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Assesments for Children & Young People
Therapeutic assessments for children
These can be self-funded or for those who are eligible can be funded through the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund. These assessments will consider a young person’s mental health and where relevant, consider challenges associated with experiencing trauma and attachment difficulties. The main purpose of these assessments is to consider therapeutically what support the young person may benefit from. Families who are concerned about a young person’s wellbeing but aren’t sure what steps to take next can contact us for an initial consultation, or we can create bespoke longer assessments in discussion with yourselves in order to meet your requirements. For further information about ASGSF assessments click here [insert link to take to ASGSF bit].
Occupational Therapy assessments
These assessments consider a young person’s sensory processing and motor skills and how difficulties in these areas may impact on function in everyday life. Gaining a broader understanding of these aspects can help us to plan appropriate intervention, and give advice and recommendations around increasing independence for that young person.
For further information on our OT services please visit our OT page.
Developmental Co-ordination Disorder ‘DCD’ Assessment Clinic
Formal diagnostic assessments for DCD/Dyspraxia for young people (aged 5-16 years) can be conducted by a Paediatrician and Occupational Therapist. For further information please see our DCD assessment clinic webpage.
Neurodevelopmental Autism Assessment for children
These are diagnostic assessments for families who consider that their children may meet criteria for a diagnosis of autism. These assessments are multi-disciplinary and compliant with NICE guidelines. For further information please see our Neurodevelopmental Autism Assessment page
Education and Learning Assessments
Families and schools can access assessment, consultation and support from our highly qualified team such as Educational and Clinical Psychologists to help better understand a young person’s educational experiences and challenges. We draw upon a wide range of standardised and dynamic assessment approaches and consider the strengths of the young person, supporting their engagement and social-emotional wellbeing. Please note we are unable to provide assessments as a part of an EHCP process . For further information please see our Services to Education webpage.
Neurodevelopmental Autism Assessment
This branch of Psychology Associates has been developed in response to many families reaching out and requesting autism assessments from us. Much of the time this is due to the lengthy waiting lists our NHS colleagues are operating under, but is also due to our particular set of skills. Whilst we can assess for Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), we also consider other difficulties which can often look like ASC – such as trauma and attachment, mental health difficulties, communication and language disorders, and other medical presentations.
Due to our expert multidisciplinary team at Psychology Associates, we can also assess for concerns around learning needs, sensory processing and dyspraxia. These are additional assessments, and recommendations for these could potentially be an outcome of the neurodevelopmental autism assessment. It is important for families to know that we do not offer diagnostic assessments for ADHD or dyslexia.
Our assessment pathway offers:
Easy self-referral for assessment – contact us via telephone, email or contact form
Free screening – upon enquiry we will send you an email containing forms and questionnaires to complete. These will be reviewed by a Clinical Psychologist and if appropriate you will be offered a first appointment. On occasion we may feel that a different approach would be better suited to your child’s specific needs; at this point we would contact you to discuss alternative options.
Clinical Psychologist Initial Assessment appointment – £390 this initial stage involves an adult-only (e.g. Parent/Carer) appointment to help determine if a full autism assessment is indicated, or whether we feel an alternative approach may be helpful. It could be, for example, that we feel your child’s difficulties are better explained by anxiety, and we feel that an approach to support this anxiety would be the best next step. At Psychology Associates we also have a significant expertise in trauma, and will consider for those children who’ve experienced trauma if this may be a better explanation. This means that if we are not sure if a full assessment is indicated, we’ll let you know at the earliest point so that you avoid unnecessary cost. This stage includes a short report that can be used independently if the assessment goes no further, or integrated into the full multi-disciplinary assessment.
Multi-disciplinary autism assessment – £2640* – the next stage will involve a Consultant Paediatrician and a highly experienced Speech and Language Therapist assessing your child directly, at our clinic in Saltash and in school. *If your child attends school or other educational placement there will be an additional travel cost.
Face to face assessment with highly experienced clinicians – all of our clinicians have worked in the NHS conducting autism assessments for a number of years. Two of the three assessing clinicians are also Consultant Doctors in their roles. Whilst parts of the assessment may be conducted remotely, at Psychology Associates, we believe a diagnosis of social communication difficulties necessitates face to face interaction with the young person in order to avoid the risk of misdiagnosis.
Gold-standard assessment tools – as well as clinical interview, our assessments use the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), the updated DISCO (Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders) which includes particular considerations for females on the autism spectrum, and a range of communication assessment tools such as the CELF-5 (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals– 5th edition) and the Test of Auditory Processing-4th edition. We use a range of assessments in order to tailor to your child’s needs.
Comprehensive diagnostic report recognised by other services – at the end of the assessment you’ll receive a report detailing the assessment process and our clinical decision. Whilst just like other independent assessors we cannot guarantee the response of other services to our reports, we have never had any issues with the reports we have written being recognised by health and education professionals. As our assessments are NICE compliant, completed by qualified and registered clinicians with years of NHS experience with autism assessments, this covers the potential reasons that statutory organisations may not recognise an independent diagnosis. In fact, a significant portion of our assessments come by word of mouth from other satisfied families.
Post-assessment workbook – this workbook written by our staff at Psychology Associates will give a platform for families to explore with their child, and for adolescents to explore more independently. It covers areas such as emotions and sensory sensitivities and communication. It also highlights areas that we believe will be beneficial to share with education staff. It is appropriate for all individuals where a concern about autistic traits has been raised, regardless of whether criteria for an autism diagnosis was met or not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our standard assessment comprises
- parental/carer interview with our Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- two sessions with our Consultant Paediatrician, which includes a DISCO assessment with parents/carers, and a medical assessment with the parents and child together
- school observation and consultation
- language assessment and ADOS with the young person
- review of psychometric questionnaires
- multi-disciplinary formulation meeting
- feedback session with family (this can be with parents/carers but can also include the young person if the family would prefer this)
- comprehensive report
On rare occasions further assessment may be required; this is always discussed with families prior to any additional assessment taking place.
Yes. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) make recommendations for autism assessment in children. These can be found at www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/CG128. These state that the autism team should consist at a minimum of a paediatrician (or child and adolescent psychiatrist), a speech and language therapist and a psychologist. Many independent assessment teams do not have all of these as a part of the assessment, and some will have them in the team but not a part of the direct assessment.
At Psychology Associates, these three professionals will be directly involved in the assessment, ensuring the highest level of expertise.
Assessors should be qualified and be a member of a regulatory body (ours are registered with HCPC or GMC).
The assessment should include informants (such as parents/carers, and where possible school) and include a developmental history, direct assessment with the young person and consideration of other possible reasons for their presentation.
Whilst just like other independent assessors we cannot guarantee the response of other services to our reports, we have never had any issues with the reports we have written being recognised by health and education professionals. As our assessments are NICE compliant, completed by qualified and registered clinicians with years of NHS experience with autism assessments, this covers the potential reasons that statutory organisations may not recognise an independent diagnosis. In fact, a significant portion of our assessments come by word of mouth from other satisfied families.
If the assessment shows that your child meets the criteria for autism, and that other potential reasons (differential diagnoses) do not better explain the presenting symptoms, then your child would receive a diagnosis. However, there are times when we feel a diagnosis is not clinically indicated; in these situations we strive to create an understanding that offers you ideas for next steps and what support to seek.
We can guarantee that your child will receive a robust, multi-disciplinary assessment to consider if a diagnostic label of Autism is appropriate for them. For every assessment our three clinicians will meet and discuss whether the assessment evidence is supportive of a diagnosis or not. Once our three clinicians have agreed upon a decision together, you will be contacted to have a feedback session with one of them. A comprehensive report will then be sent to you after the feedback and after final payment has been made.
Our initial consultation is priced at £390 and if the full assessment is indicated after this, then the rest of the assessment is priced at £2640. If your child attends school or any other educational placement, a travel fee will also be added for the school observation. On occasion there may be additional factors that we feel require further assessment, for example when a child has been fostered or adopted and we need to consider the impact of any early trauma. These situations may require additional assessment and therefore would incur an additional fee. This will always be discussed with you at the earliest opportunity and before the work is carried out.
We are aware that some other services offer assessments at a lower rate. Whilst we strive to offer as cost-efficient a service as possible, because our assessment includes 3 highly specialist clinicians identified in NICE guidance this is reflected in our costings.
All robust autism assessments should include differential diagnosis. This means identifying if there are other reasons why your child may be presenting in the way that has led you to contact us. We are able to consider the impact of other possible neurodevelopmental difficulties (such as ADHD and FASD) even though we do not diagnose these. We also are able to assess for the impact of trauma, anxiety, depression and other mental health difficulties, as well as other communication or medical difficulties. Given the experience of our team it is difficult to put together a comprehensive list, however, should you have a specific question please do contact us.
No, we do not offer diagnostic ADHD assessments.
We are able to consider demand avoidance as a part of the assessment, but we do not assess for it as a subtype of autism.
Yes. It is important to consider multiple informants in an assessment such as this. It may therefore be that if your child has recently left mainstream education that we may wish to contact their previous education setting (with your consent) to gain a richer perspective. However, if your child has not attended education for a long time (or has never) we are still able to conduct the assessment.
Yes. Our team have attended specialist training and use the latest version of the DISCO, which includes specific inclusion criteria for assessing females on the autism spectrum.
Yes. It is common for young people who are neurodivergent or experiencing other difficulties (such as anxiety) to try present as ‘typical’ to others and hide their struggles. At Psychology Associates we are able to assess and consider the impact of this masking, as well as highlighting the links between masking and burnout.
No. Our team is able to assess young people up to the age of 18, but to assess adults requires slightly different clinicians to be a part of the team, and therefore at present we are unable to offer this.
No. The decision to pursue a diagnosis is a personal and family decision. We understand that at times a diagnosis can provide a helpful framework for a family to understand, or provide a sense of identity to the young person. It can support a family in terms of access to services. However, we also recognise that services (particularly education services) operate on a needs-led basis, rather than a label-based approach and therefore there can be access to support without a diagnostic label. Each family’s decision needs to be specific to their situation. We are able to provide supportive therapeutic sessions for either the adults, or the young person, with or without a diagnosis. If this interests you please see our therapy page
You will need to check if your insurers would fund such an assessment. If they do, we would consider each referral on a case-by-case basis. The decision would likely be determined by the terms and conditions that your insurer offers; we would not agree to reduce the quality of the assessment in order to fit with criteria they may have regarding costings or hours.
Once we have received your completed forms we can usually book the first appointment within a few weeks. At times this could vary depending on clinician availability, but we would aim to complete the assessment within 3 months of the initial appointment.
The initial appointment is often conducted remotely, or can be conducted in our office in Saltash. Medical appointments are always conducted in our Saltash office and the Speech and Language assessment is often conducted at your child’s educational placement.
Absolutely. We offer therapeutic support to a number of young people who have diagnoses of autism. These sessions often focus around an area they are struggling with such as anxiety or anger. Click here for more details on our therapeutic services.
