*Who are Autism Unpicked?

We are a team of specialist qualified clinicians, including Clinical Psychologists and specialist Speech and Language Therapists, experienced in assessing people for Autism. We offer private Autism assessments for children and young adults in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, North and South Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Greater/South Manchester. Please contact us about offering assessments from further afield. 

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*Where are you based?

The majority of your contact with the team can happen remotely via videocall, telephone or email. However, we will also need to see you or your child face to face at one of the following venues in Sheffield or North Derbyshire for one of the appointments:

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• Parkhead Consultancy | 356 Ecclesall Road South | Sheffield | S11 9PU 

• The Matlock Therapy Centre | 4 Lime Grove Walk | Matlock | DE4 3FD

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*How long are your wait times?

We are able to begin stage 1 of the assessment process with immediate effect (usually within 24-48 hours of an initial telephone call to discuss your needs). Once all stage 1 information is returned and reviewed, should moving on to stage 2 of the assessment be clinically appropriate/something you wish to continue with, we would offer you our next available appointment slots to do this. We would discuss urgency with you and try to support an assessment occurring within a timeframe that meets yours/your child's needs. 

 

*What geographic areas do you cover?

We can carry out assessments of children and young adults (age 7-25) living in South Yorkshire (e.g., Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham, Barnsley), Derbyshire (e.g.,  Chesterfield, Matlock, Hope Valley, Hathersage, High Peak, New Mills, Derby, Bakewell, Buxton),  Nottinghamshire (e.g., Nottingham, Bridgford, Mansfield, Sherwood, Ravenshead) and South Manchester (e.g., Stockport, Hale, Altrincham, Bowdon, Marple) areas. Please be aware of the need for a face to face assessment for children, which will mean visiting a member of the team at one of our Sheffield or Derbyshire based clinics for one of the appointments. All other contact will typically occur via videocall or telephone.

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*How do you assess children and young adults for Autism?

Assessing children and young adults for Autism is different to diagnosing a medical condition such as those where you might have a blood test or an x-ray for example. The process is thorough and detailed and requires a team of specialist clinicians to make a joint decision based on multiple sources of information. Assessments at Autism Unpicked are carried out according to guidelines provided by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).  These guidelines are known to be the best way of assessing children and adults for Autism.  Please see our specific 'what we do' pages for more information about the assessment stages.

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Please be aware that most NHS Trusts offer Autism assessment for children and young people for free. Your first course of action might be to speak to your school Special Educational Needs Coordinator or GP to ask them to make a referral for you or your child.  Please be aware that most services currently have long waiting times in the NHS. 

 

*My child behaves differently at home than they do at school including 'masking' behaviours.  Will you be able to tell this from the assessment?

As experienced clinicians, we understand that the Autism spectrum includes a range of different behaviours and experiences.  The assessment combines information from a range of sources and we think through the information critically as a team.  The outcome of the assessment is not based on one part of the assessment alone and we will always be considering what explains what is seen in different places. For example, many girls may present in a different way to boys and some young people engage in 'masking' behaviours.  For example, they can sometimes appear one way at home and with others may hold all their behaviours inside or copy others in order to manage social situations.  We are experienced in understanding Autism and will hold this in mind in our assessments.  We adapt our approach depending on the individual needs of the child during assessments in order to maximise our ability to understand them. Our research into the experiences of autistic women is referenced in the Autistic Girls Network's 'white paper' proposal documents. 

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*Do you also assess for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

We don't assess ADHD within Autism Unpicked.  However, we are trained and experienced in understanding ADHD and what the profile looks like for someone who has differences in regulating their attention.  We complete thorough and comprehensive assessments.  Part of this includes understanding and being able to 'unpick' people's experiences so we can decide if this relates to Autism or something else.  We might decide as part of an Autism assessment that it is likely that you or your child may have ADHD and we will discuss this with you.  We 'screen' for ADHD as part of our initial screening and during the assessment and for other needs such as anxiety, low mood and learning needs.  This then helps us to give you a thorough psychological understanding of your profile of strengths and needs as part of the outcome of your Autism assessment. 

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*What do I have to do to get an assessment for myself or my child?

We accept referrals from GPs, other NHS services, and from families and young adults who refer themselves. It can be helpful for families to discuss their intention to have their child assessed for Autism using a private provider with their GP, or to find out from school who their council contact is for Autism services to ensure that a private assessment will be accepted. This will ensure that where a diagnosis is given, other professionals and services involved with your child's care accept private diagnosis and will offer post-diagnostic support on this basis. For young adults, you may also find it helpful to speak with your education provider (if relevant) or other services to ask if they accept private diagnoses.

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*Will the assessment be accepted by school/university/GP/NHS service?

Private assessments are sometimes not accepted because the local authority do not feel the assessment was thorough enough and was not ‘NICE-compliant’ and sometimes there can be the perception that assessments are only valid if completed within the NHS which is not the case.  Autism Unpicked offer a rigorous and thorough approach to assessing you or your child that mirrors local NHS assessment procedures and is aligned with National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines. Please click here (child) or here (adult) for what is included in our assessment process should this be needed to help support your discussions with local services who you may wish to contact prior to the assessment. We make it clear how the assessment was completed in the report we provide you with so it is explicit in how this follows NICE guidelines and we are all qualified and experienced NHS clinicians. We are also happy to answer any questions.

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*How much does a child assessment cost?

Our standard assessment fees are typically as follows although they can vary depending on your child’s specific needs, but we will discuss this with you as early in the assessment process as possible so you can make an informed decision. Stage 1 (screening) = £200. Stage 2 (full assessment) = £2000. Typically, if you do complete both stage 1 and 2, the cost of the full assessments will be £2200.

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*Additional assessment warranted: Sometimes, during stage 1, the team might feel that your child has some undiagnosed learning needs or there are other complexities in their developmental history and may need to carry out additional assessment(s) to determine what these difficulties/differences signify. We will discuss this possibility with you as soon as possible since any additional assessment costs are not included in the fees above.

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*How much does an adult assessment cost?

Our standard assessment fees are as follows.  We will discuss this with you in the assessment process so you can make an informed decision about an assessment. Stage 1 (screening)= £200. Stage 2 (full assessment) = £1450. Typically, if you do complete both stage 1 and 2, the cost of the full assessments will be £1650.

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*Why is the cost of child and adult Autism assessment different?

Our assessments are completed in line with NICE guidelines.  Generally for child assessments, there is a higher amount of clinician time and more specialist clinicians involved in the assessment process.  Both approaches to assessment are still valid and thorough, but one includes more time.  Generally, also for children, there is more discussion and longer appointments that include additional people (e.g., schools, local authority teams, CAMHS, parents or carers).  Whilst the adult assessments include other people (with consent), this process is different and more information can also be gathered via additional means, such as completing questionnaires. For both young adult and child assessments, we offer a 'stage 1' screening assessment so you can make an informed decision about progressing to an assessment.  This also means there is no need to make a payment for a full assessment if it is not needed.  We are happy to discuss the processes further. 

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*What happens if you think my child is autistic?

If a decision is made to diagnose your child with Autism, we will write a full report for you to keep and share with relevant professionals. Within this report, we will make some suggestions for things that might be helpful in supporting your child at home and at school but please be advised this list will not be exhaustive as each child has different needs. We will highlight strengths and skills as well as support needs. We will make you aware of free services available to young people with a diagnosis of Autism and what school can be doing to guide you in accessing this type of support in your area. We offer post diagnostic support sessions if you would like to discuss your child’s specific needs after diagnosis. These are costed individually. Please enquire for further details. Information can be found here.

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*What happens if you think I am autistic (young adults)?

If a decision is made to diagnose you as autistic, we will write a full report for you to keep and share with relevant professionals as required. Within this report, we will make some suggestions for things that might be helpful in supporting you at home and in different settings.  This will be based on our understanding of you and tailored to your needs.  We will highlight strengths and areas of skill as well as support needs as needed. We will make you aware of free services available to young adults with a diagnosis of Autism and what others can be doing to guide you in accessing this type of support in your area. We offer post diagnostic support sessions if you would like to discuss your  specific needs after diagnosis. These are costed individually. Please enquire for further details. Information can be found here.

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*What happens if you don't think my child is autistic?

An assessment is no guarantee that a diagnosis of Autism will be made at the end of the process. Regardless of the final decision, we will discuss our observations of your child and clinical opinion with you at the end of the assessment to make sure you have a good understanding of their strengths and difficulties/differences, even if they are not autistic. The report will include some suggestions that could be useful to implement at home and school to understand and support your child, ensuring your child’s voice is also heard in the process.

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*What happens if you don't think I am autistic (young adults)?

An assessment is no guarantee that a diagnosis of Autism will be made at the end of the process. However, this does not mean that we have not heard what you have shared with us.  Usually, it just means that we have understood this in a different way and we feel there may be a different explanation for your experiences. We will discuss our observations of you and our clinical opinion to make sure you have a good understanding of how we have understood your experiences.  We will offer a tentative formulation (psychological understanding) of what you have shared with us, highlight you strengths and difficulties/differences and explain what this means.  The report will include some suggestions that could be useful to implement at home and in other settings to understand and support you depending on your individual goals. 

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*What if the team cannot decide?

It is uncommon but not impossible that sometimes a lack of access to information or other factors means it is not possible to determine whether a child or adult meets the diagnostic criteria for Autism at this point in time. This is relatively rare and would usually be clear to us earlier in the process.  However, should this arise, we may suggest you obtain further specialist investigations from another service in order to make a decision, the cost of which is not included. We may also suggest that we pause the assessment until you have had these further investigations.  For a child, sometimes, we may suggest we pause the assessment until they are older and their differences are a more clear to observe.

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