By the time a parent searches for an autism assessment for their child their journey has already been going on for some time. You likely have already done your research, heard from school and had advice from well-meaning others. It can feel like a bit of a minefield. The reality is you are searching because you want to help your child get the support they need to be the best version of themselves, now and for the future. That support often starts with, or can even require, an evidence-based multi-disciplinary autism assessment and diagnosis. Our team have many years experience in specialist autism services in the NHS. They offer a gold-standard comprehensive assessment privately using the most up-to-date tools and findings.
Our focus is on helping your child, and on helping you to steer them along their way as they continue to develop. The process of growing up is full of challenges, but also opportunities. We are here whether your child has an official diagnosis or not, to help guide you both along that path. We work with our extended team of specialist child and adolescent clinical psychologists several of whom are experienced at offering therapy to children and young people with autism. We can offer specific ‘blocks’ of sessions around a particular tricky time or we can see you on a more ad-hoc basis as the need arises to pre-empt important transitions (e.g. the move to secondary school) or migrate skills previously learnt to newer situations as your child ages.
We use National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines to provide a multi-disciplinary autism assessment, using direct observation of your child’s behaviour and information from those individuals who know your child well, including you as parents.
Our support and involvement does not need to end when the assessment is over. We are fortunate to have a team of additional specialist child and adolescent clinical psychologists working right here with us who can join to offer individualised support for your child or family either straight after the assessment or at helpful times in the future (or both). We are your back-up support as time goes by, using our in-depth familiarity with your child and your family to help navigate future challenges and opportunities. Meaning you don’t need to start from scratch.
Initial Screening Appointment: £120
Full Autism Assessment: £1,800
The adult world is a different landscape to the one most of us experience in childhood; more complex and far less structured. Interpersonal interactions become key, both in our working and personal lives. Adults also have to adapt more often to changes in routine or structure. For some, these changes start to illuminate a personal diversity that was previously ‘masked’. Others tell us they have always been aware of diversity, but for all sorts of reasons it was never formally identified, or supported. Confusion about who we are, about relationships with others and, especially, about why we experience strong (and often challenging) emotions can lead to psychological problems – we can feel down, anxious and experience low self-esteem. It can be difficult to carve out a path that enables us to be our best selves.
Many clients have told us that a diagnosis has been a key part of validating their experience, helping them understand and accept the person they are, and enabling them to make positive choices about how they move forward in life.
Our team have many years’ experience in specialist Autism services in the NHS. We offer a gold-standard comprehensive private assessment using the most up-to-date psychometric tools and findings.
We work routinely in all our assessments to help clients move forward with recommendations, supporting them to make changes in their lives that will foster positive mental health. Our goal is to help clients embrace and maximise their strengths, while making it easier to face the challenges that come their way. Some clients like to continue to see us, either regularly or on a more ad-hoc basis as the need arises, so we can continue to support them as they go, both generally and around specific challenges or events. Our autism team are closely linked to our wider team of adult therapists who can be called upon should the need arise.
We use National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines to provide an autism assessment and diagnosis. It is comprehensive, taking into account all the factors that could impact an individual’s experience and presentation.
Stage 1 – Autism Screen A 90-minute appointment during which we explore the difficulties you experience in depth. We provide feedback and think together with you whether an Autism assessment would be helpful. If so, we use the information from the screen and progress to the additional steps below:
A full Autism assessment usually consists of 5 steps:
You can decide to have further sessions with our team to work through the implementation of the recommendations and/or for support in psychological therapy if you would find that helpful.
Initial Screening Appointment: £240
Full Autism Assessment: £1,680
Monday - Saturday
(by appointment only)
23 Prospect Street, Caversham,
Reading, Berkshire, RG4 8JB