Assessment

Coming to see someone new can be daunting and you or your child may feel nervous. We won't ask you to lie on a couch, won't be in a white coat and aim to put you all at ease.

In an initial meeting, we will gather information by asking general questions to get a broad look at the situation and background. We will listen to what you bring and how you describe the issues, wanting to find out more and engage you so that you feel comfortable and understood.

At the end of an initial meeting, we will advise what we feel is needed to next, to complete and assessment or provide intervention or treatment.

As situations and families are complex, full assessments often take a number of appointments.We may also ask you to complete questionnaires or other tools.

Common problems include feeling anxious or unhappy, having obsessions, relationship problems and school non-attendance.

A medical model diagnosis is sometimes made (as well as a formulation of the situation) and can sign-post to the right treatment and interventions. It can help obtain funding from medical insurance companies or from education services.

However, a label is not always necessary or helpful; we are all different and the current classification system is often inadequate to explain and communicate about a young persons' distress and difficulties. When receiving a diagnosis, some young people may feel ashamed or that they are inadequate or flawed, whilst others may experience great relief at understanding why they are different or struggle.

Most importantly, we aim to understand your distress, how it arose, what is maintaining it and find ways of making changes that you want.

Initial assessment meetings are done by any of the team, depending on the issues and our availability. Occasionally we will suggest they are done jointly with a psychiatrist and another member of the team.

Neuro-Developmental assessments

Sometimes the question you come with may be around a specific disorder. For example, does she/he/I have ADHD or am I/they autistic?

These assessments will start with an initial general assessment meeting. We will then decide if the specific assessment is warranted.

An ADHD assessment costs £1500. It follows NICE quidance, is multidisciplinary and includes a Qb check test, Connors multisource questionnaires, infromation gathering from school, detailed developmental and family history. We will not only consider if the diagnostic criteria are met but also if there are other potential explanations, and provide recommendations for intervention. The proce includes a detailed report and feedback meeting.

If we diagnose ADHD and medication is recommended then we can prescribe this.

If the initial meeting indicates that further assessment for autism (ASD) is indicated, we can now offer this assessment as our team includes neuro-developmental diagnostic specialists. They offer the ADOS 2, as recommended in the NICE guidelines as part of ASD diagnosis, and very detailed developmental assessment based on the ADI-R. Information is gathered from the young person, their parents/carers and their educational provider. Following this there is team discussion about whether the DSM 5 criteria for autism or autistic spectrum disorder are met, if there are co-existing problems or other better explanations for the symptoms. Our reports are detailed and include recommendations, and we offer a feedback session. This is a very detailed and time-consuming process so the fees are in the range of £2500.

We would always take an affirmative, strengths-based approach, exploring and identifying neurodiversity alongside mental health difficulties that so often co-occur. We also recognise the cultural stereotypes are often not helpful or accurate and understanding of the spectrum is rapidly growing. We also see the need for medical diagnosis in order to access resources, despite the medical model being 'deficit' based, and try our best to navigate these issues sensitively.

We cannot diagnose or treat dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties as we are not experts in this.

Some health insurance companies fund assessments, though rarely fund ongoing treatment for neurodiversity, such as ADHD medication.

Treatment