Specialist Autism Assessment
&
Follow-up Service

Northern Clinical Psychology Services (NCPS) are very proud to offer children and young people (from reception age to 17 years old) an ASD assessment service that is robust, high quality and adheres to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. We also assess other neurodevelopmental conditions that may occur with Autism, or might be confused with Autism.

Our multidisciplinary ASD team consists of Clinical Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists and a Consultant Child Psychiatrist.  We have close working relationships with The Talking House (Independent Speech and Language Service) and The Children’s e-Hospital, providing independent paediatric input if required.

​

All of our team members have extensive, specialist training and experience working with neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Our Lead Clinical Psychologists include:

Dr Sam Edwards 

Dr Sam Carruthers

Dr Sally Morley 

Dr Claudia Salt

Dr Sophie Lewis

Our Speech and Language Therapists are Julie Anstey, Annette Smith and Jess Mortimer and our Consultant Child Psychiatrist is Dr Mini Pillay. 

Please see Our Neurodevelopmental Team to read more about our team members.

Please see below for details on our Specialist ASD Assessment process and the Diagnostic Follow-up. 

Getting an accurate and thorough diagnosis is crucial for identifying and addressing specific needs.

​

NCPS has a 2-part Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) process.

Part 1 involves:

• A detailed parental interview (lasting 2 hours)

• Collecting and reviewing detailed information gathered from school & home

• A review of any other previous reports/assessments undertaken. 

​Parent(s)/carer(s) will be informed about our findings and whether further assessment (Part 2) is indicated. If the outcome is unclear ie the difficulties observed could be explained by more than one hypothesis, a recommendation for a referral for the relevant assessment will be made. Parents who do not proceed to Part 2 will receive.a comprehensive report detailing the findings and recommendations.

Part 2 involves:​

• An ADOS-2 assessment with 2 clinicians provides direct assessment of the child/young person.  ADOS-2 is considered "The gold standard" for observational assessment of ASD

• For children of primary age, a thorough school observation of both a structured and unstructured environment

• For those at secondary school, an observation in structured environment may be deemed relevant but we mostly rely on information from the young person and school

Our multidisciplinary professionals will evaluate the findings from the assessments and confirm whether a diagnosis of ASD is indicated. Parents/Carers are invited to a feedback meeting to discuss the results and provided with a comprehensive report together with further recommendations.

Please note, if you are hesitant or unsure whether a full neurodevelopmental assessment is the right step, we also offer 'screening' options. Contact our ASD team on info@ncps-uk.com to arrange a free 20-minute telephone consultation.