The Koegel Autism Center Assessment Clinic offers three psychological assessment options. As of April 18th, 2024 the Center has paused assessment scheduling and will resume scheduling by the end of October, 2024. During this time, new assessment requests via our registration form will be placed in a waitlist in the order that they are received. Once scheduling resumes, those who registered will be contacted in the order received. At this time, new rates will be posted on our website, including in this FAQ section.
The wait time to receive an assessment will NOT be lengthened as a result of our pause in scheduling. The assessment dates that will be offered in October 2024 to waitlisted clients will be the same as if the dates had been offered today. We are currently booked out to March of 2025, and we will resume scheduling for those dates come October. Please feel free to reach out to education-autism@ucsb.edu if you would like additional information or clarification.
- After you fill out our online registration form, you will be contacted by a clinic coordinator to schedule specific dates for your assessment
- Your non-refundable deposit is due within 2 weeks of scheduling the assessment
- Remainder of payment is due before testing begins on the first day of the assessment
*Special Notes
- If the deposit is not received within 2 weeks of scheduling the assessment, we will be unable to reserve your scheduled dates
- If you need to reschedule your assessment dates, you will be required to submit an additional non-refundable deposit
Credit/Debit, Check, or Money Order are all acceptable forms of payment.
All check payments should be made out to UC REGENTS.
Questions about these options? Call us at 805.893.2590 or email autism@education.ucsb.edu(link sends e-mail)
Currently, we do not accept direct payment from insurance companies. However, we will provide you with the necessary documentation and receipts to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. Insurance companies vary in their policies about what services they will cover, so we encourage you to check with your insurance provider first if this is something you wish to do.
CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes are assigned to every service that a physician or mental health professional provides. Insurance companies need these specific codes to process payment and reimbursement claims. All relevant codes will be included on your encounter form (receipt for our services). Our evaluation falls under multiple insurance codes:
96130 Psychological testing, interpretation, and reporting by a psychologist (first hour)
96130+96131 Psychological testing, interpretation, and reporting by a psychologist (each additional hour)
96136 Psychological test administration and scoring by a psychologist (first 30 minutes)
96136+96137 Psychological test administration and scoring by a psychologist (additional 30 minutes)
96130 Psychological testing administered by technician (first hour)
96130+96131 Psychological testing administered by technician (each additional hour)
96138 Psychological test administration and scoring by a technician (first 30 minutes)
96138+96139 Psychological test administration and scoring by a technician (additional 30 minutes)
90847 Family psychotherapy with a patient present (feedback session)
90889 Psychological Report Writing
In addition, insurance companies will often request the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases - 10th edition) code corresponding to the patient's medical condition. Autism spectrum disorder falls under the following ICD-10 code:
F84.0 Autism Spectrum Disorder
- After reviewing information on our website, please complete our online registration form found HERE.(link is external)
- After receiving your registration form, one of our staff will contact you to schedule your assessment appointments. These are typically conducted on one or two half-day sessions. At this point, we will email/mail you an intake packet in order to obtain relevant background information on the child or adult to be evaluated.
- After you complete the intake packet, we ask that you submit it to us along with copies of relevant supplementary materials, including the most recent IEP (Individualized Education Plans), IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plans), and/or past developmental or psychological reports.
- In order to hold your evaluation date, you must also send in a $500 non-refundable deposit (credit/debit card acceptable, if paying with check or money order make out to UC REGENTS). We must receive all documents one week prior to your scheduled appointment date or your appointment may be subject to cancellation. Our address is in the intake packet.
- On your scheduled evaluation day(s), the child or adult being evaluated will participate in cognitive, social-communication, and supplementary assessments. Additionally, depending on the assessment selected, parents/caregivers may be asked to participate in structured assessment interviews to obtain information about the person’s adaptive skills and social functioning. The remaining payment will be processed on the first morning of the assessment.
- At the end of the one to two-day assessment session, our team will meet with you for a feedback session to discuss our findings and recommendations. You will have ample opportunity to ask questions you might have and have information clarified.
- You will receive a written report in the mail approximately 4-6 weeks after the conclusion of our evaluation that contains information and recommendations initially discussed during the feedback session.
Our two-day comprehensive assessment option assesses for a wide range of clinical conditions, including:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Language/development delays
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Conduct Disorder
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Depressive Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders
- Tic Disorders/Tourette's Syndrome
- Intellectual Disability
- Personality Disorders
- Schizophrenia/Thought Disorders
Our one-day assessment options primarily focus on the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability but may provide information useful for diagnostic clarity.
In all cases (including adult evaluations), it is recommended that a parent or other highly familiar adult accompany the individual being assessed. For young child assessments, it is highly preferred that two adults (e.g. two parents or a parent and a relative) attend both days, so that one adult can stay with the child during testing.
All evaluations are overseen by either our Clinical Director, Anna Krasno, Ph.D. or our Center Director, Ty Vernon, Ph.D., who are both licensed psychologists. Drs. Krasno & Vernon supervise the clinical team and administer core assessment instruments. Our team is composed of doctoral student clinicians with a high degree of expertise and experience in the assessment of autism spectrum disorders. Finally, we utilize bachelor and undergraduate-level research and clinical assistants to help coordinate our evaluations.
In the student-led one-day evaluations, a doctoral student clinician will conduct all testing under the supervision of one of our licensed psychologists.
Drs Krasno and Vernon are both licensed psychologists who have received rigorous training in state-of-the-art assessment methods. Both were trained in psychological and neuropsychological testing at UCSB's Psychological Assessment Center. Dr. Krasno received additional assessment training during a psychology internship at Stanford University. Dr. Vernon received his training during a two-year fellowship at the Yale University Child Study Center.
Both directors originally completed the requirements for their Ph.D. in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at UCSB. During their graduate years, they collaborated closely with advisors Drs. Robert and Lynn Koegel at the Koegel Autism Center, where they worked as researchers, clinicians, parent educators, and supervisors.
First Assessment Day: When your family arrives at our center, the child or adult being assessed will first be given time to adjust to his/her new surroundings and the clinicians working with him/her. Intake and consent forms are completed at this point. The person being assessed will then participate in a cognitive or developmental assessment (depending on age) and an interactive social communication assessment. While he/she is being assessed, parents/caregivers will participate in a structured interview to gather additional information about the person’s social-communicative and behavioral history. For one-day evaluations, a day and time will be scheduled to conduct the feedback session after this day.
Second Assessment Day (Two-Day Evaluation Only): The child or adult being assessed will receive supplementary assessments needed to answer your specific questions (for example, language, executive functioning, or personality assessment measures). While the person is being assessed, parents/caregivers will participate in an interview about the person’s adaptive skills (that is, the skills he/she uses on a daily basis). Once these assessments are complete, our team will meet to review the assessment results. We will then hold a feedback session with you (and the person being assessed if appropriate) to discuss our findings, diagnostic information, and our recommendations.
We use the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2), which is an interactive social communication assessment that has different modules based on the individual's age and language abilities.
We also use the Autism Diagnostic Interview - Revised (ADI-R), which is a parent-interview that allows us to gather current and historic information about the individual's social-communication and behavior. These tools are widely considered the current gold standards in the field of autism assessment.
We combine this information with a number of other assessments (cognitive tests, adaptive skill interviews, language assessments, etc) to ensure a high degree of accuracy in our diagnostic decision-making process.
Our team has experience with assessing and working with children and adults with very challenging behaviors. We use state-of-the-art, positive strategies to encourage individuals to participate in our assessments and can often be successful when previous efforts of other professionals have not worked.
We have a wide-range of assessments suitable for very gifted individuals, even if there is a lot of variability in their profile of strengths and vulnerabilities.
We can assess individuals of all ages. For very young children, we conduct a developmental assessment and if necessary, we make a provisional diagnosis to assist with obtaining necessary early intervention services. For older adults, we focus on assessment of quality of life issues, independent living skills, and vocational (work) skills.
Our recommendations are very comprehensive and are tailored to each individual. Typically, school-aged and adolescents receive a variety of educational recommendations, while toddlers receive appropriate early intervention and family service recommendations. Adults typically receive recommendations pertaining to independent living and vocational (job) skill acquisition and support.
Families can initiate an assessment without a referral from a doctor or other professional. However, some insurance companies may require a referral as a prerequisite for reimbursement requests. We recommend looking into your insurance company’s specific polices before proceeding with an evaluation.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnoses
Adaptive Skills
Cognitive Functioning (Intelligence Testing)
Developmental Delays
Executive Functioning/Problem Solving
Gross/Fine Motor Skill Screening (Young Toddlers)
Language/Speech Delays
Memory/Attention
Personality Assessment
Pre-Academic Skills
Problem Behaviors
Socialization Skills