Four years of waiting. The LWL Clinic Dortmund is currently not accepting new enquiries. The University Hospital Freiburg also reports at least three years until a diagnostic appointment and has closed registration. At the Klinikum St. Georg in Leipzig, the waiting list is even closed until December 2028. In many places, anyone who suspects they have autism can hardly still find access to a professional assessment.
The German national association autismus Deutschland (Bundesverband autismus Deutschland) warns, in information updated on 18 August 2026, of waiting times of two years or more, especially for adults. Many outpatient clinics, it says, no longer accept new people or limit themselves to their regional catchment area. There is, however, no nationwide statistic on the actual waiting times. The information comes from the association and from individual institutions.
Three to four years of waiting and no new registrations
How serious the bottlenecks have become is shown by the clinics’ published information. The LWL Clinic Dortmund states a waiting time of about four years. New enquiries are not being accepted for the time being.
The University Hospital Freiburg speaks of at least three years between receipt of the questionnaires and the diagnostic appointment. Registration for the specialist clinic has already been closed since April 2024.
According to its website, the Klinikum St. Georg Leipzig is not putting new people on its waiting list until December 2028. In addition, the institution restricts its diagnostic service to people from Leipzig, Halle (Saale) and the surrounding region.
These examples illustrate the difficult care situation at several locations. They do not, however, allow conclusions about the average waiting time across Germany as a whole. Depending on region, age and available specialist practices, the situation can differ.
Adults find particularly few places to turn to
For children, besides specialised practices there are, among others, social paediatric centres and child and adolescent psychiatric institutions. Adults, by contrast, are often referred to specialist psychiatric outpatient clinics or to a few experienced specialist practices. In the association’s assessment, corresponding services for adults are considerably rarer.
In addition, an autism assessment is time-consuming. Specialists conduct detailed interviews, look at development since childhood and examine whether other or additional conditions play a role. A single questionnaire is not sufficient for a reliable diagnosis.
With adults in particular, the assessment can be demanding. Some have spent years learning to hide certain behaviours in social situations. Others were previously treated for depression, anxiety disorders or ADHD.
How an autism assessment in adulthood works is explained in detail in our knowledge area.
When not even the waiting list is open
Anyone turned away by a specialist outpatient clinic often faces the next difficulty. Where can a diagnostic appointment still be arranged at all? According to its own statement, the association is currently unable to provide a reliable nationwide overview of available diagnostic places.
For adults, the general practice as well as psychiatric or psychotherapeutic practices can be first points of contact. There, symptoms can be put into context, possible other causes investigated and, where appropriate, referrals to specialised institutions arranged. Parents should first contact the paediatric practice.
The health insurance fund, regional autism associations or the responsible medical or psychotherapists’ chamber can also help with the search. Before registering, it is advisable to ask about the catchment area, necessary referrals and the current admissions situation.
Further information is offered by our guide to costs, referral and waiting times in autism assessment.
Support is also possible without a final diagnosis
A long wait does not mean that all complaints must go untreated. If, for example, there are pronounced anxieties, depressive symptoms or sleep problems, these can be assessed medically or psychotherapeutically independently of a completed autism assessment.
The appointment service line on 116117 can help to arrange a psychotherapeutic consultation. An appointment at a specialised autism outpatient clinic is not automatically linked to this, however.
Children, too, can under certain conditions receive support for developmental concerns even before a final diagnosis, for example through early intervention (Frühförderung).
Anyone who wants to prepare for a later assessment can gather earlier school reports, medical reports and observations from different phases of life. Which documents are helpful is explained in our article Preparing for an autism assessment.
Caution with expensive offers of a quick diagnosis
In view of closed waiting lists, short-notice diagnostic appointments on a self-pay basis seem particularly attractive. But not every offer is equally suitable.
Before booking, those affected should clarify what professional qualifications the examiners hold, which diagnostic methods are used and whether the findings are suitable for the intended purpose.
A privately paid assessment is not automatically reimbursed by the statutory health insurance fund. The costs and any possible reimbursement should therefore be clarified in advance.
In correspondingly authorised institutions, the assessment can be billed through statutory health insurance. Those affected should discuss with the institution concerned and their health insurance fund what conditions apply.
Online self-tests can provide initial pointers but do not replace a professional assessment.
The long waiting times have consequences for those affected
For many adults, an autism diagnosis can help them better understand long-standing experiences. It can also be a basis for finding suitable support services and for presenting their own needs to specialist agencies in a way that is easy to follow.
Anyone who has to wait years for an examination remains without professional certainty for just as long. At the same time, a careful assessment is necessary because some features of autism overlap with those of other conditions. An assessment can therefore also lead to a different result.
The examples from Dortmund, Freiburg and Leipzig show how strained the situation is at individual specialist outpatient clinics. Closed waiting lists and waiting times of several years make access to assessment considerably harder.
For those affected, this often leaves only the search for other institutions while the assessment they actually need is still outstanding. That makes expanding qualified diagnostic services an important task for health care.
Sources
German national association autismus Deutschland: Current situation on autism assessment in Germany, as of 18 August 2026 (in German).
LWL Clinic Dortmund: Autism outpatient clinic: waiting times and admissions stop, accessed on 22 October 2026 (in German).
University Hospital Freiburg: Specialist clinic for autism in adulthood, accessed on 22 October 2026 (in German).
Klinikum St. Georg Leipzig: Autism assessment for adults, accessed on 22 October 2026 (in German).
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG): How is autism diagnosed?, 19 June 2024 (in German).
National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung): Psychotherapeutic consultation and appointment service (in German).
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