study, Work, and Daily Life
Provides eligibility for accommodations and adjustments designed to remove barriers rather than push you to mask harder.
Stronger Relationships and Communication
Gives you and your supports a shared language to reduce friction, misunderstandings, and unmet expectations.
What to Expect in Adolescent (16+) and Adult Assessments
Our ADHD assessments are designed to be transparent, supportive, and evidence-based, ensuring a thorough understanding of your unique profile.
Typically, an assessment includes:
- Questionnaires and self-reflective measures to help you share your experiences in your own way
- A semi-structured clinical interview using the internationally recognised DIVA-5 diagnostic tool
- Review of relevant history and background information
- Optional input from a person you nominate via a short questionnaire, providing additional insight into your behaviours, challenges, and strengths
- Discussion of your strengths, challenges, and next steps
Sessions are available face-to-face or via telehealth, depending on what feels most comfortable for you. You’re welcome to have a support person, a favourite fidget toy, or anything else that helps you feel at ease. Our aim is to provide a relaxed, respectful space where you feel seen, understood, and supported.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you cannot find what you’re after feel free to contact us via the form on this page or reach out to us on the contact page. We are here to help!
Anyone aged 16 years + is welcome. We often support adults who may have internalised or highly “masked” autistic traits, including those assigned female at birth (AFAB) and assigned male at birth (AMAB). Our approach is inclusive of all genders and aims to provide a safe, supportive space for understanding your unique neurotype.
ADHD Assessment
- Intake session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
- Assessment session: $1,200
- Feedback session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
Autism Assessment
- Intake session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
- Assessment session: $1,500
- Feedback session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
Combined Autism & ADHD Assessment
- Intake session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
- Assessment session: $2,000
- Feedback session: $289 (Medicare rebate $98.95)
We aim to make the assessment process as accessible and supportive as possible. Payments are staggered across the intake, assessment, and feedback sessions, so you don’t need to pay the full amount upfront. If you have any questions about costs, rebates, or payment options, please reach out — we’re here to help.
Our assessments usually take 3-4 sessions, depending on the type of assessment and your individual needs:
- Intake session: 1 hour – to gather background information and discuss what will happen next
- ADHD assessment session: 1 hour
- Autism assessment session: 2 hours
- Feedback session: 1 hour – to go through results, answer questions, and discuss recommendations
Each session is relaxed, collaborative, and unhurried, with plenty of space for questions, reflection, and ensuring the process feels comfortable and manageable for you.
We encourage you to call our clinic to make a booking so our friendly team can explore your needs, answer any of your questions, and ensure your booking type and time works for you.
If phone calls are challenging for you we are more than happy for you to contact us via email and let us know that this is your preferred contact method.
Before your first appointment, we will reach out to you and ask you to complete some screeners and questionnaires to help us understand your experiences. You may also bring relevant documents, such as past assessments, school reports or medical records. The more context we have, the clearer your assessment can be.
Absolutely! You’re welcome to bring a support person, in fact this is often extremely helpful – so we encourage this! You can also bring your favourite fidget toy or anything that might make the session feel more comfortable and safe for you.
Not at all — that’s a very common experience, especially for neurodivergent clients. You are not expected to complete everything in one sitting.
You’re welcome to:
- Take breaks whenever needed
- Work through them over a few days
- Complete them during your “best brain time”
- Let us know if any questions are confusing or feel irrelevant
- Ask for a different format if the current one is a barrier
The questionnaires simply help build a complete and accurate picture of your experience, beyond what we can cover in session. Your comfort and wellbeing come first — it’s absolutely okay to move through them gently and at your own pace.
You’re not alone — many neurodivergent people find questionnaires frustrating or even meaningless.
We use them simply as one piece of information, but you don’t have to complete anything that feels overwhelming or unhelpful. There are always other ways to share what’s important about your experience.
That’s completely okay — it’s very common. Not everyone has someone in their life who can provide that background information. Sometimes family members aren’t available, don’t understand, or it’s simply not a safe or supportive option.
If we can ask a friend, sibling, or current therapist, great. But if that’s not possible, we’ll work with what we have. Around 15% of clients don’t have someone who they can ask — and that’s absolutely fine. If we can’t collect additional information, we’ll focus on your perspective. There are always other ways for your story to be understood.
Our aim is to make assessments comfortable, supportive, and empowering. This means listening to your needs, adjusting tasks and pacing to suit you, and creating an environment that feels safe—physically, emotionally, and cognitively. We approach every session with empathy, curiosity, and respect, ensuring you feel seen, understood, and in control of the process.
Our combined assessment usually takes around 3–4 hours and is designed to be flexible, supportive, and tailored to you. The goal is to understand your experiences, strengths, and challenges — not just complete a checklist.
Here’s what you can expect:
- Getting comfortable – We’ll start by checking in on what helps you feel at ease, and I’ll make the process as accessible as possible.
- Setting the focus – Everyone comes with different goals. Some people want clarity about a diagnosis, others are curious about executive functioning, sensory differences, or strategies for daily life. We’ll focus on what’s most important to you.
- Your story and background – We’ll explore how you experience attention, focus, social interaction, routines, and sensory input, as well as your strengths, coping strategies, and mental health history.
- Structured assessment tools – We’ll work through:
MIGDAS-2 (for Autism), which helps us understand developmental history, social patterns, and sensory experiences
DIVA-5 (for ADHD), which explores attention, impulsivity, and executive functioning across your life - Supportive process – Depending on what you’ve provided beforehand, we may adapt which sections we complete, so the session is efficient and manageable for you.
- Feedback and report – In a separate session, we’ll provide a detailed report including any diagnosis (if relevant), personalised recommendations, and practical strategies. We’ll discuss these together so you leave with clarity, validation, and actionable tools.
The aim is for the assessment to be affirming, empowering, and genuinely helpful — giving you insight, self-understanding, and strategies to thrive in your daily life.
The assessments are diagnostic, meaning they are designed to determine whether you meet criteria for Autism and/or ADHD.
Every assessment is individual, and whether or not you receive an Autism or ADHD diagnosis depends on the information you share, your history, and how it aligns with diagnostic criteria. Some people find the assessment confirms their experiences, while for others it clarifies that they don’t meet diagnostic criteria — either way, the process is about understanding you, your strengths, and the strategies that will help you thrive.
You’ll leave with clear insights, validation, and personalised recommendations, even if a formal diagnosis isn’t given.
You’ll receive your report in a follow-up feedback session after we’ve completed all parts of the assessment, within 4 to 6 weeks. This session is a chance to go through everything in detail, ask questions, and discuss recommendations. The timing can vary slightly depending on the complexity of your assessment, but our goal is to get it to you as soon as possible so you can start using the insights in your life.
Your report will be detailed but written in a way that’s clear and easy to understand. It will include whether you meet criteria for Autism (and or ADHD if relevant), background information from our sessions, and recommendations for supports, strategies, and resources that suit your needs. The focus is on giving you practical, validating, and empowering guidance — not just clinical jargon.
At Proactive Health and Movement, we take the time to really understand you. Our ADHD and Autism assessments are designed to be supportive, collaborative, and tailored to your unique neurotype. We focus on your strengths as well as challenges, providing practical strategies and insights to help you thrive. Sessions are available face-to-face or via telehealth, in a space where you’ll feel heard, respected, and empowered to explore your neurodiversity at your own pace.