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Dana Haywood
About
Understanding your own mind can be one of the most clarifying and empowering experiences of your life—and guiding that process is work I find deeply meaningful. My name is Dr. Dana Haywood, and I'm a licensed clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist based in Midtown Manhattan, licensed in the State of New York. My work is centered on truly understanding you — not just your challenges, but the full picture of how your mind works, how you experience the world, and what makes you uniquely you. I specialize in comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental conditions, and I am deeply passionate about providing assessments that are accurate, affirming, and actually useful to you in your daily life. Whether you are seeking a diagnosis for the first time, looking for clarity after years of unanswered questions, or hoping to better advocate for yourself at work or school, I am here to partner with you in that process with care, honesty, and deep respect.
My path to specializing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults is rooted in both research and genuine passion. Early in my career, I conducted research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University exploring the neurobiology of social cognition in adults with ASD, and my doctoral dissertation focused specifically on emotional processing in adults with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. That work gave me an early and profound appreciation for the depth, complexity, and brilliance of neurodivergent minds — and for how often autistic adults are misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or simply overlooked by mainstream mental health systems. I am motivated every day by the exciting, expanding science around adult ASD presentations, and by the recognition that so many autistic adults spend years without the clarity, language, or support that a thorough, affirming evaluation can provide. You deserve to understand yourself fully — and to have a clinician who is just as invested in that understanding as you are.
I bring a neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based lens to every evaluation I conduct. That means I don't approach your assessment looking for deficits to catalog — I'm here to build a comprehensive, nuanced picture of how your brain works, in all its complexity. I am trained in gold-standard diagnostic tools, including the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition), alongside a thorough battery of neuropsychological measures, and I take care to interpret your results through a framework that honors your lived experience. Every feedback session is an opportunity to give you language for your experiences, validate what you've known about yourself, and equip you with concrete, individualized recommendations to advocate for the accommodations and supports you need — in the workplace, in higher education, and in life. My goal is for you to leave this process feeling seen, understood, and empowered.
