Autisme Montréal is a community organisation. We do not do evaluations nor offer rehabilitation or therapy services.
Please not that the information that follows pertains to the island of Montreal. If you do not reside on the island of Montreal, we suggest you contact your regional autism association by going to the website https://www.autisme.qc.ca/la-federation/associations-regionales/ or your CLSC/CISSS in order to obtain information pertaining to your region.
In Quebec, psychiatrists and specialised psychologists are the only authorized professionals that can undertake an evaluation and give a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Currently, evaluations by psychologists are primarily available in the private sector, for a fee assumed by the person being evaluated or their family. It is essential to find a psychologist that specializes in ASD evaluations. No other therapist or specialist (occupational therapist, speech and language pathologist, psychoeducator, etc) is authorized to give a diagnosis of ASD, however they can do evaluations that identify the developmental problems of your child.
There are 4 hospitals officially mandated on the island of Montreal to do evaluations and give an ASD diagnosis. They are Ste-Justine hospital, the Children’s hospital, the Douglas hospital and Rivière-des-Prairies hospital. This service is however restricted to children under 18 years old, and in some cases under 5 years old. Some of these hospitals also have territorial restrictions and as such will only accept residents belonging to certain territories/CIUSSS. Furthermore, waiting lists fluctuate and vary from one hospital to another, but range between 6 to 24 months. During your child’s evaluation, a team of specialists will evaluate your child, and will possibly include additional testing, such as those done by an audiologist or an occupational therapist.
STEPS TO FOLLOW TO OBTAIN AN EVALUATION
For children under the age of 18 years old
1) It is important to consult your pediatrician and to express your concerns regarding your child’s development, whether pertaining to a delay, unusual behaviours, absence of language, etc. Your pediatrician will provide you with a referral for an ASD evaluation. In some cases, your pediatrician will forward the referral to the CLSC or to one of the hospitals mentioned above.
2) Following your visit to your pediatrician, it is important to go to your CLSC of your CIUSSS and to request help to obtain an evaluation for ASD/autism AND any developmental delays that your child presents. If you in fact have your pediatrician’s referral for an ASD evaluation, it would be pertinent to give a copy to your CLSC. Depending of your postal code, certain CLSCs will triage your referral and send it directly to the hospital that will be able to do the evaluation. In certain cases, some CLSC/CIUSSS in Montreal even have their own ASD evaluation teams.
The complexity to obtain a diagnosis results from many factors including different programs of the public system which have age restrictions (for example Agir tôt), of the sectorization of other programs, and chronic waiting lists in the public system.
The very lengthy waiting lists for an ASD evaluation in the public system is for many unacceptable. Thus, families or adults often resort to getting an ASD evaluation in clinics of the private sector of Montreal listed further below.
For adults
As a general rule, obtaining an ASD evaluation in the public system is not easily accessible for adults. Waiting lists are very long, require a medical requisition and almost always obligate parental participation in the evaluation as well. Therefore, obtaining an ASD diagnosis as an adult is primarily made possible by specialised psychologists in the private sector, however for a fee which is fully born by the adult being evaluated or their family. Currently, there is no clinic in a hospital setting in Quebec that has an official mandate to provide ASD evaluations for adults.
In Montréal, there is only the clinic AutismeMD https://www.autismemd.com/en, that offers ASD evaluations for adults that are covered by the RAMQ since they are done by psychiatrists. However, the waiting list is extremely long and temporarily closed.
Clinics in Montreal that offer ASD evaluations
Below is a list of clinics in Montreal that offer ASD evaluations. Information pertaining to these clinics may vary at times. Please know, we do our best to remain up to date.
Evaluations covered by the RAMQ (offered by a psychiatrist – medical requisitions are obligatory):
1) Clinique AutismeMD Home | Autisme M.D. (autismemd.com) (evaluations offered for all ages)
2) If less than 25 years old, it is possible to have an evaluation at the Autism evaluation clinic at the Douglas hospital in Montreal. The waiting list is of 2 years.
3) Clinique CEVAM https://cevamtl.com/services (evaluations for children under the age of 12 years old)
4) Situated in St-Jérôme, a psychiatrist by the name of Dre Céline Lamy will restart doing ASD evaluations as of January 2025 to individuals 14 years old and over. Evaluations are covered by the RAMQ and are done in French only. You must send an email to rdvcliniquelamy@gmail.com and indicate « Évaluation TSA » as the object of the email. All your contact information as well as RAMQ number must be indicated in your email along with the medical referral. For individuals that do not have a medical doctor to provide a referral, Dre Lamy will also accept referrals from other professionals (psychologist, social worker, etc) that know well the individual wishing to be evaluated. However, Dre Lamy does not accept referrals from individuals already followed by a psychiatrist.
Evaluations not covered by the RAMQ – fees must be fully assumed by the person being evaluated:
Below is a list of specialised clinics that do ASD evaluations in the private sector of Montreal. A medical referral is not required for these clinics. Fees related to the evaluation range between 1600$ to 4200$ (depending on the clinic and whether the evaluation is done by a psychologist, neuropsychologist or psychiatrist). These fees normally do not include cognitive evaluations, which may also be recommended for some children of school age. Furthermore, some of these clinics may occasionally close their waiting lists as well. We recommend that you contact each clinic to verify their fees, which tests they do and what their waiting period stands at.
The clinics are listed in a random order:
1) Clinique Autisme et asperger de Montréal https://www.clinique-autisme-asperger-mtl.ca/ 514 990-3373
2) Clinique ABA 514 271-9696
3) Clinique Spectrum https://cliniquespectrum.com/fr/ 514 500-5355
4) Dr. Erwin Neumark 514 781-4626
5) Dre Margaret O’Byrne 514 781-4966
6) Neurosolutions https://neurosolution.ca/ 514 600-5591
7) CENOP https://cenop.ca/ 514 858-6484
8) CENAA (on the south shore) https://cenaa.ca/ 450 907-3339
9) Clinique Tandem (in Laval) https://www.cliniquetandem.ca/ 450 490-3214
10) Clinique Pédiatrique Grandir Simplement (for children under 18 years old) https://www.grandirsimplement.com/ (514) 600-4235
11) Secure child centre https://www.thesecurechild.com/ 514 819-1528
12) Milestone clinique https://cliniquemilestone.ca/ 438 370 1215
13) Clinique Glow www.evaltsa.com (for children under 17 years old)
14) CCIFA-TED (on the south shore) https://www.ccifa-ted.com/ (450) 396-6496
15) West Island therapy and Wellness centre https://www.westislandtherapycentre.com/ 514 696-0948
If you have any questions pertaining to obtaining a diagnosis in Montreal, please contact us at 514 524-6114.