Specialist Autism Service

Specialist Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) 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.

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).

Our Lead Clinical Psychologists include:

Dr Sam Edwards

Dr Robynne Boyd

Dr Claudia Salt

Dr Laura Shewan

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

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

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

Clinical Assessment

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
A review of any other previous reports/assessments undertaken.

Parent(s)/carer(s) will receive a report detailing our findings and determining 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.

Part 2 involves:

A thorough school observation of both a structured and unstructured environment
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

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.

Diagnostic Follow-up

For many who have been assessed as having an Autism diagnosis, this is only the beginning of the journey. There will be uncertainties and questions about what the diagnosis means and what the future holds.

NCPS can provide an extended support service for parents and therapy for children and young people.

Many children with ASD have difficulties in school with learning and with social behaviour. We can help by providing holistic and practical advice and therapy in schools and colleges as well as training and support for teaching staff.

Problems with anxiety and social emotional difficulties are all too often seen with children and young people. We can provide comprehensive support and therapy.

Call 0800 622 6266 or email for more details