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Please contact us using the enquiry form to start the self-referral process for an adult Autism assessment.  Alternatively, you can email us with any queries at autismunpicked@gmail.com.  We will contact you by email to arrange a free 15 minute initial telephone consultation. 

If you decide to go ahead with an assessment, this is completed in two stages:  

Stage 1 - Screening (£200)

The payment for screening is payable on returning your screening forms to us.  You will be invoiced for this when we send you the screening documents. 

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• This early stage of the assessment is to determine why you think you might be autistic.  Full assessments can be costly for some people and therefore we offer a screening appointment to avoid payment for a full assessment if we decide it is not required.  This means that the assessment does not need to progress after stage 1 if Autism is not indicated at that point and this is something we will decide together with you. 

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• We will send you some questionnaires to complete and return to us to help us understand more about you.  We will also send a questionnaire for someone who knows you now to complete (e.g., a parent, carer, partner, sibling, friend or whoever you feel can complete this most helpfully). We will also send you the questionnaire for your education provider to complete (if applicable). Some people like to ask another person to complete a questionnaire, for example, if they are seeing a therapist or another professional. If this is the case, we can send an additional form for completion by ‘professionals’, however this is not an essential requirement. Part of screening also includes considering alternative or additional explanations, such as ADHD.  This allows us to give you a full picture of our thoughts at this stage.  However, we would not then assess for ADHD but would share with you if we felt this was relevant to allow you to consider this if you wish. 

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• At the end of this stage, you are under no obligation to proceed to stage 2 of the assessment. We will discuss with you whether you wish to proceed to a full assessment at this stage, however input can end here if you wish. This stage does not include a report or letter.

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​* Some people may be at the stage of wondering whether they may be autistic.  They may decide they want to spend more time weighing up the pros and cons of seeking an assessment and considering if it feels right for them. If you do want to arrange an appointment to discuss this further, this would be at an additional cost and agreed on a case-by-case basis. There is no obligation for you to complete a ‘discovery’ appointment but we are happy to arrange this if you wish.

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Stage 2 - Full assessment (£1450)

The payment for full assessment is payable 48 hours before your developmental history appointment (details below).  You will be invoiced for this when we send you the appointment dates. 

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If you would like to proceed to a full assessment after stage 1, the assessment will proceed as follows:

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• Questionnaire - We will send you an additional questionnaire for an ‘informant’ to complete and return to us.  This is about your early development and so we would usually expect parents or carers or someone who has known you since early childhood to complete this.  We realise for some people they do not have a suitable informant and we will discuss this with you to decide if it is possible to progress with an assessment with the information we can gather.

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• Additional reports - We will ask to see any previous relevant reports you might have such as from Educational Psychology, school, Speech and Language or Occupational Therapy or from previous Autism assessments (with your consent).

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• Developmental history – With your consent, we will invite an informant to an online appointment where we undertake a clinical interview that holds in mind the diagnostic criteria for Autism with a core focus on understanding your development, family history, past and current concerns, interests, strengths, needs and experiences. Depending on how much information we obtain during the initial screening appointment, this interview can take up to 1.5 hours to complete. This would usually be with parents or carers but it could also include additional people who know you well if that would help (e.g., a sibling or partner who can contribute more about current experiences)​.

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• Young adult-based assessment -  We will invite you to attend an appointment.  This can be offered online or face to face at one of our clinic bases in South Sheffield or North Derbyshire (click here for further details). This will include either:

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• A semi-structured assessment which is called the ACIA (Autism Clinical Interview for Adults – Subject Edition) which is interview based.  This is often the choice we would decide on for adults but we would decide on a case-by-case basis.  The ACIA asks you to report on your current and previous experiences, for example, in relation to friendships, social interaction, mental health, sensory experiences, interests and behaviours.  It takes up to 1.5 hours to complete and would be completed with you and one of our ACIA trained clinicians and this can be offered in person or online.

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• A standardised one-to-one assessment called the ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule - Second Edition) and will be delivered by a trained clinician. The ADOS-2 takes approximately 1 hour to complete.  For a young adult a ‘module 4’ ADOS-2 would be completed which includes more of an interview/question element to it than other ADOS-2 modules. This would not usually be the option we choose for an adult assessment but may be helpful for some people if we need additional information.  Usually, the ACIA mentioned above will be the only assessment. 

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• Team review - The team will review all collected information to decide on the outcome of the assessment.  This includes deciding whether you meet the criteria for autism, whether a different diagnosis might be more appropriate or whether there is an alternative explanation for your experiences. On rare occasions, further assessment is required to make a decision but we would discuss this with you on a case-by-case basis.

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• Feedback appointment - You will be invited to attend a telephone or video appointment so the outcome of the assessment can be shared.   You may wish to attend this alone or with other people.

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• Final report -  You will be sent a detailed report of the assessment which will include all aspects of information gathering, our findings and recommendations and an understanding of your experiences.​

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• Additional letter - If you receive a diagnosis, we will also provide a summary ‘covering letter’ in addition to your report summarising assessment, the diagnostic outcome and recommendations.  If you need to seek support from other services or make them aware of your diagnosis, many people prefer to share this additional letter rather than their full report which contains more personal information.  However, this is entirely your choice.​

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Total assessment fee: please note that the total cost of a full assessment is £1650. 

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We are able to offer post-diagnostic support if this is needed at an extra cost.  We would discuss this with you at the time for a decision to be made or you may wish to revisit this at a later point.  There is no obligation to complete any post-diagnostic support.

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See our Frequently Asked Questions for more information about our assessments. 

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