Autism Assessments in Bristol
At Fraser Clinical Psychology we have a multi-disciplinary team offering private Autism assessments in and around Bristol.
With my wonderful colleagues, Christine & Helena; we share a passion and experience for assessing and supporting children, young people and adults with autism.
We take great care to ensure that every client receives a caring, thorough and NICE compliant assessment. Our assessments are accepted by Local Authorities and the NHS.
What is involved in an Autism diagnosis?
We will firstly arrange a non-chargeable 30-minute telephone consultation to discuss the reasons for the referral.
The guidelines for a gold standard ASD assessment (NICE) recommend that there are several parts to the diagnostic process:
· Observation of the child or young person: This is an assessment involving your child and the assessor only. This assessment involves a series of activities e.g. creating a story, describing a picture, and conversation between the child and a trained clinician. The assessment may be videoed (with your permission) and this video enables the assessor to review the session when considering specific behaviours. We use a gold standard assessment tool called the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, second edition).
· Developmental interview with parent(s)/carers only:You will be asked to attend a structured interview asking about your child’s early years and development (Adi-r). During this appointment, the clinician will ask you questions about your child’s development of language, social skills and use of play, as well as current concerns about communication or behaviour.
· Discussion with school: Information about your child’s social, academic and emotional functioning will be gathered through direct observation of your child at school by the assessing psychologist, and through discussions with your child’s teachers/TA’s/SENCO etc.
All the information gathered is then considered together and compared with the DSM-V criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder. These findings are discussed with a colleague to ensure better inter-rator reliability. Should there be enough information to meet either criteria, a diagnosis will be made.
How long does the assessment take?
We pride ourselves on speaking to every new enquiry within one week from first contact and can usually complete assessments within 4-6 weeks. We do not compromise on quality but try to ensure that assessment to report is completed in a timely way for families.
Venue
We use the Practice Rooms in Westbury-On-Trym in Bristol to complete the ADOS-2.
After diagnosis?
At the end of every assessment a detailed report is provided summarising findings and providing applicable recommendations for both school and home. Where a diagnosis of ASD is not found an alternative understanding or psychological formulation will be provided to help understand a person’s difficulties.
Post diagnostic support
For some children, young people and adults post diagnostic Clinical Psychology support can be helpful. Dr Syme can offer therapeutic support as well as parent and or teacher consultation.
Other diagnosis?
We offer private autism assessments. If the assessment highlights that further assessment is needed around other conditions like ADHD for example, then we will recomend this. When making a diagnosis we have to consider whether other diagnosis would better explain a person's needs, and we will outline what other diagnosis we have considered in our summary.