Dx in Boston

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Hey, I'm wondering if anyone knows who can Dx ASD in women in the Boston area. I'd like to help this younger version of myself to get one. I've been Dxed for 24 years and only know NJ people.

In the U.S. I think the answer likely involves checking with your your medical insurance first. If an Adult Autism Assessment is even partially covered by your insurance you will want to follow their process and keep good records.

I started by asking my insurance company if I had coverage, and I did, and they gave me a referral, which was not to someone who could do the assessment. I think Adult Autism Assessments crop up so infrequently for them that the insurance phone line folk were unfamiliar with what was involved...even though they were immediately interested in helping. When I told them the referral didn't work they gave me referrals of other providers, who also could not do the assessment. Then they said I could find a provider to do the assessment and they would provide a referral to them.

But they gave me incorrect information about what kind of professional I needed! They said to find a psychologist with ABA credentials...and that was (a) hard to find, and (b) it turned out: WRONG! ABA credentials are not needed to do an assessment!

It turns out what is needed is a licensed psychologist (each state probably has a web page where you can check that they are licensed). The psychologist will know if they can do the assessment...most of them can't.

I searched on https://www.findapsychologist.org to find psychologists in my area who worked with Autism and took patients my age (I might have saved myself some money if I'd concentrated on ones on my health insurance network). The listings on that web page, unfortunately, do not seem to mention whether or not they do Adult Autism Assessments; I assume this is because not many assessments are done so it's not worth mentioning.

Then I checked the web pages for the psychologists that seemed interesting. Again, no mention of Adult Autism Assessments; I guess there are too few assessments to warrant wasting web space mentioning them. But there was enough information to rule some of them out.

Then I called the practices to ask if they did Adult Autism Assessments. Um...the person who answered the phone didn't know, either; I guess Adult Assessments are not common! But they checked and I found a practice that worked with Autism, took patients my age, and who would assess me.

And the assessment was actually kind of fun!