AHPRA Registration
The single most important thing to check when choosing an assessment provider is whether the psychologist conducting your assessment is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, or AHPRA. Registration means the psychologist meets national standards for training, ethics, and ongoing professional development, and is accountable through a formal regulatory body.
Every assessment delivered by our team is conducted by an AHPRA-registered psychologist, and this is a reasonable, non-negotiable question to ask of any provider, particularly given the growing number of unregulated services offering informal or unverified assessments online. You can verify a psychologist's registration directly through the AHPRA public register if you want independent confirmation.
Neuroaffirming Language
Pay attention to how a practice talks about autism and ADHD, both on its website and in early conversations. Language that consistently frames these neurotypes as deficits, disorders to be fixed, or problems to be minimised is a signal worth noticing.
A neuroaffirming provider will typically describe autism and ADHD as differences in how a brain works, use respectful, person-centred language, and avoid outdated or stigmatising terms such as describing someone as "high functioning" or "low functioning," which flatten a person's genuine strengths and difficulties into a single misleading label that rarely reflects their actual day-to-day experience.
Transparency About Cost
A trustworthy provider should be upfront about the total cost of an assessment before you book, rather than presenting a low headline figure and adding charges as you progress. Ask specifically whether the price you are quoted is the full total, including the interview, assessment session, feedback, and written report, or whether extra costs might be added later.
Our adult ADHD assessment is $1,250 in total and our adult autism assessment is $1,520 in total, with no hidden extras and no Medicare rebate to factor in. Knowing this figure in advance lets you plan properly rather than being surprised partway through the process.
A Clear Process Explanation
Before booking, you should be able to get a clear answer to simple questions: how many appointments are involved, roughly how long the whole process takes, whether telehealth is genuinely available, and what you receive at the end of it all. A provider who cannot explain their own process clearly and patiently is unlikely to explain your results clearly either.
A genuinely transparent provider will also be upfront about timeframes between appointments, so you know roughly what to expect from booking through to receiving your written report, rather than being left to guess.
Red Flags: Guaranteed Outcomes
Be cautious of any provider that implies a guaranteed diagnostic outcome before an assessment has taken place, or that markets assessment as a quick, simple formality. A genuine, thorough assessment takes time precisely because it needs to gather enough information to reach an accurate, individualised conclusion.
No ethical psychologist can promise a particular result in advance, and any suggestion otherwise, whether implied through marketing or stated directly, is worth treating with real caution before booking anywhere at all, regardless of how convincing or reassuring it might initially sound to you.
Checking Reviews and Reputation Carefully
Online reviews can offer some insight into a provider, but they should be weighed carefully alongside the factors above, rather than relied upon alone. A practice with glowing reviews but vague answers about AHPRA registration or total cost is still worth approaching with caution, since reviews cannot verify clinical standards on their own.
The most reliable indicators remain the ones you can verify directly: registration status, a clear fee structure, and a provider willing to explain their process patiently before you commit to anything, rather than relying on marketing claims or persuasive testimonials alone.
Questions Worth Asking Before You Book
Before committing to a provider, it is reasonable to ask directly: is the psychologist AHPRA-registered, what is the full cost including any extras, how many appointments are involved, and is telehealth genuinely available rather than offered only in name. A provider confident in their process should answer these questions clearly and without defensiveness.
It is also worth asking what happens if you need to reschedule, and whether accommodations for sensory or communication preferences are genuinely built into the process or simply mentioned as an afterthought without real substance behind them.
What to Look For
In short, look for AHPRA registration, consistently respectful and neuroaffirming language, full transparency about total cost, a clearly explained process, and an absence of guaranteed-outcome promises. These are the standards our own team works to, and they are a reasonable checklist to bring to any provider you are considering, not only ours.
This article is educational information only; the right choice of provider still depends on your own circumstances and preferences, and a free triage call is a low-pressure way to see whether a provider meets these standards in practice, before you commit to booking anything further.