We provide neurodiversity affirming assessments for children and adolescents where there are questions about autism, ADHD or AuDHD or learning conditions such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.
Our strengths-based approach for kids recognises each child’s unique personality and capability while acknowledging and supporting them in areas of difficulty.
If you’re concerned about your child, then we encourage you to trust your instincts and seek the understanding and support that an assessment can bring.
Perhaps your child:
As their parent, you hold vital insight into your child’s experience. Assessment is designed to understand your child as a whole person, not just how they present in structured environments.
Autism and ADHD can look very different from one child to the next. Some children show clear signs of neurodivergence, while others work hard to meet expectations by masking differences, particularly in structured settings such as school.
Children who mask may follow rules diligently, suppress sensory needs or copy peers in order to blend in.
Teachers may describe them as respectful, keen to please or academically capable.
At home, however, you may notice:
That’s because masking often comes at a cost. While it may help a child get through the school day, it can leave them with little capacity for emotional regulation when they get home.
As clinical neuropsychologists, we’re adept at understanding what standardised autism and ADHD assessments tell us and what they might miss: a child who appears to be coping to external observers may still be struggling significantly.
Our assessment process considers both how your child appears to others and how they experience daily life, recognising that masking can obscure genuine difficulty and delay understanding.
Neurodivergent children experience the world differently and often open our eyes to its joys and wonders. They may have intense interests, telling you everything there is to know about their latest passion. They often have a strong sense of justice and can see opportunities and possibilities that others may miss.
They may also need more parental advocacy, emotional investment and practical support. Haircuts, dental check-ups, school camps and many other common experiences can require planning, cajoling and recovery time, much of which goes unseen.
An assessment can provide clearer insights into how your child experiences the world. Through a balanced, strengths-based lens, our assessments help identify both the supports that may be helpful and the skills that can be developed over time, allowing you to parent with greater confidence.
It’s also worth mentioning that a neurodivergent child probably has at least one neurodivergent parent. Many parents notice that they share similar traits with their child and eventually pursue a late diagnosis for their own ADHD, AuDHD or autism.
Visit our adults page to learn more about late diagnosis.
Our senses are constantly supplying us with information about the world around us. Neurodivergent brains process this information differently, which affects how your child experiences everyday environments. They may have reduced tolerance for some sensations while seeking out others.
Sensory processing differences may affect how your child experiences:
Difficulty tolerating loud, sudden or layered sounds (e.g. classrooms, assemblies, busy shops)
Discomfort with clothing textures, seams, tags, certain fabrics or being touched unexpectedly
Seeking constant movement or, conversely, becoming overwhelmed by busy or fast-paced environments
Sensitivity to bright, fluorescent or flickering lights, feeling overwhelmed by pages of text
Strong reactions to perfumes, scented candles, cleaning products or food smells
Restricted food preferences, strong aversions to certain textures or mixed foods
Stress related to heat, cold or changes in temperature
Becoming overwhelmed in busy, unpredictable environments
Sensory processing differences can significantly influence a child’s emotional regulation, behaviour and capacity to cope with daily demands, particularly across settings such as school and home.
For some neurodivergent children, school becomes increasingly difficult to tolerate, even when they want to attend. This experience is often described as “school can’t” and reflects a child reaching the limits of their capacity, rather than refusal, defiance or lack of motivation.
School places significant and sustained demands on children, including:
These demands can accumulate over time, particularly when masking is required to get through the day. You may notice that your child:
School can’t may also be a difficult experience for you as a parent, trying to meet your professional obligations, negotiate with school and support your child.
Assessment considers school can’t within the broader context of your child’s development, environment and support needs. Rather than focusing solely on attendance, we work to understand what is making school unsustainable and what factors are contributing to distress. This may include sensory overload, anxiety, learning demands, social complexity or cumulative exhaustion.
Understanding these drivers helps guide more appropriate support and next steps, which may involve adjustments to expectations, changes to the learning environment or linking with additional services.
Our focus is on supporting your child’s wellbeing and capacity, rather than forcing a return to settings or demands that may currently be overwhelming.
Our approach incorporates a neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based perspective alongside clear and rigorous diagnostic processes. Rather than focusing only on test results, our skilled assessors explore your child’s lived experience, the effort required to cope, and supports that may be useful over time.
Assessment considers:
Recommendations are tailored to your child and family, supporting growth, understanding and practical next steps.
If you are seeking understanding around autism, ADHD or AuDHD for your child, our team can help determine whether assessment is appropriate and guide you through the process.
Yes. We can help you understand what is making school difficult for your child.
School can’t is often a response to cumulative stress, anxiety or unmet needs, rather than a behavioural choice. As part of assessment, we work to identify the barriers contributing to your child’s difficulty attending school, which may include sensory overload, social demands, learning challenges or emotional exhaustion.
Assessment focuses on understanding what is driving distress and what supports may be helpful moving forward. This may or may not include a return to the current school environment and can involve tailored recommendations, guidance around next steps, and linking to appropriate services where needed.
No. We do not use ABA therapy as part of our work.
Instead, we offer neurodiversity affirming assessments that focus on understanding how a child experiences the world, rather than encouraging compliance or masking. In many cases, ABA-based approaches can prioritise outward behaviour change without adequately considering the internal effort or distress involved.
Our assessments draw on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) principles and other evidence-informed frameworks. This means we focus on understanding your child’s needs, values and capacity, and identifying supports that balance accommodations with skill-building in a way that is respectful and appropriate for the individual child.
We are experienced in supporting children with a PDA (pathological demand avoidance or pervasive drive for autonomy) profile and understand the importance of a flexible, relationship-first approach.
From the outset, we reduce pressure and adapt our interactions to match the child’s emotional state and level of engagement. This might mean beginning the session with no formal demands at all, simply sitting nearby, offering quiet connection, and allowing the child to lead. Our focus is always on building trust and safety before introducing any structure.
When formal testing begins, we modify our delivery to reduce the perception of demand while still adhering to the integrity of standardised protocols. For example, we may offer choices in how tasks are approached, use indirect language, or incorporate playful elements to ease transitions.
We also understand that many PDA children may mask their distress or appear compliant in structured settings. For this reason, we place significant weight on detailed interviews with parents or caregivers, who provide crucial insight into the child’s functioning across settings and over time. Our aim is to ensure the child feels respected and safe throughout the process, while gathering the information needed to provide meaningful and accurate recommendations.
