Child ADHD and Autism Assessment

What is involved in an ADHD and Autism assessment?

There are many steps that our clinicians need to take to ensure that they adhere to the best practice guidelines. This ensures we undertake a thorough and full assessment of your child’s needs. Click on the below to find out more:

1. Referral form and screening call

Our clinical team will call you to confirm your details and that beginning an assessment is the best way forward. They review the referral form and determine if we are the most appropriate clinic to support your child.

2. Screening questionnaires

Standardised and industry standard screening forms are sent out to you and your child’s school. These include:

Social Responsiveness Scales (SRS-2) Autism Screening – completed by home and school
Connors – ADHD screening Questionnaire – completed by home and school

3. Developmental interview with a clinician

This can take 3 hours+, but can be broken up if needed!

Developmental history and clinical interview for autism
The Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in young people (Young DIVA-5) and/or ADHD Child Evaluation (ACE)

The clinician will ensure you feel comfortable and all you have to do is answer as best you can. It is not a test of your knowledge of your child! The clinician will ask about different environments like home, school, friends, hobbies, and how your child feels about themselves. The clinician will also ask you about your child’s physical and mental health.

4. Face to face appointment with ADOS

The ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) is a standardised tool for assessing autism. It is a semi-structured and activity-based assessment of communication, social interaction, play, and restricted and repetitive behaviours. We only complete an ADOS if the screening and initial assessment have indicated that further investigation would be helpful. Your child will meet with one of our team in our clinic for the ADOS assessment, and this will be a different person from who you met during your initial appointment. The ADOS tends to take between 30-60 minutes, and the assessment may be filmed so that it can be reviewed if needed by our multidisciplinary panel. Parents are typically asked to wait outside the room while the ADOS is completed. The ADOS is scored, and a report is written, which forms part of the wider assessment. The panel will review the ADOS and the information from the wider assessment to help reach a decision on the diagnostic outcome. We do not use the ADOS outcome in isolation to diagnose autism.

5. Face to face appointment QB check

The QB Check is an assessment that happens in clinic with one of our clinical team. Your child will sit in front of a laptop and complete an activity. The entire assessment takes around 30-45 minutes. The QB Check is a validated computerised assessment to measure some of the core symptoms of ADHD. The assessment measures attention, impulsivity and attention producing a compressive report. The assessing clinicians then use the information in conjunction with all other parts of the assessment process to help determine if your child has ADHD.

6. Qualitative school information

The clinician will gain information from school or other relevant settings to help understand how children present in different environments. The clinicians are well versed in understanding ‘masking’ and that hiding difficulties can happen. Often young people will present differently in different environments and understanding this is an important part of the diagnostic process. For some young people who are not attending school, the clinician may ask the parent if they can contact someone else who knows the child well like a football coach or babysitter.

7. Multidisciplinary panel meeting

Once all the information has been gathered our clinicians will meet as a multidisciplinary team to review your child’s assessment and decide whether the diagnostic criteria has been met or not, and they will discuss helpful recommendations. On rare occasions it may not be possible to reach a conclusion and additional information may be needed. An example of this may be an observation of your child in school. There would be an additional cost to cover clinician time, but this would be discussed with you if it is felt needed.

8. Write up and report

The lead clinician and others involved in the assessment will review and write up your child’s report. This is a personalised report that covers their strengths and the difficulties they may be facing. It will clearly explain if a diagnosis is given and make bespoke recommendations for their support. These are written in conjunction with our educational team to ensure they are accessible and deliverable in schools. The reports will also include links to further support, advice, and resources.

9. Feedback session with a member of the clinical team (1 hour)

In this online meeting the lead clinician will discuss the outcome of the assessment, and answer any questions you may have about this and the report.

10. Consultation with a member of our education team (30 minutes)

In this meeting a member of our education team will discuss recommendations for school, interventions and adaptions, EHCPs, and things like access arrangements for examinations, advice around which type of school might be right for your child, or anything else related to school and education.

We believe in identifying your child’s strengths, celebrating what makes them unique, and providing personalised support every step of the way. If you have any questions please email or call us today. Or to book an assessment please follow the link below:

What happens next?

Advice and Interventions

Our clinical and educational team are experienced in supporting young people with autism and ADHD and they are able to offer advice and guidance to schools and other services in meeting their needs. Our education team which includes educational psychologists and SENCos are able to provide detailed feedback and assessment around school-based support and interventions. We are also able to support families through the process of gaining an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). This further support is charged in addition to the standard cost of a combined autism and ADHD assessment.

Important Information: Medication and treatment

As a clinical team that includes clinical psychologists, we are able to diagnose ADHD. However, we cannot prescribe medication. Therefore, our services are limited to advice around interventions and support at home and in school. For some families who feel medication may help their child, we would suggest talking to your child’s GP or seeking a private practice that has the staff required to prescribed medication. Medications are usually prescribed by psychiatrists or specially qualified nurses. You can ask your GP to refer you to your local NHS service or give us a call so we can share details of reputable private clinics.

More about Autism and ADHD

What is Autism?

Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) is a term to describe a difference in the way someone sees and interacts with the world around them. This developmental difference can impact children’s communication and social interactions, interests, sensory experiences, and actions.

Social communication and interaction
Repetitive and restrictive behaviours
Differences in sensory perception
Highly focused interests or hobbies

Autism presents differently in each child, although there are some common strengths and difficulties they may have. For example, autistic children can be exceptionally good at spotting details or having a deep fascination with a certain topic or activity. They may also find it difficult to manage change, friendships, or social interactions. We believe that by identifying what makes your child unique and celebrating their strengths, without trying to change who they are, we can make a positive impact on their lives.

What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a condition that has a range of strengths and difficulties. For example, people with ADHD may be very creative and have the ability to focus intensely on things they are interested in. However, it can also make it difficult to function in a neurotypical world like school, with traits such as restlessness, difficulty concentrating, a short attention span, fidgeting, and impulsive behaviour. These can make managing lessons, play, and studying challenging, having a knock-on effect on their wellbeing, mental health and self-worth. ADHD looks different in each person affected by the condition. Some people find it difficult to manage their hyperactivity and are often moving and are impulsive, while others may find it hard to manage their attention, and sometimes both of these areas can be affected. For some people, sifting out the relevant and important information to pay attention to can be difficult. However, with some adaptations all people with ADHD can thrive in education, study, and work.

What might Autism look like in your child?

Communication and interactions:

Difficulties or differences with back-and-forth conversation. For some, this may be talking too much without noticing the social cues given by others. For others, it may be less of an interest in speaking with others or difficulties showing interest.
Differences in facial expressions and expressions or emotions.
Challenges with making friends and understanding relationships
Less of an interest in playing with friends, particularly on another person’s ‘terms’, difficulties with sharing toys, or following another person’s lead in a game.

Repetitive and restrictive behaviours:

Repeating certain words, phrases, actions, or activities.
Using toys or games in a repetitive way.
Having specific routines or rituals, and being upset when they are changed or cannot happen.
Finding change difficult to manage, like getting upset about a different bus route or change to their normal timetable.
A very deep fascination in a topic or object at the exclusion of other things.

Sensory Experiences:

A difference in sensitivity to different stimuli. Like being over or under stimulated by light, touch, noise, taste, or balance.

What might ADHD look like your child?

Communication and interactions with other people:

Interrupting others or joining games without invitation.
Speaking impulsively without considering if it might upset others.
Struggling in sharing and taking turns, sometimes appearing rude unintentionally.
Difficulty staying focused during conversations.
Ability to concentrate on tasks:
Daydreaming in class or having trouble completing tasks within their capability.
Challenges in planning, organising, and remembering things, making careless mistakes.

Overactivity:

Fidgeting or squirming more than peers.
Difficulty remaining seated when required, despite effort.

Sleep:

ADHD can also affect sleep, particularly difficulty falling asleep in the evenings.

What might Autism and ADHD look like in your child?

Some of the difficulties that children have may be explained by autism and/or ADHD. For example, a young person may struggle maintaining friendships due to communication differences, such as within their reciprocal play, or it may be that they are more impulsive in their play compared to peers, or it may also be a combination of both. Therefore, it is important that any clinician assessing for either condition is aware of the other possible diagnoses that could explain the difficulties a child may have., The team of clinicians will tease apart these needs to determine if either or both diagnoses are present. Having an assessment does not guarantee a diagnosis of either condition, although at each stage the clinicians will report if they feel whether it is worth pursuing further.