Psychological Testing & Autism Evaluations in Wilmette, IL

An autism evaluation can help clarify questions about social communication, sensory experiences, repetitive behaviors, developmental history, and other characteristics associated with autism.

Many autistic individuals, especially AFAB (assigned female at birth) people, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and students of color, learn to camouflage or “mask” their traits so well that earlier evaluations miss the diagnosis entirely. Our clinicians are specifically trained to recognize high-masking presentations and understand how years of masking can show up as anxiety, burnout, or exhaustion rather than the more stereotyped signs clinicians are taught to look for. This makes our evaluations a strong fit for teens and adults who suspect they’re autistic but were overlooked earlier in life, or who received a different diagnosis that never quite explained their experience.

PDA is a profile within the autism spectrum marked by an intense, anxiety-driven need to resist and avoid everyday demands and expectations, even ones the person wants to meet. It’s frequently misread as oppositional behavior, anxiety alone, or a parenting issue, which means it often goes unrecognized in standard evaluations. Our evaluators assess specifically for PDA characteristics as part of a broader autism evaluation, helping families and individuals understand this profile and access the right supports and accommodations.

Testing can help evaluate concerns involving attention, executive functioning, organization, impulsivity, learning, and related areas.

Parents may consider an evaluation when a child is experiencing difficulties with learning, behavior, attention, emotional regulation, development, or social interaction.

Adults may seek an evaluation when they want greater clarity about autism, ADHD, cognitive functioning, or other lifelong concerns that have affected work, relationships, education, or daily life. We see many adults seeking evaluation for the first time in their 30s, 40s, and beyond, often after years of masking or being told their struggles were “just anxiety.”

Adolescence can bring new questions about social communication, identity, sensory experiences, school demands, and relationships. A specialized evaluation can help provide a clearer understanding of these concerns, including for teens whose presentation has been missed because they mask well at school.

If you or your family has received an autism evaluation elsewhere and still have questions about the results, a second opinion can provide another clinical perspective. This is especially common for individuals whose high-masking or PDA presentation wasn’t captured in an earlier evaluation.