AUTISM (ASD) & ADHD SERVICES

AUTISM (ASD)

Autism assessments are extremely thorough and parents are often amazed at the detail our clinicians go into to ensure they have the right information in order to make important diagnostic decisions.

1. Pre-assessment questionnaires – we will ask you and your child’s school (if your child attends an educational setting) to complete some important forms to understand how your child behaves in different environments and what challenges they experience.

2. Appointment for your child – your child will meet with a specialist clinician who will spend some time with them, using toys, games, activities and conversation (depending on your child’s age) to get a glimpse of your child’s communication and interaction style and preferences. The clinician will use evidence-based diagnostic tools (e.g. Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – ADOS-2) to assess your child against the criteria relevant to Autism.

3. Appointment for you – a key part of the diagnosis is understanding your child’s development and getting your observations about the key aspects related to Autism including social communication and repetitive or restricted behaviours and interests. The clinician will go into considerable depth about your child’s development and relevant behaviours.

4. Feedback – a clinician will contact you to discuss the findings of the investigation which could lead to a diagnosis. The clinician will go through the findings and you can ask any questions you have.

5. Post diagnosis – consultation – this is an optional services with an additional fee (£120). It gives parents and carers the space to think about their child’s diagnosis and behaviours related to it. It helps them see the world from their child’s eyes and get a better understanding of their ‘different’ ways of thinking about things.

6. Diagnostic report – the clinicians will need to write everything up using all the information that has been gathered. A full and comprehensive report is written, with a diagnosis (where one can be made) and further recommendations.

Learning Needs Assessment

‘Learning Needs’ is a term used to describe difficulties in general learning. These are often experienced in school. The most direct cause of learning difficulty is the child’s mental/cognitive/intellectual ability. For example, if a child has reduced ‘short term memory’ capacity he/she will struggle to retain information long enough to understand instructions and process information. Similarly, having a lower than the average processing speed will increase the time to process information mentally e.g. in Maths.

When a child significantly underperforms in school it would make sense to understand if this is the cause of a learning difficulty. Depending on the degree the child might be found to have a learning difficulty or disability (a significant learning difficulty). A rough indication is when a child is two years or more behind their peers across subjects.

Learning difficulties have a direct impact on a person’s ability to live independently as it affects their ability to learn everyday tasks. In that respect it has a more profound impact than either ASD or ADHD.

We offer a Learning Needs assessment to determine whether a child or young person has a learning difficulty or disability.

We use standardised tests such as WISC-V and Raven’s progressive matrices for the assessment of mental ability and Vineland-3 to determine the level of Adaptive Behaviour (life skills).

The cost of a Learning Needs assessment is £1450. It consists of a face to face cognitive assessment – WISC-V and a two hour online interview with parent(s) or carer(s). It is carried out by Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist.

Please contact us for more information about the Learning Needs (LN) assessment.