Autism Evaluations | Dr. Schofield

Understanding how you're wired —not fixing who you are.

A neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based evaluation that brings clarity to your pattern of differences — and to the supports that actually fit.

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perspective

Autism is never the problem. The purpose of evaluation is to understand a person's pattern of developmental differences — so the fit between their capacities and the demands of their environment can be understood and supported.

What's included

A complete evaluation, built around your questions

Each evaluation draws on multiple sources of information, integrated into one coherent picture.

Specific instruments are selected for each person and discussed at intake — we describe categories rather than test names to protect the validity of your results.

01

Intake & records review

A careful review of your history and records — including mining for developmental history, where the earliest patterns often live.

02

Self-report & informant questionnaires

Your own perspective alongside those who know you well, covering adaptive functioning and clinical symptoms.

03

Structured interview & observation

A structured clinical interview and/or gold-standard observational assessment, matched to your age and presentation.

04

Cognitive evaluation

A map of your intellectual profile — strengths, weaknesses, and possible twice-exceptionality ("2e") or intellectual giftedness.

05

Objective personality assessment

Clarifies co-occurring mental health conditions, rules out differential diagnoses, and illuminates your coping style — including the overlaps and differences between Autism and other conditions.

Twice-exceptional adults

Gifted, high-achieving — and still exhausted

Many of the adults Dr. Schofield evaluates are twice-exceptional: professors, healthcare professionals, engineers, and other accomplished people whose strengths have carried them far — while masking a lifetime of effort underneath.

If you're successful in some areas of life yet feel chronically overwhelmed, misunderstood, socially exhausted, or overloaded by sensory demands, an evaluation can finally put language to that gap — and point to supports that honor both sides of your profile.

An evaluation may fit if you…

Excel professionally, yet find social demands draining in ways others don't see
Have felt "different" your whole life without a satisfying explanation
Experience intense sensory sensitivity or need significant recovery time after socializing
Rely on routines and deep interests to stay organized and regulated
Have collected other diagnoses over the years that never quite told the whole story

A strengths-based lens

Differences, described accurately

Autistic characteristics are differences in how a person connects, communicates, and regulates — not deficits to be corrected. In reports and feedback, they might read like this:

Sharing & expression

Differences in the quality and quantity of sharing interests and expressing emotions.

Social connection

A gap between the interest in — and need for — social connection, and the ability to navigate relationships or find compatible social pathways.

Narrative style

Highly developed, topic-focused narratives — contrasted with the more challenging work of building social narratives about self and others.

Routines & regulation

Predictable routines built around preferred interests and activities — serving organization, regulation, and a needed retreat from interpersonal and environmental demands.

Goals of an evaluation

What an answer makes possible.

Accurate diagnosis

A careful, well-documented answer — including clarity about co-occurring conditions and what is (and isn't) Autism.

Your pattern, mapped

Identification of your specific pattern of strengths and differences — the foundation for everything that follows.

Tailored support

Access to supports and interventions matched to your profile — blending skill-building with accommodation, never one-size-fits-all.

Treatment that fits

More accurate treatment planning, so mental health professionals can provide targeted rather than generic care.

Self-knowledge

Enhanced understanding of yourself — often the most immediately life-changing outcome for adults.

Energy management

Understanding your sensory experiences, the demands of social environments, and how your brain processes — so adaptive, strengths-based routines can be built.