Adult Autism Spectrum Condition Assessments

There are many reasons why someone may decide to have an assessment for autism, and these will be unique to each individual person. However, having a clear understanding of why our brains work the way they do can:

• Help someone to gain a better understanding of themselves
• Help someone make sense of their life experiences
• Help give people the language to explain to others how they perceive the world 
• Help someone to access meaningful support that works for how their brain works and how they experience the world
• To gain access to reasonable adjustments in education or employment
• To help someone to develop coping strategies and therapies that are more effective with how their brain works
• To improve their overall mental health; reducing anxiety, depression, burnout and sensory overload
• To gain access to other services support such as a Social Care Assessment

Absolutely. Not only that, we have additional measures in place, such as seeing more than one clinician to ensure we are offering a robust assessment and the diagnostic outcome is not just based off one persons clinical judgment. 

We have a wealth of experience working with autistic women, especially there is now a better understanding of the autistic female presentation, and those who would have been diagnosed as a child are now reaching out to pursue a diagnostic assessment.

Yes! Statistically, members of the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to also be diagnosed as autistic, research has shown. We aim to make individuals feel as comfortable as possible.

Absolutely not. Autism is a life-long neurodevelopmental consition, and as such autistic children grow into autistic adults. We are never too old to learn about ourselves, make sense of our life experiences and put strategies in place that are designed for how our brains work.

We offer a free, no obligation consultation with one of our team members, where we can talk through any questions or concerns you might have. Not only is this a good opportunity to understand whether you feel an assessment might be helpful for you, but it also gives you the opportunity to decide whether our service is a “good fit” for you.

Simply give us a call on 01772 920209 or click the “book an assessment” button on this page, giving us your name, and contact telephone number.

Once we receive your details, we will contact you to arrange an initial appointment consultation. This call will last for approximately 25 minutes and will allow us to introduce our service, gather some brief background information about you, your best hopes for an assessment as well as give us the opportunity to conduct a risk assessment with you. 

We can complete this appointment either by telephone or Microsoft Teams depending on which makes you feel most comfortable. Will will then offer you an appointment for a diagnostic interview which will take place via Microsoft Teams. An invitation will be sent to you via the email address you provide us with. 

Please note, that while we are happy to speak to someone else on your behalf if you find it challenging to speak on the telephone, we will require your explicit consent to do so, and for you to be present at the appointment.

If you feel more comfortable doing so, we can arrange a Microsoft Teams video call and utilise the chat box, where you can respond to our questions.

If you would like someone to be present at appointments with for support, we would welcome you to do this. It is often useful to bring someone with you who knew you from a young age, although we appreciate this might not always be possible or that you may not want to.

Although many people prefer online appointments, as they can be conducted in the comfort of your own home, without the additional anxiety of going to a new place, if you feel more comfortable, we can arrange a face to face appointment in Preston or Leyland, Lancashire.  Please note however, there is an additional cost of £100 payable in advance if you wish to have a face to face assessment. 

We break our diagnostic assessment appointments into two parts. During the first assessment appointment we will gather a comprehensive life history asking questions regarding:

• Your family history
• Your current situation
• Your mother’s pregnancy with you
• How you presented and engaged as an infant and a toddler and whether you met your developmental milestones at the expected rate. 
• We will ask about your experiences in nursery
• We will discuss your experiences at school including any further education.
• We will then seek to gain understanding with your experiences with employment, if applicable.  
• You will also be asked about your relationships with others across your life span. 
• We will discuss your past experiences with mental and physical health alongside any previous diagnoses you may have received.  

No. We know many services do, but it is important to us that the information we gather is done so with our clients best interests at the heart of every thing we do, and for some people, this might mean breaking appointments down into chunks that they find to be more manageable. 

We will ask you specific questions relating to autism spectrum condition, and gain insight into any sensory aversions or sensory seeking tendencies you have.  

We break the assessment into two parts, with two different clinicians as it enables us to gain alternative clinical perspectives, helping to make our diagnostic process as robust as possible.

Once we have gathered this information from you we will then have a multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT), where we will review the information you have given us in great detail before reaching a diagnostic outcome. Should we feel we need further information in order to reach a robust conclusion, we may contact you to request further information or ask for your consent to speak to someone else who knows you well.

After our MDT review, we will contact you to arrange an appointment. In this appointment, you will be asked some further questions, and in most cases, feedback will be given to you in this appointment.  If further discussions are needed with our multidisciplinary team, we will arrange a final appointment for you after this has taken place.

No. A full detailed report outlining how the diagnostic outcome was reached will be sent to you. The reports are very detailed, and will include personalised recommendations to support you moving forward in life. 

You can share your report with anyone that you feel would benefit from reading it.

The cost of an online assessment is £1350.  This includes all of the appointments outlined above and a full, detailed diagnostic report.