KKH vs NUH vs private: where to get an autism assessment in Singapore

First, a thing almost nobody tells parents

Parents often arrive at this question thinking they are choosing between two rival hospitals. They are not. KKH’s Department of Child Development (DCD) “runs the Child Development Programme of the Ministry of Health (MOH), together with the National University Hospital” — one national programme, two doors.

Which door you end up at is usually decided by your referral, not by you. A polyclinic doctor, GP or paediatrician who spots a developmental concern refers your child onward to KKH DCD or to NUH’s Child Development Unit (CDU). It is reasonable to state a preference — proximity matters when you may be making this trip repeatedly — but do not agonise over it as though one hospital diagnoses differently from the other.

The choice that genuinely changes your experience is public or private.

The comparison, on one screen

Figures as of July 2026. The cost side has more to it than one row — subsidies, the free screening step, and the Medisave question are covered in full in our guide to what an autism assessment costs in Singapore.

KKH — Department of Child Development

KKH DCD “provides specialist diagnostic and intervention services for children with developmental, learning and behavioural difficulties”. Beyond autism it also assesses ADHD, global developmental delay, developmental language disorder, dyslexia, stuttering and anxiety — which matters, because plenty of families arrive suspecting autism and leave with a fuller and different picture.

Its psychology service covers preschool-aged children, and states that autism assessment is available from as early as 2–3 years old. There is also school-readiness assessment at around five to six.

NUH — Child Development Unit

NUH’s CDU sits within Developmental & Behavioural Paediatrics and “provides holistic care for children experiencing developmental, learning and behavioural challenges”. It publishes the one clear age boundary in the public system: it serves children from birth up to Kindergarten 2, before the age of seven.

Its team is unusually explicitly listed — paediatricians specialising in developmental and behavioural paediatrics, “alongside psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, learning support educators, nurses and social workers”. That breadth is the real argument for the public route: the assessment and the people who will help afterwards are in the same building.

NUH also names school observation among its assessments — someone going to watch your child in their actual classroom. It is one of the more useful things available and easy to miss on a service list.

Private assessment

Private developmental paediatricians and psychologists need no referral. You call, you book, and you are usually seen far sooner. For a family who has been waiting months and watching a preschool window close, that is not a small thing.

The honest trade-offs: you pay the whole fee, no subsidy applies, and the follow-on support is not automatically attached the way it is inside a hospital programme. Fees also vary far more than parents expect, and most clinics do not publish them at all. One that does, as of July 2026, charges S$300 for a one-hour autism screen and S$2,000 for a standard diagnostic assessment of five to six hours.

A private diagnosis is not second-class. A private paediatrician can also recommend your child for early intervention and submit that to SG Enable — you do not need a public-hospital diagnosis to get into the system.

What is the same wherever you go

This is worth holding on to while you choose, because it takes some of the weight off the decision. There are no biological tests that can diagnose autism. No blood test, no scan. Every assessment, public or private, is built from the same three ingredients: a detailed developmental history from you, direct observation of your child, and information from the teachers and therapists who see them regularly.

The two instruments in common use are the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), which takes two to three hours, and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), which takes forty minutes to an hour. NUH describes a typical autism assessment as three to four hours in total, spread over about three sessions.

Screening can happen from as young as 18 months, and a diagnostic assessment can be done from 31 months. If your child is younger than that and you have been told to wait, that is not someone brushing you off.

So which should you choose?

There is no universally right answer, but the decision usually comes down to three honest questions.

• Can you afford to wait? If your child is approaching a school transition or the preschool years are running out, speed has real value. If not, the public route costs a fraction of the private one.
• What do you need afterwards? If you expect to need therapy, referrals and ongoing review, the public programme has all of that attached. If you mainly need a clear answer and a report, private does that well.
• Can you do both? Many families do, and it is entirely legitimate: get a private assessment now for the answer, and stay on the public waiting list for the ongoing support. Nobody will penalise you for it.

Whichever you choose, start by getting the referral — the step-by-step diagnosis guide walks through the whole route from that first appointment onward.