What is the best way to get a diagnosis?

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Would private be the best way? I know best depends but I mean the best in as far as getting the *correct* diagnosis by a *good* professional.

Over here it's usually diagnosed by registered psychologists who are experienced or specialized in autism and related developmental disorders. I'm not sure where you're located and what you mean by "private". I'm in Canada and public health care will cover the diagnosis for children, though the wait time is usually a year or more. Theoretically they cover diagnosis for adults, too, but it's very hard to get it. There are very few publicly funded psychologist who are qualified for adult diagnosis and we may wait for ages to see one. We did private diagnosis for our son and myself, because they're much faster and we have extended health insurance that covered most of it. (Cost between 1500 - 2000 on average).

If you have good insurance then you just need to make sure they do cover psychologists (phone them to find out the upper limit of what they would pay, per hour and total), and make sure your psychologist is one of those rare ones experienced in adult autism. Good luck!

Find yourself a good shrink.

I don't know where you live, but if you want a prompt diagnosis by a psych of your choice, then I would choose to go private. I live in Canada, and I totally believe in free health care. Without going into too much a tangent, I will also add that I do believe all psychologists should be covered under the universal health care because our mental, emotional, etc health should be just as important as our physical health--maybe even moreso sometimes. Anyway, because this is not the case here, I did go private. This was to avoid the year or two long wait lists, and also because I knew exactly who I was getting and whether or not they were good quality. If I had to do it over again, I would do it the exact same way. If you don't have the money though (which I didn't, but I was willing to go into debt for it) then you might not have a choice but to try and get on a wait list in a public clinic (this is assuming you are in Canada or somewhere else that actually offers such services).

Contact your local autism service group ask them to send you a list of local psychologists who have some idea how to spot and test for autism spectrum disorders. Pick one from the list then go see that psychologist. If you do not have insurance ask them if they are willing to work on a sliding scale or set up a payment plan. I suggest a neuro psychologist. Good luck.