What an Autism Assessment Costs in Singapore, and What Decides It

The one rule that decides what you pay

The Ministry of Health puts it in one sentence: “Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents who are referred from eligible referral sources are eligible for Specialist Outpatient Clinic subsidies.” The examples it lists include the emergency department, inpatient care, day surgery, subsidised specialist outpatient clinics, polyclinics, and CHAS GP clinics. It also says that list “is not exhaustive”, and tells you to check with your healthcare provider.

You do not apply for it, and you do not fill in a form. The subsidy is worked out from your household income and applied to the bill for you.

Read it the other way round and the choice becomes plain. A child referred by a polyclinic or a CHAS GP clinic enters the system that pays part of the specialist bill. A child booked straight into a private clinic does not, because the subsidy follows the referral and there was no referral.

This step costs nothing to get right. It is also why we would rather you read the hospital’s own pages than a stranger’s fee guide. Our guides for autism parents in Singapore start from the first signs.

What the subsidy takes off

The rate steps down in five bands, and the band you land in depends on one number: your household’s monthly income divided by everyone living in it. If that income is zero, the Ministry uses the Annual Value of your home instead, which it defines as “the estimated gross annual rent of a property if it were to be rented out”.

The hospital applies it for you.

Three routes, side by side

Our guide to KKH, NUH and going private side by side goes deeper on which route fits which family, and what happens during the assessment itself covers the session itself.

What KKH charges, and what the IQ assessment costs

Parents ask this one directly, and the answer has two halves.

The first half is the order things happen in. KKH’s own child development page says it plainly: “Children who are flagged with developmental concerns will meet our paediatricians at the first consultation in KKH for a comprehensive evaluation.” That evaluation “may include further medical investigations such as hearing tests, blood tests, etc.”

The diagnostic assessment comes after that, and SingHealth describes what it involves: “Observe your child’s behaviours. Interview you to understand your child’s development and behaviours. Consider information from your child’s teachers and other healthcare and educational professionals who have interacted with your child.” Your child gets toys and fun activities to play with during the session.

The second half is the money. KKH’s outpatient charges page for children carries no line for a cognitive, or IQ, assessment, so there is no published figure for it on its own, as of October 2026. The same page warns that “Outpatient consultation fees DO NOT include other hospital charges (eg. medication, laboratory tests, x-ray etc.)”. SingHealth says, “The timing and sessions (including information about the charges) will be discussed with you.”

So ask KKH two things before the session: whether the cognitive assessment is billed separately, and whether your subsidy applies to it. If you have been quoted an estimate at the clinic, ask for it in writing, and ask what it covers.

Can you pay for it with MediSave?

Not as far as the official lists show. CPF Board, the Central Provident Fund Board, gives the outpatient care MediSave helps with as examples: “Management of chronic diseases Vaccinations Health screenings CT/MRI scans”. CPF lists these as examples, so the list may not be complete.

Autism is not among the conditions the Ministry of Health lists under its Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP), which covers 23 chronic diseases, as of September 2026. Ask the clinic’s billing counter to confirm what your child’s visit will actually take.

Plan to pay this from savings.

When a written fee matters more than a hospital queue

Two centres publish their fee, and one more runs a service for older children.

The Dyslexia Association of Singapore lists an autism spectrum disorder assessment at “From S$3,564.20 From S$4,277.00”, for a Singapore Citizen and for a permanent resident or foreigner respectively, both including 9% GST, with effect from 1 July 2026. DAS says why the figure moved: “our assessment services are provided below actual cost” and “they are not subsidised by MOE”, the Ministry of Education. It also runs bursaries: “Singaporean families in need may apply for bursaries ranging from 33% to 100% to help offset the cost of assessments.”

The NUS Clinical and Health Psychology Centre lists an autism assessment under its Specialised package at S$4,360 per assessment, with its fees accurate as of 1 January 2026. NUS also lists a Basic package at S$2,180, which covers intelligence, special education application, dementia and personality assessments. Autism is not in that list.

SHINE Children and Youth Services runs EN3, a psycho-educational assessment and diagnosis service for “Children/ youth between 6 years to 21 years of age”. SHINE’s own page names no fee, so ask them for one directly rather than taking a second-hand figure.

What it costs after the diagnosis

The assessment is rarely the last bill. If your child goes into the Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) puts the out-of-pocket fee for Singapore Citizen children at “$5 to $430, depending on monthly household per capita income”, on a page last updated 21 April 2026. Our EIPIC guide covers who qualifies and how that referral works.

What to do next

One step, and it is the step that decides the bill: ask your polyclinic or your CHAS GP clinic for a referral to KKH’s Department of Child Development or to NUH’s Child Development Unit. Say that you are asking for a developmental assessment. That referral is what opens the subsidy.

NUH’s unit “primarily serves children from birth up to Kindergarten 2 (before the age of seven)”. For an older child, ask the doctor where to refer.

Two KKH rules sit inside that referral. A referral from a GP who is not on CHAS, or a polyclinic referral that names a specific doctor, is billed at “Non-subsidised rates”, and KKH puts a self-referred or walk-in patient there too. So ask for the referral without naming a doctor, and read the letter before you book.

Asking now is not late.

If you want these guides in your inbox as we write them, the newsletter form is at the foot of this page.