Our diagnostic assessments and reports follow the NICE guidelines (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and pioneering research using international standard instruments.
Autism Diagnosis and Intervention
Our diagnostic assessments and reports follow the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines and pioneering research using international standard instruments.
We assess a range of neurodiversity, from nonverbal young children to verbally fluent children and young adults. We diagnose, support and provide intervention plans for autism, neurodiversity, social communication, receptive/ expressive language disorder, anxiety or demand avoidance and related conditions, such as pragmatic language disorder, generalised, specific anxiety or social anxiety.
Second opinions are provided where autism differences are masked, requiring expert assessment to enable better understanding and individual adaptation to support the young person in reaching their potential. Early help is essential to minimise secondary problems, for example, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Parents are asked to send video clips via a secure link for younger children or children with difficulty participating in an assessment. The videos are analysed using a BOSA assessment tool, which is converted to ADOS 2 with nursery or school liaison or visit. Please see here for further information on video assessments.
Older children may receive face-to-face or online assessments using teacher, parent and self-rating questionnaires and a range of formal and informal standardised assessments.
Professionals are experts in the following:
- Provide a single point of contact for the young person and family, representing the wider multi-disciplinary team.
- Carry out an autism diagnostic assessment using the BOSA, ADOS 2 (a standardised autism assessment of the child or young person), ADIR (a standardised autism parent interview developmental history) and other standardised assessments, focusing on social-emotional understanding, inference, theory of mind, language and other developmental and behavioural features consistent with ICD-10 or DSM-5 criteria.
- Seek the views, perception and insight of the young person being assessed.
- Evaluate information from all sources, including professional or school reports, school and team liaison, clinical judgment and standardised assessment results, in formulating the diagnosis based on ICD-10 or DSM-5 criteria.
- Identify an individual profile of attributes, motivation and aspirations whilst identifying areas requiring support and reasonable adjustment.
- Provide a diagnostic report explaining the recommendations as evidence for SEN and EHCP applications, which may be used for tribunals.
- Develop an individual plan of action, detailing communication and learning style, adult support and adjustment and specifying provisions to enable the best support and future outcome
- Communicate with children and young people with suspected or known diagnoses and their parents and carers to sensitively share the diagnosis with them.
- With the consent of the parents, carer, and young person, a post-assessment planning meeting should be arranged with the nursery, school, or college to contribute to an education and needs-based management plan.
- Liaise with schools, colleges, and Universities to support the need for access arrangements and SEN or EHCP applications.
We provide diagnostic assessment for children and young people with special circumstances, including:
- coexisting conditions such as learning disabilities, complex language disorders, anxiety, pathological demand avoidance or mental health needs
- looked after children and young people
- children with co-occurring anxiety and emotional needs
The team attend regular meetings to review assessment videos and jointly code diagnostic assessments to maintain reliability, collaborate on diagnostic processes and thresholds and discuss individual management plans.
Many problems can be addressed more easily and quickly if help is given early, and many secondary difficulties, such as emotional, social, and educational problems, may be avoided.
If there is a concern, parents, above all, want to know how to help.
Difficulties with language and social communication development are extremely common.
They are, in fact, one of the most common childhood difficulties, affecting one in five of all children, and parents experience a great deal of anxiety as a result.
This development is extremely complex, but requires a great many factors to be satisfactorily in place in order for effective development to occur.
The professional gains a profile of individual strengths and needs using a range of standard language and social communication assessments, for example:
- ADOS 2 (Autistic Diagnostic Observation Assessment 2) or BOSA (Brief Observation of Symptoms of Autism)
- ADI R (Autistic Diagnostic Interview-Revised)
- CELF 5 (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 5)
- TWK (Test of Word Knowledge)
- TOPL (Test of Pragmatic Language)
- Assessment of Conversation
- Test of Inferential Understanding
- Theory of Mind Test
- Playground Observation Assessment
Teachers and parents may be asked to complete questionnaires to gain a profile of the individual child/ person's current functioning. Further observational assessments may be necessary to obtain a better understanding of the factors which influence the person’s functional skills in different settings, for example, a person’s functioning may be different in their home compared with an educational context.
For younger children or children who have difficulty participating in an assessment, parents are asked to send video clips via a secure link. The videos are analysed using a BOSA instead of completing an ADOS 2, with an (optional) Nursery/ school visit. Please see here for further information on Video Assessments.
The assessment seeks individual views and priorities to help guide the intervention/support plan and empower individual representation. If reports are required for the start of term, we recommend allowing 10-12 weeks to complete a comprehensive assessment and report.
Social communication intervention sessions are guided by the individual profile evaluated during the course of therapy or from a prior assessment. Therapy may focus on a range of skills, such as conversation skills, understanding social-emotional cues and inference or adapting to social situations.
Individual perceptions are identified to support young people in managing various challenges, such as friendships and relationships or managing group situations. Helping the person reflect on their individual experiences to increase their insight and awareness of their roles and helpful strategies is important to maintain the effectiveness of therapy.
Confidential 1:1 sessions are available for young people. Some people prefer to demonstrate their experiences, views and perceptions using art, drawing or other methods. We use different media to listen and reflect on the person's perspective and help them identify helpful strategies.
With the person's consent, close liaison and training may be offered to parents, schools and other organisations to provide guidance on the best support and understanding. Further guidance may be necessary when the person moves to college, university, higher education, a work setting or independent living.
For younger children, therapy may be offered through parents, caregivers, or teachers (PACT click here), and guidance may be provided to support adjustments in nursery and school.
The Social Communication Intervention Programme (SCIP) is available to support school-aged children (6–11 years) with social communication, pragmatic, and language needs.
SCIP builds communication and language skills based on a child's profile, such as vocabulary and word finding, narrative skills, social and inferential comprehension, and the ability to use language flexibly for different social situations. SCIP is offered in schools in the Centre or online. Children usually receive regular therapy sessions every two weeks, with close liaisons and information from schools and parents.
