We will ask you to complete some questionnaires prior to the consultation. We will then spend time with you to go through your concerns and ask additional questions to ascertain if an assessment for autism is the right pathway. Where an autism assessment is indicated, there is no obligation to continue with assessment after the consultation.

Initial consultation provides a cost effective means to evaluate if full assessment is the right decision for you. For this reason, we would always advise a preliminary meeting as a first step.

After we have received the assessment fees, we shall book appointments with you. We aim for the first appointment to take place within four weeks. The first appointment can be face to face in our clinic room in Birmingham or from the comfort of your own home via our secure platform.

Our assessment process follows the guidelines from the National Institute for Health Care Excellence (NICE). This involves having different clinicians from different backgrounds involved in the assessment process.

Our assessment process for children will include a developmental history taken from the parent/carer, typically guided by the ADI-R standardised assessment tool. We also use a semi-structured interview called the ADOS-2 with your child, which takes around one hour to complete. It’s also important to gain information about your child in a separate setting such as school. We may also draw on additional assessments to explore your child in more depth than traditional assessment.

Once assessment is complete, the information collated is compared by our clinicians against the diagnostic manual criteria for autism (DSM-V). This information and the diagnostic outcome is presented within a detailed report which we shall go through with you in your feedback session.

We use robust clinical tools designed to help you explore your life experiences from early childhood up to now.

Some of the assessment will take place just with you, other parts of the assessment will ideally take place with you and someone else who knows you very well. Generally speaking, the younger you are, the more we take information from a parent/carer. The older you are, the more likely information will come from yourself with additional input from a partner, friend or colleague. As information from your early years is important to gather we may also, where possible, request written information such as school reports to contribute to the assessment process.

Assessment also involves completing a semi-structured interview called the ADOS-2. This takes around one hour to complete.

Once assessment is complete, the information collated is compared by our clinicians against the diagnostic manual criteria for autism (DSM-V). This information and the diagnostic outcome is presented within a detailed report which we shall go through with you in your feedback session.

Every assessment we carry out involves two clinicians from different, highly relevant backgrounds. Typically this will involve clinical psychology and speech and language therapy.

All our clinicians are highly qualified, have extensive experience within NHS autism diagnostic teams and are regulated by law in their practice.

We divide our report into different sections so they are easy to navigate for different readers, such as families and professionals. We include specific recommendations based on the strengths and support needs of each individual.  Recommendations may include further assessments, interventions and/or provide advice for families, school, universities or the workplace.

We also include detailed information about how the diagnosis was made. This means that in the future, if anyone would like to get a better understanding of the diagnostic decision, this will be clear from the report.  

Following the assessment process, we provide a thorough feedback session about our diagnostic decision/s and around the recommendations that we have made.

Once you have agreed to complete an assessment, we will arrange a number of appointments that work for you. If you need to change one of more of these appointments once they are booked, please email theautismroom@outlook.com.

Please note that appointments need to be changed two working days (48 hours) prior to the appointment time to avoid being charged for the session. Cancellations within 48 hours or non-attendance on the day will incur a £200 charge.

We are not registered as a provider with health insurance companies. However, you may be able to book and pay for the assessment with us and then claim from your health insurance; this will depend on their terms and conditions. Please contact your health insurer for advice.

Our assessment process follows NICE guidelines in involving a multidisciplinary team of specialist clinicians already working in NHS diagnostic teams, and employs what are considered the ‘gold standard’ assessment tools. These are the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – Second Edition (ADOS-2) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R). The information we gather through assessment is set against the DSM-5 assessment manual diagnostic criteria referred to in NHS clinical guidelines.

There is no reason why a private assessment through The Autism Room shouldn’t be recognised, however it is important to check that your local education authority, school, GP and/or local NHS service will accept a private assessment, as these will be your gateways to local support moving forward.