Adult Autism & ADHD Evaluations in Maryland

Neuroaffirming diagnostic evaluations for adults throughout Maryland via telehealth

If you have spent years wondering whether Autism, ADHD, or both may explain the way you experience the world, an evaluation can help you find clarity.

At Zen Psychological Center, we provide neurodiversity-affirming adult Autism and ADHD evaluations for individuals throughout Maryland. Our approach is designed to understand the whole person, including your developmental history, internal experiences, sensory profile, communication style, executive functioning, masking, strengths, and support needs.

Whether you are exploring Autism or ADHD for the first time, seeking answers after years of feeling different or misunderstood, or looking for a second opinion after a diagnosis that never quite seemed to fit, the goal is to help you develop a clearer understanding of yourself and your neurotype.

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Hi, I’m Your Autism & ADHD Evaluator

Hi! I’m Brittany, your autism and adhd evaluator. My work is deeply informed by both professional training and lived experience. I am a late-diagnosed neurodivergent therapist with lived experience of Autism, ADHD, Pathological Demand Avoidance/Persistent Drive For Autonomy (PDA), and several co-occurring medical conditions commonly associated with neurodivergence. I was not identified as autistic until my mid-30s, and spending much of my life undiagnosed contributed to significant emotional suffering, chronic shame, and the development of additional mental health challenges. For years, I struggled to understand why social interactions, sensory experiences, emotional regulation, and daily functioning felt so overwhelming despite extensive efforts to adapt and cope. Receiving an accurate diagnosis fundamentally changed my understanding of myself and my life experiences. For the first time, I was able to reframe past experiences, trauma, and social difficulties through a lens of self-compassion rather than self-blame. Understanding my neurotype allowedme to make meaningful accommodations for my nervous system, communication style, sensory needs, and overall wellbeing.

Today, I am the happiest, healthiest, and most regulated I have ever been because of my diagnosis. My personal experiences profoundly shape the way I approach evaluations and support clients, particularly individuals who have historically been overlooked, misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or identified later in life. I am honored to support you on your journey toward understanding and embracing your neurodivergent identity. Whether you’re an adult seeking an evaluation for Autism, PDA, or looking for a second opinion after a diagnosis that didn’t quite fit, i’ll partner with you to explore the way your brain works.

A Neuro-Affirming Evaluation

Autism and ADHD do not always look the way stereotypes or traditional diagnostic descriptions might suggest.

You may make eye contact. You may have friendships or relationships. You may have a successful career. You may be highly empathetic, socially engaged, or skilled at reading other people. You may also have spent years consciously or unconsciously learning how to navigate environments that were not naturally accessible to you.

This is particularly important for adults who are identified later in life. Some people become highly skilled at masking, camouflaging, compensating for, or suppressing their neurodivergent traits. As a result, the characteristics of Autism or ADHD may be much less apparent from the outside than the person’s internal experience would suggest.

While we use DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria to determine whether a formal diagnosis is appropriate, our assessment does not stop at the diagnostic criteria. Diagnostic criteria cannot always fully capture the breadth, complexity, or lived experience of Autistic and ADHD traits, particularly in late-identified adults and individuals who have spent years adapting or masking.

For this reason, we look beyond whether your experiences fit neatly into a diagnostic checklist. We consider both observable characteristics and your internal experience, including traits that may be clinically meaningful even when they are not explicitly represented within DSM-5-TR criteria.

Our evaluation may explore:

  • developmental history
  • social and communication experiences
  • sensory processing
  • executive functioning
  • routines, predictability, and transitions
  • focused interests
  • emotional regulation
  • masking, camouflaging, and compensatory strategies
  • interoceptive and proprioceptive experiences
  • autonomy and demand-related experiences
  • relationships, work, school, and daily functioning

The goal is twofold: to determine whether you meet established diagnostic criteria for Autism, ADHD, or both, and to develop a more complete understanding of your individual neurodivergent profile, including traits, strengths, needs, and experiences that may extend beyond what a diagnostic label alone can describe.

EXPERTISE IN CLINICAL COMPLEXITY

Not every difficulty with attention, sensory processing, emotional regulation, or executive functioning is necessarily explained by Autism or ADHD.

As a Lyme Literate OCD Specialist with extensive clinical experience in autoimmune encephalitis, I understand how tick-borne diseases, mold intoxication, and viral infections like COVID-19 and Epstein-Barr Virus can closely mimic the symptoms of Autism, ADHD, and OCD. This overlap often leads to misdiagnosis and ineffective treatment. I have the expertise to differentiate between cognitive challenges caused by tick-borne illnesses and ADHD, sensory sensitivities linked to neuroinflammation versus Autism, and OCD-like symptoms driven by PANS/PANDAS. 

When the findings suggest that another medical condition, learning difference, cognitive concern, or psychological factor requires additional investigation, I may recommend further evaluation with an appropriate medical, neuropsychological, psychological, or educational provider.

What Happens During an Evaluation?

Your evaluation is designed to develop a comprehensive understanding of your experiences rather than determine a diagnosis from a single questionnaire or observation.

1. Clinical and Developmental History

We begin by learning about you. We explore your developmental history, current experiences, relationships, sensory needs, communication, executive functioning, mental health history, and other information relevant to the diagnostic question.

2. Assessment Measures

You will complete assessment measures selected to explore areas relevant to Autism, ADHD, and your individual presentation.

3. Diagnostic Interview

For Autism evaluations, the assessment process includes the Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing Autism, Second Edition (MIGDAS-2).

For ADHD evaluations, the assessment process includes the Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in Adults, Fifth Edition (DIVA-5).

If you are being evaluated for both Autism and ADHD, both diagnostic interviews are incorporated into the evaluation process.

4. Collateral Information, When Appropriate

With your permission, information from a parent, partner, family member, therapist, or another person who knows you well may be incorporated when clinically appropriate. The need for collateral information is individualized.

5. Feedback and Recommendations

After the evaluation is completed, we review the findings with you, discuss whether diagnostic criteria are met, answer your questions, and provide individualized recommendations and next steps.

Costs and Insurance

We offer different evaluation and report options based on your needs, goals, and the level of documentation you are seeking.

View our Evaluation Options & Pricing page to compare report options, fees, payment information, and what is included with each evaluation.

Pricing Page

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Looking Beyond Stereotypes

Adult Autism can be missed for many reasons.

Some people learn to mask or camouflage their autistic characteristics. Others develop scripts, consciously study social interactions, suppress stimming, force eye contact, or expend significant energy trying to meet social expectations.

Autism may also be overlooked when someone is highly verbal, academically or professionally successful, socially motivated, or has spent years attributing their experiences to anxiety, ADHD, OCD, trauma, or simply being “different.”

Our evaluations intentionally consider masking, developmental history, sensory experiences, internal experiences, and the amount of effort required to navigate everyday life.

This can be particularly important for late-identified adults and people whose presentations have historically been overlooked or misunderstood.

Autism, ADHD, or Both?

Autism and ADHD frequently overlap, but they are distinct neurodevelopmental conditions.

Both may involve differences in executive functioning, attention regulation, sensory processing, emotional regulation, social experiences, motivation, and managing everyday demands.

Rather than assuming that a particular experience belongs to one diagnosis, we examine its developmental history, context, pattern, and function.

If you are wondering whether you may be Autistic, have ADHD, or experience both, a combined evaluation allows us to explore both diagnostic questions within the same assessment process.

Choose the Level of Documentation You Need

The clinical interview and evaluation process is the same regardless of which report option you select. The primary difference is the amount of written documentation you receive afterward.

Short Diagnostic Report

The Short Diagnostic Report is designed for individuals who primarily want to know whether they meet diagnostic criteria and what they can do next.

You receive confirmation of the diagnostic outcome along with individualized recommendations and suggested next steps.

Why choose a Short Report?

Not everyone pursuing an Autism or ADHD evaluation needs extensive documentation.

Some people are not seeking workplace or educational accommodations and do not need a lengthy report documenting their diagnosis. They simply want clarity and a better understanding of themselves.

If your primary goal is personal understanding, validation, and knowing whether Autism or ADHD helps explain your experiences, the Short Diagnostic Report may provide the information you are looking for without the additional expense of a comprehensive report.

Comprehensive Diagnostic Report

The Comprehensive Diagnostic Report provides substantially more detailed clinical documentation of the evaluation and findings.

In addition to your diagnostic outcome and individualized recommendations, the report provides a detailed explanation of the assessment findings and how those findings relate to applicable DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria.

Why choose a Comprehensive Report?

This option may be preferable if you want extensive documentation of your evaluation or anticipate needing to share your report with healthcare providers, schools, employers, disability services, or other organizations.

Documentation requirements vary by organization. A diagnostic report does not guarantee that a particular employer, school, testing organization, or other institution will approve accommodations.

Why Seek an Adult Autism or ADHD Evalaution?

For some adults, receiving a diagnosis provides language for experiences they have struggled to understand for years.

An evaluation may help you:

✔ better understand your neurotype

✔ recognize your sensory and executive functioning needs

✔ make sense of lifelong patterns and experiences

✔ identify helpful accommodations and supports

✔ connect with neurodivergent communities and resources

✔ pursue workplace or educational accommodations when appropriate

✔ approach yourself with greater understanding

Adult Autism & ADHD Evaluations Throughout Maryland

Zen Psychological Center provides adult Autism and ADHD evaluations via telehealth throughout Maryland.

Because evaluations are conducted virtually, you can participate from your own environment rather than traveling to an office. For many neurodivergent adults, completing an evaluation from a familiar environment may also reduce some of the sensory and social demands associated with an unfamiliar clinical setting.

Frequently Asked Questions

A formal diagnosis and diagnostic report may provide documentation that can support requests for workplace, college, or other accommodations.

However, each employer, educational institution, testing organization, or other entity determines its own documentation requirements. If accommodations are an important reason for pursuing your evaluation, please let us know so that you can select the report option that best fits your documentation needs.

We recommend obtaining the Comprehensive Report for accommodations 

Many adults begin wondering whether they are Autistic after years of feeling different, overwhelmed, misunderstood, or as though they have had to work harder than others to navigate social situations, relationships, sensory experiences, changes, and everyday demands. Some adults recognize these patterns only after learning more about Autism, meeting other Autistic people, having an Autistic child or family member, or reaching a point where the strategies they have used to cope or mask are no longer sustainable.

Autism can look very different in adults than many of the stereotypes people grew up hearing about. You can be Autistic and make eye contact, have friendships or romantic relationships, maintain a career, be highly empathetic, understand humor, or appear socially skilled. Some adults have spent years consciously or unconsciously masking, meaning they have learned to suppress, hide, rehearse, or compensate for their natural ways of communicating, regulating, moving, or responding to their environment. This can make Autism less obvious from the outside, particularly in adults who were overlooked earlier in life.

Some experiences that may lead an adult to explore whether they are Autistic include differences in social communication or connection, feeling as though social interaction requires conscious effort, rehearsing conversations, analyzing social situations afterward, sensory sensitivities or sensory-seeking needs, a strong preference for predictability, difficulty with unexpected changes, intense or deeply focused interests, repetitive or regulating behaviors, difficulty identifying or communicating internal states, and becoming significantly overwhelmed or depleted by environments or demands that other people seem to tolerate more easily.

Yes. Many Autistic adults are not identified until their 20s, 30s, 40s, or later. Autism may have been missed because their traits did not match common stereotypes, or because they learned to mask, camouflage, or compensate for their differences. Some adults begin questioning Autism after experiencing burnout, recognizing similar traits in a family member, or learning more about how Autism can present in adults. An adult Autism evaluation can explore these lifelong patterns and determine whether they are consistent with Autism

Yes. Masking can make Autism more difficult to recognize, particularly in adults who have spent years learning how to hide, suppress, or compensate for Autistic traits.An adult who masks may make eye contact, maintain friendships or romantic relationships, have a successful career, engage comfortably in conversation, or appear socially confident during an evaluation. What may be much less visible is the amount of conscious effort, preparation, monitoring, and recovery required to maintain that presentation.

This is one reason Autism can be missed in people who are identified later in life. If an evaluation focuses primarily on observable behavior or stereotypical presentations of Autism, important aspects of a person’s internal experience may not be recognized.

Autistic masking, or camouflaging, is when an Autistic person consciously or unconsciously hides, suppresses, or compensates for their natural traits to meet social expectations. This might include forcing eye contact, rehearsing conversations, copying others’ social behaviors, suppressing stimming, or pushing through sensory discomfort. Over time, masking can become so automatic that a person may not realize they are doing it, which can contribute to Autism being overlooked until adulthood.

High-masking Autism can look like appearing capable and comfortable on the outside while expending significant effort to meet expectations. This may include perfectionism as a way of overcompensating for executive functioning difficulties, forcing small talk, suppressing stimming, or tolerating uncomfortable work environments, such as bright lights, distracting sounds, or clothing that causes sensory discomfort, because it is considered socially or professionally appropriate. Some Autistic adults also experience differences in interoception, making it difficult to recognize or interpret body sensations, emotions, hunger, fatigue, pain, or overwhelm. These patterns can sometimes overlap with anxiety or OCD, which may make underlying Autistic traits less apparent.

Yes. Zen Psychological Center provides fully virtual Autism, ADHD, and combined Autism and ADHD evaluations for adults throughout Maryland. The evaluation process is completed through telehealth, allowing you to participate from the comfort and privacy of your own home while still receiving a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation.

No. A full neuropsychological evaluation is not required in every situation to diagnose Autism or ADHD. At Zen Psychological Center, we provide targeted diagnostic evaluations using developmental history, clinical interviews, self-report measures, and Autism- and ADHD-specific assessment tools. A neuropsychological evaluation may be recommended when broader testing is needed to assess concerns such as learning differences, cognitive functioning, memory, or other neurological factors.

Yes. Making eye contact does not rule out Autism. Some Autistic adults naturally make eye contact, while others have learned to force or imitate eye contact as part of masking. An Autism evaluation should look beyond outward behaviors and consider your developmental history, internal experiences, sensory differences, communication patterns, masking, and the amount of effort social interactions require.

Yes. Being social, outgoing, having close friendships, or being skilled at conversation does not rule out Autism. Some Autistic adults genuinely enjoy socializing, while others have become highly skilled at it through years of observing, practicing, scripting, and masking. The important question is not simply whether you can socialize, but how naturally it comes to you, how much conscious effort it requires, and whether you experience exhaustion, overwhelm, or a need to recover afterward

Autism and ADHD can be missed in childhood, especially when a child is high-masking, academically successful, quiet, perfectionistic, or able to compensate for their difficulties. Some children learn early to copy peers, suppress sensory needs, overprepare to compensate for executive functioning challenges, or internalize their struggles rather than showing obvious difficulties. Traits may also have been attributed to anxiety, OCD, shyness, behavior, or personality, making Autism or ADHD more difficult to recognize until the demands of adulthood increase.

Not meeting full diagnostic criteria does not mean that your Autistic or ADHD traits are not real or meaningful. The DSM-5-TR requires that symptoms cause clinically significant impairment or interfere with functioning, but masking, accommodations, perfectionistic overcompensation, and the enormous effort used to maintain daily functioning can sometimes make that impact less visible. We look beyond the diagnostic criteria to understand your broader neurodivergent profile, including sensory differences, executive functioning challenges, masking patterns, and other traits, and provide individualized recommendations based on what we learn.

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 Learn More: Check out our neurodiversity resources for expert insights and support.

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