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Neurodiversity Assessment Pathway (NAP)
Autism Assessment
Our MDT Neurodiversity Assessment Pathway has been developed in response to many families reaching out and requesting private 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.
We passionately believe that families should have access to robust and timely assessments, but that in order to provide a robust assessment, a variety of other potential reasons behind your child’s presentation must be taken into account. For this reason, each assessment begins with the same Consultant Pediatrician appointment, so that we can identify alternative assessment approaches that are better suited and redirect your assessment at the ealiest point. It is important for families to know that we offer holistic assessments tailored to Autism. Occasionally, we may identify features that may be indicative of other conditions, which we may be able to explore further.
Our specialist assessments involve three disciplines:
- Pediatrician (doctor)
- Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
- HCPC Registered Child Psychologists
You will be offered a series of appointments, some for you, as parent/carer, and some with your child/young person as well. We can offer a bespoke assessment package, according to the needs of you and your child, but usually the assessment will look like this:
With Parent |
With Child/Young person | |
Consultant Paediatrician | Detailed developmental history interview (initial appointment) plus a specialised assessment tool (DISCO) | Meet and examine the child or young person (initial appointment) |
SLT | Consultation regarding functional communication skills. | Observe child in school Assess language and complete an ADOS-2* assessment |
Registered Psychologist | Interview regarding early experiences | Use of psychometrics (questionnaires) completed by home and school with reference to the young person |
Find out more
If you would like to find out further information or have any questions, please contact us.
Please be advised that our assessments will require some travel to our Saltash office for part of the assessment.
Please contact us for confirmation of costings for this assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our standard assessment comprises
- parental/carer interview with our Senior Psychologist
- two sessions with our Consultant Pediatrician, 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.
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. 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 alone. However when assessing the possibility of Autism, we explore needs and difficulties holistically, and may notice and further explore difficulties relating to ADHD.
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.
