Waiting for your initial assessment

Please be patient if your child is on the waiting list we are doing all that we can to get to your child as quickly as possible.

What will happen at the assessment?

An assessment plan will be agreed between parents and the lead clinician. Some children may require a range of appointments others may only require 1 or 2 appointments.

What happens after the assessment?

After the assessment is concluded a report will be prepared and circulated in line with parents/carers wishes. Young people will also be consulted about circulation if it is appropriate.

Case Leads

Most members of the Specialist Assessment Service Autism Assessment Team work as Case Leads. In this service, a Case Lead supports children, young people and their families through the assessment process.

The process involves completion of assessment to make a diagnostic decision of whether a child or young person presenting with difficulties in their communication, social interaction and/or flexibility of thought and behaviour meets the criteria for an underlying Autism Spectrum Disorder.

When required, the Case Leads is able to consult with or request further assessment from team members from different professions in order to gain a full picture of a child/young person’s strengths and areas of differences. As part of the assessment the Case Lead will liaise with other professionals involved and meet with children/young people and/or their parents/carers to discuss the outcome of the assessment and agree on recommendations for on-going support.

A child/young person’s Case Lead will be the main point of contact for the family or other professionals who contact the Specialist Assessment Service during the assessment process.

Psychology

Psychologists are interested in the thoughts and feelings that people have that can result in the behaviours that they display; understanding the reason for why people do what they do. They think about factors that have created the difficult thoughts and feelings that a person may have, such as differences in how their brain works, difficult experiences that they have had and any other factors related to relationships they have or have had with others. They work together with those they support to make sense of what is going on for them and to support them to achieve their goals.

What are the different types of Psychologist within the Specialist Assessment Service?

The Specialist Assessment Service employs two different types of Psychologist: Clinical and Educational.

Clinical Psychologists can work with anyone across the whole life span so are able to think about how to support not just the child and young person but also the wider family. They are trained in identifying and supporting people with a wide range of mental and physical health difficulties, neurodevelopmental disorders and relational issues. Clinical Psychologists use a wide range of assessment methods to help understand the strengths and needs of individuals, families and/or systems and use formulation to summarise and make sense of this assessment information to provide relevant and effective interventions.

Educational psychologists support children and young people with learning difficulties, mental health difficulties, issues around disability as well as more complex developmental disorders. They work in a variety of ways including the use of observations, consultations and assessments. They also offer support and advice to teachers, parents, the wider community as well as children and young people.

Whilst the training for Clinical and Educational Psychology is quite different, there is a lot of overlap in relation to skills and what they are able to offer services once qualified.

The role of Psychologists within the Specialist Assessment Service

Both Clinical and Educational Psychologists within the Autism Team work as Case Leads for assessments. They also support other team members in their assessment of children and young people where there may be:
• A complex family context, including looked after children
• Safeguarding concerns
• Mental Health concerns
• Complex educational history and experiences
• Specific involvement of numerous professionals
• Significant risk of harm to the child/young person or others
• Special Educational Needs (SEN) requiring cognitive and learning assessments, or where such reports already exist and require interpretation

Speech and Language Therapy

Speech and language therapists provide assessment, treatment, support and care for children and adults who have difficulties with communication, or with eating, drinking and swallowing.

Within this service, the role of Speech and Language Therapist is to support other team members in their assessment where a child is having difficulties with speech, language and communication skills. This may include children with hearing impairment, cleft palate, selective mutism, stammering, voice disorders and developmental speech, language and communication needs.

One key aspect of the role of Speech and Language Therapists in the Specialist Assessment Service is to support team members where there is consideration that a child or young person’s presenting difficulties might be better explained by a diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).

Developmental Language Disorder refers to:

• Difficulties with language skills that interfere with communication or learning in everyday life
• These difficulties are unlikely to resolve spontaneously or with good teaching alone
• These difficulties are not better explained by other neuro-developmental conditions, such as Autism.

Speech and Language Therapists may provide specific advice or signposting when a child or young person is having difficulties with speech, language and communication skills. This is so those caring for the child/young person at home or school understand how to best support the development of children’s language skills to their full potential and to improve their day to day communication.

We often work alongside the Community Speech and Language Therapy Service and may recommend that a referral is made to them for additional assessment or support if this needed.

Occupational Therapy

The role of Occupational Therapists is to support children and young people access and participate in their daily activities at home and school. Within this team Occupational Therapists support the team’s assessment and understanding of motor skill development and sensory processing, in particular when this is impacting on the child’s ability to complete self-care, learning or leisure activities.

One key aspect of the role of Occupational Therapists in the team is to support team members where there is consideration that a child or young person’s presenting difficulties might be explained by a diagnosis of dyspraxia.  Dyspraxia is a motor coordination disorder which affects the person carrying out movements in a smooth and coordinated way. It can also impact a person’s planning and organisational skills.  It is thought to be caused by difficulties with sending messages from the brain to the body though no specific cause is known. It can impact on the daily activities people do making them more challenging and can impact on social functioning.

Occupational Therapists provide specific advice or signposting when a child or young person is having difficulties with daily activities. This is so that those caring for the child/young person at home or school understand the barriers impacting on their participation, and how to best support developing their potential and improving their day to day functioning. If a child is having significant difficulties in their motor coordination skills or sensory processing impacting on daily life then our team may recommend that a referral is made for additional assessment with the Community Occupational Therapy Service.