Have you heard of an autism assessment being done this way?

That is not ok in anyway.

Firstly, before ANY assessment, there needs to be inormed consent. You and your daughter would both need to consent to assessment and understand the full implications, before assessment takes place.

You can and should make a complaint to the HCPC as you have not given any informed consent.

And no... Autism assessments are NOT done in this way.

I have never heard of it done this way. For context both my daughter and I have an autism diagnosis and for mine I went through initial assessment followed by a 2.5hr in person assessment. They also interviewed one of my oldest friends and my mum for around 2hrs each to build up a picture. It was also pretty similar for my daughter who was 7 at the time.

Hi. My friend is a specialist SLT in this area. She frequently diagnoses children following an assessment with her.

My nephew (9) is has been under SLT, has been for years. He had a myriad of difficulties, a language processing disorder, very reluctant learner and has been through the mill waiting for a diagnosis. Luckily my sister is amazing and fought hard while she was applying for an ehcp and got one without a diagnosis as his problems were so obvious. He’s in a special unit now and can barely read or right due to having VPD but oddly is a maths whiz. Anyway, he was on A pathway but the drs couldn’t agree . She got a phone call last week saying that he’s going to be diagnosed with autism in 20 weeks by phone call 🤷🏼‍♀️😂. They don’t need/want to see him and will just go on the slt /orthoptics/mums evidence. That’s it. Very odd. When my son was diagnosed 15 years ago it was two school supervisions, 6 Camhs appointments and 2 assessments by a ed psych and paediatrician.

We had slt, ot, psychologist, physiotherapist and in addition to the barrage of tests, a home visit and a school visit, It wasn’t an obvious case, but they were extremely thorough.

It was probably a complete assessment of need in addition to the diagnostic piece. Maybe that’s just happening in a different order for you op?

Has your daughter seen any other professionals?
It could be they have all had suspicions? Where my LO goes for SLT, it's a centre where they do diagnosis and all the professionals work from, so they might have all been observing and linking in behind the scenes?

I would just be cautious re this diagnosis in terms of how useful it will be going forward. It may not be accepted by certain authorities, organisations. We ran into this problem several times with diagnoses, once with an asd diagnosis and once with a mld diagnoses. They were deemed not to have been done by the right people. NHS, adult social care, EHC people, DWP might not accept a SALT diagnosis imo.

Seconding what @Babythreei said about gold standard assessment. The way the assessment is conducted can vary, but all of the separate elements have to be there, parent/s need to be interviewed about early development and there should be 2 or more professionals involved.

The diagnosis isn't about looking for a tick list of symptoms to match up, it's also considering, and ruling out, other causes for the behaviours and challenges the person or child is struggling with.

It doesn't mean of course that the diagnosis is wrong. It is possible that the information you have provided to the SALT, together with their direct observations of your child means that the criteria for diagnosis have been met. If they are a good service, the report will include information on how the diagnostic outcome was reached and I hope this puts your mind at rest and provides some further explanation. In the meantime, do look at the charities and support organisations, there may be support local to you.

No, I know - I was just casting around for possible other professionals who may have been involved!

Is this NHS?

It doesn't sound right at all I've never heard of a diagnosis being made by just a SLT, yes they contribute but as part of the MDT

As others have said look up NICE guidelines

I would phone up on Monday request to speak to her or her manager to clarify what has happened here and ask for a full and thorough MDT assessment prior to diagnosis being given

It's life long isn't it and so important for you to be fully aware and involved every step of the way as to what's going to happen

What are the other speech and language needs the SLT is supporting with?

I agree with this whether or not she is qualified to diagnose, she definitely went about things in a very poor way. There are generally processes in place to make sure information is provided in a clear way with the opportunity to ask questions and understand the assessment process.

My friend is a speech and language therapist and I’m not aware they have the ability to officially diagnose? Could be wrong.

Same for our DD. They advised the assessment wasn't specifically for autism (even though that's what we suspected) but a range of neurodiverse conditions, eg global development delay.

Whatever the diagnosis, this is an example of very poor communication from the NHS and the SALT, ironically.

At the minimum you should be aware of the assessment taking place, have time to ask questions, and why did they not speak with you without your daughter being present? you could ask how the process followed NICE autism assessment guidelines but ime the lack of resources if often used to explain poor practice.

Generally it isn't correct. However, I know some SLTs are qualified to make the diagnosis.

Sounds like poor communication. When you completed a referral form then you consented to the assessment going ahead. But surely they should have let you know when the assessment was taking place especially as your daughter is only 8 years old.

People over the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment including an autism assessment, unless there is evidence to suggest they do not have the capacity to decide on their treatment. Children under 16 can consent if they are considered to understand what's involved in their assessment.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/assessment-and-diagnosis/what-happens-during-an-autism-assessment#:~:text=People%20over%20the%20age%20of,what's%20involved%20in%20their%20assessment.

My son was diagnosed on the day but we had speech and language and a clinical child psychologist assessing him for 90 minutes whist the paediatrician spoke to me. She also referred to loads of information provided by his nursery, school and other professionals. I would be a bit concerned the diagnosis your DD got doesn't follow NICE critetia

Yep us. My DD’s CAMHS team led by the psych. No ADOS necessary as they had so much evidence and it was clear as day. It was needed quickly to help adjust her treatment . Interestingly my dd struggled to accept the diagnosis so they re did it over a long period of time with an ADOS and many psych led diagnosis sessions, in-depth family history dive( even though they knew most of it before). Result was exactly the same.

We've recently had a diagnosis via right to choose.

The process was as follows:

1. GP sends a referral - a questionnaire (I filled this in):
2. The provider accepts the questionnaire and sends us links to questionnaires for further information for us as school.

1. A three hour meeting with a Paediatrician and they met my DD too (via Teams).

Diagnosis at the end of the call.

We had a diagnosis from the initial consultation with a paediatrician and it didn't take anyone else's views into account. We then tried to get him some private support through a different company and they wouldn't accept his diagnosis as it apparently didn't follow NICE guidelines. This was 10 years ago though, so things may have changed

This exactly. Did the SLT give you a report or anything written?

For my sons disganosjs we first saw paediatrician and he took background history, we then saw salt once. We didn’t have an mdt meeting paediatrician just phoned me and told me ds was diagnosed, whilst I was at work incidentally which wasn’t the greatest timing. I got the impression paediatrician just wanted to diagnose as fast as possible and discharge. This was nhs and was in 2016

Cahms aren’t involved in asd diagnosis in all areas. In our area it’s only if they are secondary school age the referal goes through cahms