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The Assessment
Eight free modules on what an in-depth autism or ADHD assessment for adults actually involves — how to decide whether to book one, how to choose a service and what to ask it, what happens in the room, how to read the report, and what a diagnosis does and does not change.
Where to start
Eight modules, in the order the process happens.
Part One is before you book. Part Two is the assessment itself. Part Three is afterwards. So where you start depends on where you already are — and unlike the Self-Identification course next door, you are not expected to begin at Module 1 unless Module 1 is your question.
If you have not decided yet — Part One, Modules 1 to 3.
Module 1 — What an Assessment Is For — What an assessment produces, what it cannot produce, and why the answer at the end is a clinical judgement rather than a measurement.
Module 2 — Who Assesses You, and Why It Matters — Which professions can diagnose adult autism and ADHD, how that changes at every border, and what actually predicts a sound assessment once you are past the job title.
Module 3 — Choosing a Service, and What to Ask — The routes that actually exist, what genuinely differs between them, what is known about waiting and cost, and the questions to put to a service before you give anyone money.
Module 3 is the one that saves money. It ends in nine questions to put to a service in writing, before you pay anyone.
If you already have an appointment — Part Two, Modules 4 to 6. What you will actually be asked and how to prepare without rehearsing, which instruments you might meet and what each one measures, and what happens in the session where you are given the answer. Module 4 is the only part of an assessment you can do work on in advance.
If you are holding a report — start at Module 7. How to read the document section by section, what a severity level does and does not mean, what to do about a factual error in it, and then what a diagnosis actually changes — and what it does not.
Part One — Before you book
Module 1 — What an Assessment Is For
What an assessment produces, what it cannot produce, and why the answer at the end is a clinical judgement rather than a measurement.
Module 2 — Who Assesses You, and Why It Matters
Which professions can diagnose adult autism and ADHD, how that changes at every border, and what actually predicts a sound assessment once you are past the job title.
Module 3 — Choosing a Service, and What to Ask
The routes that actually exist, what genuinely differs between them, what is known about waiting and cost, and the questions to put to a service before you give anyone money.
Part Two — The process
Module 4 — What You Will Be Asked, and How to Prepare
The questions an assessment is actually built out of, the informant problem and what to do when there is nobody to ask, and how to prepare thoroughly without turning the appointment into a performance.
Module 5 — The Instruments You Are Likely to Meet
What each tool actually measures, who fills it in, and why no single one of them is required — including the one most people believe is.
Module 6 — The Outcome Conversation
The session where the answer is given — what a yes contains beyond the word, what a no contains, why a no is the more revisable of the two, and what to ask before the session ends.
Part Three — After
Module 7 — Reading the Report
The anatomy of a report section by section, which section answers which question, how to read a score without over-reading it, what the severity levels do and do not mean, and what to do about a factual error.
Module 8 — What a Diagnosis Does and Does Not Change
Accommodations and the documentation that actually gets them, what "neuro-informed" means when somebody writes it down, the evidence on what changes after a late diagnosis, and what does not.
What each module contains
The same shape every time. Step 1, the lesson — the evidence, set out plainly, with what it does and does not show. Step 2, What helps — specific things to do or ask, not general advice. Step 3, your workbook — eight questions to answer for your own case, saved on your device and never sent to us. Every module also ends in a research companion listing each source, what was taken from it, and how it was read.
If an assessment is not what you are looking for
An in-depth assessment and self-identification are two branches of the same fork, not two rungs of a ladder. If the question you actually have is whether you are allowed to use the word at all, that is the Self-Identification course. If you want to start with a screening questionnaire taught with its limits shown, that is Autistic Self-Discovery and ADHD Self-Discovery.
Who made this
New Path Family, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity that publishes free, plain-language education for autistic and ADHD adults and the people who love them. Everything here is free to read: no account, no sign-up, no payment. This course makes no referrals and receives nothing. The nonprofit employs no clinicians, provides no assessment, and takes no commission, revenue share or fee of any kind if you go anywhere named or unnamed in these modules. The Worksheet Library holds more than 350 free worksheets, and you can talk with the New Path team if you want to.
New Path Family shares a founder with New Path Family of Therapy Centers, Inc., a separate company that provides adult autism and ADHD assessment. Naming it is a connection. It is not a referral, and Module 3 gives independent routes alongside it.