We will accept referrals directly from parents where concerns are evident and supported by another professional, such as a day care educator, teacher, school psychologist, general practitioner, paediatrician or psychiatrist, or other medical specialist or therapist working with your child (e.g., speech pathologist, psychologist, occupational therapist, social worker, physiotherapist). If a diagnosis of autism is made, this is in line with the National Guidelines for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism in Australia and meets WA Education and NDIS requirements. 

In some instances, your child may have seen a paediatrician or psychiatrist first who refers for the assessment. While children and young people can now be diagnosed with autism without seeing a paediatrician or psychiatrist at the time, many children will continue to have (and need) the valuable input of these medical specialists, particularly where the child may have more complex medical and/or developmental concerns. If we feel your child may benefit from their input, we will discuss this with you. 

Our assessment process allows us to collect information about the child across different environments and includes:

Working directly with the child, typically using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2) and/or Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition (MIGDAS-2)

• Gaining an understanding of the child’s skills and challenges in the home environment through the use of parent questionnaires and a parent interview.
• Identifying the child’s skills and challenges in day care and/or school environments through the use of questionnaires and at times direct observation of the child in these environments.
• Gaining an understanding of the child’s strengths and challenges based on their own report.
• Gaining relevant information from other medical and/or therapy professionals who may be working or have a history with the child.

If required, cognitive and/or language assessment may also form a part of the assessment.

In the two weeks before the appointment, the information you’ve provided is carefully reviewed. On the day, your child attends a morning session, followed by time for the team to discuss observations. Parents then meet with the team via telehealth in the afternoon. Most families find it helpful to put aside the whole day (usually a Tuesday) for the assessment.

Much of the information collection is completed prior to your appointment with the assessors. As such, we are able to provide you with feedback within a few days of the assessment appointment. Sometimes, we may be waiting on additional information from other sources (e.g., a teacher questionnaire or therapy report) or need to conduct a daycare/school observation, and this can delay the feedback for a few days. 

We can do feedback sessions via phone, or telehealth (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) at a time that is convenient to you. 

We aim to provide full diagnostic reports to families and the referring medical specialist within 10-15 business days of the final assessment appointment. We are able to provide a letter confirming the outcome prior if this is required for school or to commence NDIS applications. 

Children aged 3 and under with a pediatrician/psychiatrist referral- $2660

• Children aged 3 and under without a pediatrician/psychiatrist referral-$3000
• Children and young people aged 4-14 years, inclusive with a pediatrician/psychiatrist referral- $3000
• Children and young people without a paediatrician or psychiatrist referral- $3300

Should cognitive and/or formal language assessment or a school visit be required the additional fees added will be charged at a rate of $190 per hour.

Should an additional parent interview for separate parents be required, this will be charged at $500 (including report writing).

A $400 non-refundable deposit is required to secure your booking and the remaining fees are due on the day of the appointment and can be paid via EFT (HICAPS available), credit card, or via bank transfer. Please note paying via credit card will incur a 1% fee. 

The assessment fees include the direct assessment with the child, a parent interview, administration of questionnaires, a full diagnostic report, review of all reports and consultations with your child’s paediatrician/psychiatrist, teacher/s and any therapists they may be seeing/have seen. 

Children who have not been seen by a paediatrician or psychiatrist will also be screened and/or assessed for other developmental concerns such as global developmental delay, developmental language disorder and ADHD. This extra requirement accounts for the additional cost.

Cognitive (i.e. IQ) and/or language assessment may be required as part of your child’s assessment.  The need for this will be discussed with you and is dependent on what services your child has already accessed and your specific concerns. If these assessments are required, there will be additional fees.

There are a few options that may reduce the out-of-pocket costs for families. These include:

1. Medicare Rebate - this is available to clients under 25 years of age who have been referred by a private paediatrician or psychiatrist through the ‘Helping Children With Autism’ initiative. Please be advised that if you wish to claim a Medicare rebate for your assessment, you will need to provide a valid referral for each of the assessors with their name clearly addressed in the letter. Invalid referrals will result in private item numbers being used on your invoice. We encourage families to ensure you are registered for the Medicare Safety Net to maximise the amount you receive back.
   Please note: A client can access 8 appointments during their lifespan which means if you have already had an assessment, you may be able to claim against these item numbers again. If you would like to check with Medicare, the item numbers are: 82005 (speech pathology) and 82000 (psychology).
2. Private Health Insurance - the item numbers are 320 for speech pathology assessment and 100 for clinical psychology assessment if you wish to check with your insurer about available rebates.

We encourage you to consider the best funding source for your family and inform staff at AAP about any rebates you may be eligible for so we can ensure receipts reflect the funding you would like to use.