Private autism assessment

[222a]

Hi

I have been thinking for a long while if I should I pay for my daughter to be privately assessed for autism. She is 3 and half years old and is very delayed for her age.

she is under speech and language therapy and we have been on the waiting list to be assessed for a year and a half now.

Has anyone had experience with private assessments and if so what are your thoughts? Would it be worth it ?

The service I am looking at will do an in-depth interview with us as a parents first, in clinic observation of my daughter, will visit her school to observe her in her nursery setting and will then conduct a panel meeting to discuss observations and findings.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

I think whether a private diagnosis is accepted varies from area to area.

No, it doesn’t. The LA, schools and NHS can not lawfully have a blanket policy not accepting independent diagnoses just because they are independent.

Thank you, I totally get that & felt exactly the same. The hardest thing was the school & even a friend accusing me of trying to label DD. I find this labelling argument gets wheeled out a lot & it’s hugely unhelpful. We all just want the best for our kids & want to know how best to support them & a diagnosis helps hugely with that. Wishing you all the best with pursuing this @222a.

@Peanutbutterfan thank you 💜

I would wait to be seen by a multidisciplinary team, based on your post there are other conditions this could be, autistic traits can be caused by a variety of conditions. My dd was diagnosed overseas (where we lived) and the nhs would not accept the diagnosis so we still went through camhs.

I would suggest pushing through your gp and health visitor to expedite the process as this a very significant delay. I wouldn't want to be making suggestions on specific conditions except for some are genetic. I have experience as my dd was tested and was negative

Mine have all had private assessments, but they only did it for 6 years +

As others have said 3.5yrs is still very young. Focus on gathering as much evidence as you can while you wait. Are you in the uk? If so, consider seeking other referrals at the same time - to occupational therapy, speech and language therapy (SALT), autism advisory team if your daughter is in a school nursery they should be able to make these referrals. If the evidence suggests her speech and development is as delayed as you suggest above, can you speak to your gp about the possibility of genetic testing which might be quicker and help to secure support and answers more quickly.

Yes I am in the uk and yes I have sought other referrals they all have a huge waiting list and she’s already under speech and language therapy