AUTISM ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

Autism Assessment Process for Children

1. Pre-Assessment Consultation – This takes place for all people, BEFORE starting a full assessment. During the consultation, we explore your questions and concerns, gather background information, share information about our approach and decide together which type of assessment is best your child.
2. Background Discussion – This is a comprehensive appointment, which focuses on current differences or difficulties, as well as trying to understand your child’s early years. This discussion allows us to gather lots of valuable information. This usually takes place online. Prior to this discussion, we will ask you to complete some questionnaires to help inform the assessment.
3.  School Information – An important part of the process involves gathering information from school in respect of the young person’s presentation in that context. This is done by asking a member of staff who knows the young person well to complete some evidence-based questionnaires. We know that young people sometimes present differently in different contexts and that this can mean that differences are less easily picked up in certain environments. This is often the case in girls and young people who ‘mask’. Please be reassured that we are mindful of this as a team and this is something we can discuss as part of the pre-assessment consultation should you wish. We also recognise that many neurodivergent young people struggle in school settings, and some are home-educated. In this case we will discuss who else may be able to support this part of the process.
4. Observational Activity Appointment – This appointment takes place in person at our clinic rooms. We do a number of activities together. This generally takes between an hour and an hour and a half.
5. Multidisciplinary Team Meeting – The Team meet to consider all of the information we have gathered during the assessment process and to determine the outcome of the assessment.

6. Feedback Discussion – This is an online appointment, where we meet to share and discuss the outcome of the assessment.

7. Report – A comprehensive report is written, detailing all aspects of the assessment process, and giving recommendations to support you. This is sent to you to review; please note, we are able to amend any factual inaccuracies, but are unable to change other aspects of the assessment report.

On some occasions we may need to undertake further assessments, such as a school observation.
If needed, this will be discussed with you in advance.