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✔ We specialise exclusively
in women and girls due to their differing presentation and need for support.
✔ Our diagnostic & functional assessments are delivered
by a highly-trained female-only MDT team.
✔ We operate under stringent Autism CRC National Guidelines endorsed by NHMRC, and are NDIS compliant.
✔ Diagnostic assessments use gold-standard diagnostic tools including ADOS-2, ADI-R, DIVA-5 and Qbtest
✔ No waiting lists - fast turnaround reports that remain detailed, professional and focused on functional impact to support NDIS funding requests.
✔ Our support coordinators are able to work with both self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants, and specialise in supporting women and girls on the spectrum with complex needs.
Vision
At Spectrum Sisters, we specialise in supporting girls and women with Autism and ADHD through functional assessments, diagnostic assessments, and expert support coordination. Our aim is to provide a holistic, person-centred approach that values strengths, talents, and lived experience.
We understand that women and girls often present differently, and may have been misdiagnosed or overlooked due to male-focused assessment tools or a lack of understanding of masking and female neurodiversity. That’s why all our assessors are female, with lived experience, and deeply trained in supporting this population.
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Our services include:
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Functional Assessments – Explore daily living, routines, independence, social and occupational functioning, and support needs.
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Diagnostic Assessments – Comprehensive evaluation for Autism and ADHD, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
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Support Coordination – Level 2 & Level 3 support for complex needs, delivered by experienced social workers, helping navigate health, education, social care, and safeguarding systems.
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We are committed to empowering women and girls, ensuring their needs are understood, supported, and valued. With practical, personalised guidance, we help participants to achieve independence, wellbeing, and safety in all areas of life. For too long, women and girls on the spectrum have been underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or diagnosed late. Our vision is to change that imbalance — recognising and supporting our sisters with gold-standard, female-led assessments so they get the support they need and deserve.
We see Spectrum Sisters as not just an assessment and support service - but as a movement. ​
We see you. We recognise you. We've lived it. We understand. ​
Masking
We know only too well how the female presentation of Autism and ADHD is vastly different from the male presentation. We know what masking looks like and we also know how deeply it can affect a person's mental health and wellbeing. Research has shown the devastating impact long-term masking can have on the mental health of children and adults, and we are highly trained to recognise this, making our assessments far more reliable and in-depth.
Expertise
Our assessment team is highly unique. We are an MDT multi-disciplinary assessment team (as per Autism CRC guidelines, endorsed by NHMRC). Every one of us is a highly-trained professional from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, mental health nursing, social work, occupational therapy, educational psychology, and speech and language therapy. What sets us apart is that in addition to this we all hold a professional interest and have had in-depth training in the female presentation of neurodiversity, and we are all females with lived experience in this area. In addition, every one of our assessments involves an in-depth review by our MDT team, with not just a diagnosis, but a detailed functional report
This means, that when you get an assessment from us, you can ensure that it will be highly-specialised, high-quality, person-centred and with in-depth understanding and knowledge of the female Autism and ADHD phenotype. All our reports include detailed functional impact and recommendations for funding, signposting and a follow-up appointment to discuss outcomes. We strongly believe with the right understanding, support, and scaffolding, women and girls with neurodiversity can learn to fly!
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If you are a practitioner who aligns with our values and feels you may want to join our team we would love to hear from you as we are currently hiring.
Benefits
Many people ask us why assessment is necessary? Why label your child or yourself? What are the benefits?
Women and girls with autism are currently vastly underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and/or are diagnosed later in life than males. Yet early identification and intervention has been linked to improved functioning and wellbeing of people with autism. Girls and women with autism are more likely to be victims of bullying, child abuse, poor health care, domestic violence, sexual assault, crime, depression, addiction problems, social isolation, PTSD, poor living conditions, poor employment, and affects them across the lifespan. A diagnosis can help to access well-designed support around understanding of oneself and prioritising safety, assertiveness, good mental health, and self-determination. It can also help to empower our girls to become the amazing people that they can be with the right understanding and support in place. All our assessments include detailed recommendations that can be used for funding and for reasonable adjustments for the workplace for adults, and for children in school.
Our Story
- By Women For Women -
Spectrum Sisters was founded by two social workers who were regularly seeing in practice vast amounts of neurodivergent women and girls being misdiagnosed, and under-diagnosed and the impact that would have on their life. Passionate about redressing this imbalance, Spectrum Sisters was formed and we now have a growing number of professionals from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, mental health nursing and beyond who support our goals. We are all committed to offering much needed specialised Autism and ADHD assessments for women and girls in order to help them access the right funding, support, understanding and the tools in life to be able to succeed. We operate under stringent Autism CRC guidelines ensuring the highest standards of assessment.
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