Services for Asperger's Syndrome
& Autism Spectrum Conditions

For ASD assessment: If you wish to claim a rebate from Medicare for the assessment, you will need a referral from a paediatrician or child psychiatrist – a referral from a GP will not suffice. If you do not wish to claim a rebate, a referral is not required.

For ongoing treatment: If you have a GP referral and Mental Health Care Plan, you will be able to claim a substantial proportion of the fees. Alternatively, you will need to contact your private health provider for details of how much you can claim from them.

Information about your child’s behaviour in a peer group setting is essential to the diagnostic process and a teacher’s observations can be very helpful. However, feel free to discuss your concerns with Janine during the assessment process. At times, she conducts a telephone consultation with a teacher (or integration aide), with parents present, to assist in gaining a clearer picture of the child’s behaviour at school.

Currently we do not have on-the-spot claiming facilities (but this will change in the near future). You will need to pay the full fee at the time of consultation and then take your receipt to Medicare or your private health fund for your rebate.

There are no item codes for these consultations. If you notify your health fund that you are consulting a clinical psychologist, they will advise you of the amount of your rebate.

Ideally, both parents should attend but this is not always possible due to work commitments. To complete the Diagnostic Interview, the parent who was the primary caregiver in the first years of the child’s life needs to be present to provide detailed information about the child’s early development.

At the time of booking you will be asked to forward to us any previous reports and the results of any recent assessments, such as paediatric, speech pathology, occupational therapy (please bring copies on the day if you have not already sent these). It is important that the Teacher Observation form is also sent prior to the assessment (or you may also bring this with you on the day).

The report gives some background information as to why an ASD assessment is being conducted and contains information about the child’s developmental history, focusing on the areas in which children with ASD experience the most difficulty (i.e., social, communication and repetitive behaviours). A list of recommendations, including resources, is also provided.

At the ASD assessment, there is insufficient time to also conduct a formal assessment for ADD or ADHD. We do not do formal assessments for these conditions at this time (this may change in the future). However, as part of the ASD assessment, our psychologist may report attention difficulties, for example, and recommend further assessment to clarify whether your child meets formal diagnostic criteria for ADD or ADHD. Paediatricians usually monitor children over the longer term and complete a formal assessment if they think it is helpful.

No, there is no rebate for reports.

Janine uses the Wechsler scales (eg: WISC-IV) to estimate your child’s intellectual functioning. After the test is given, it is scored, the results are interpreted, and a report is compiled and sent to parents, usually within a week. Parents can then choose to make another appointment to discuss the report and its recommendations.

Most children complete the assessment in 90 minutes. However, some children take less time and others require longer. If your child is tiring, we will inform you and arrangements will be made for them to complete the assessment on another day.

During business hours, Janine is occupied with clients, which makes it difficult for her to take telephone calls. However, you can leave messages for her with her assistant.

You can book a telephone consultation (usually of at least 30 minutes’ duration) with Janine and there are various options for this. Ring for further details.

There is usually no problem with older children (e.g., teenagers) remaining in the waiting room but the policy of the clinic is that younger children are not to be left unsupervised.