Private Autism Assessment for Children, Young People & Adults

It is important to check that your autism assessment is carried out by TWO different people from two different professional backgrounds, both of whom are suitably qualified to use the assessment tools and are registered with the appropriate clinical bodies (HCPC or GMC).

We also think it’s important that our staff have significant career history of working in the NHS – we won’t employ anyone who doesn’t. This means that your assessment is being carried out by the same type of professional that would be employed to do this work in the health service, so you can be assured that (as well as the right qualification) they have the right experience.

Both assessors should be directly involved in administering the assessments and should not delegate this work to other, less suitably qualified people. We cannot stress enough the importance of checking the clinical qualification and experience of your chosen assessors, since whether or not the results will be ‘accepted’ by the NHS/education is likely to depend on whether the professionals carrying out the assessment are felt to be qualified to do so.

At Spectrum, you will be seen by any combination of a clinical psychologist, speech and language therapist or occupational therapist, however there will always be a clinical psychologist and speech and language therapist involved in the diagnostic process somewhere along the way.

Another advantage of this approach is that we are able to provide a wide range of second opinion within the multi-disciplinary team to advise, even if that clinician has not been used as part of the original diagnostic process. We also seek supervision and advice from one another within our own areas of specialism, e.g. learning disability, attachment differences or mental health. This helps us signpost to other services and explore other ideas for you.

We use a range of recognised assessment tools, including the ADOS-2 and DISCO, alongside sensory profiling. We don’t use checklists or screening tools, they’re freely available online and lack the sensitivity of formal assessment. We take a full case history ourselves rather than via questionnaire, so you’ll spend longer talking to us and less time ticking boxes.

Read more about the full assessment process: Will a What Happens in an Autism Assessment

Yes. We operate an open referral policy and accept referrals from a wide range of sources, including GPs, CCGs, schools, private insurers and independent consultant psychiatrists. For NHS-funded referrals, we need payment arrangements in place with the relevant commissioner before we can proceed. We do reserve the right to decline a referral in certain circumstances, for example, where there’s a conflict of interest with our NHS work, or where the referral would sit more appropriately within a wider NHS mental health service.

If you’re hoping to fund your assessment via Right to Choose, arrangements vary between NHS Trusts and change over time, so it’s best to get in touch and we can talk through your options and our current position.

We have our own clinic in Grappenhall, South Warrington, Cheshire. We chose this location because it is just a few minutes from the M6/M56 motorway network and major north-south and east-west routes. We are located on a bus route from Warrington town centre.

Our clinic is a bright and homely environment where we hope you will feel relaxed before and after the appointment. We have deliberately avoided creating a setting that appears ‘clinical’ because we know that this can make people feel anxious.

We can also arrange to see you at home if it is difficult to bring your child to clinic. This would depend on where you live, of course, as we tend to conduct visits within the North West of England.