Assessment Process

Initial Stage

Send an enquiry, call or email to arrange an appointment to discuss the assessment with a member of the team.

Before the initial appointment, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire AQ-50 which helps indicate whether someone should be referred for an autism assessment. Your results will be discussed at your initial welcome call appointment.

Free 15 Minute Welcome Appointment

During your welcome appointment, the clinician will confirm you are able to proceed with an autism assessment after taking some initial details such as your medical history.

You will be allocated a care coordinator who will be your point of contact during the assessment process.

Neurodevelopmental School Feedback Questionnaire

For school aged children who are regularly attending school, a Neurodevelopmental School Feedback Questionnaire will be provided for a teacher who knows your child well to complete. This can provide additional evidence during the multi-disciplinary team meeting.

Payment

At this stage, the assessment needs to be paid in full before proceeding to the next stages. We offer 0% interest payment plans, and payment options to suit you! Please see our payments page or enquire for further details.

Assessment

Online or Face-to-Face Observation

An online or face-to-face observation session will be conducted by a clinician from the team using the ADOS-2 assessment (adapted version for online assessments). You will be asked questions and asked to take part in some structured tasks. Don’t worry, they are fun and accessible for people of all ages. This appointment can last for up to 2 hours.

Developmental History Interview

An online developmental history interview ADI-r will be booked with an informant who knows you well, with another member of the team. We need information from when you were a child, so usually a parent or carer is best, but informants can also be friends, long-term partners, or extended family. This appointment can last for up to 3 hours.

Formulation Meeting

Multidisciplinary Team Meeting

The assessing clinicians will meet to discuss the evidence they have collected during the assessment process, including any evidence from school when this is available. Collectively, the team will agree the assessment outcome.

Assessment to Gather Further Evidence if a Decision Cannot be Made

In some instances, a further appointment will be necessary before a decision can be made. This will not come at an additional cost.

Feedback

Feedback of the Clinical Decision

A member of the assessment team will contact you by phone or email (your preference) to confirm the outcome of the assessment. We aim to reach an assessment outcome within 1 week of your last assessment appointment.

Recommendations and Psychoeducation

You will have a 1 hour feedback appointment to discuss recommendations following your assessment to help in your daily life.

Report

The clinical report will be sent via a secured link within 2 weeks of the date of you feedback appointment. The report can then be shared with your GP, school, or workplace should you choose.

Exclusion Criteria

We place our clients at that heart of what we do, and we can only accept clients that are clinically suitable at this time for an autism assessment. For this reason, we cannot offer assessments for:

Children subject to child protection procedures.
Significantly visually or auditory impaired individuals.
Children with global developmental delay or a significant language difficulty*.
Individuals who require an interpreter for the observation**.
Individuals who are receiving support for active mental health crisis.
Children who are receiving active treatment for eating disorders.

We assess the suitability of all our clients, and we can consider clients on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us to discuss whether an online or face-to-face assessment is suitable for your needs.

*A play based face-to-face observation may be more suitable. Please contact us to discuss this further.

**An interpreter can be used to aid the informant during the developmental history interview at your own cost. Primrose Autism Specialist cannot take responsibility for arranging this service.

Assessment Process

Initial Stage

Assessment

Formulation Meeting

Feedback

Exclusion Criteria

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