To ask about private ASD assessment?

[mither]

Has anyone any experience of a private referral for ASD?

I don't know how (GP referral I guess) or where (Tayside) or who (same CAHMS team?)

I suppose the private sector is much the same as variations in pricing between anything else. Lidl v M&S. There also seems to be huge differences in how the assessments are done privately.

I guess so.

Ask on the SN board. I’m sure you will get some recommendations.

Thank you shed - I'm now wondering why o didn't do that in the first place

Why are you so aggressive OP?

People are simply asking questions about why you want to go private.

I also looked into private assessment and yes it seemed the NAS had a list of practitioners. My mum and Dad were going to pay but given my son is 9 and finally now not coping at school the NHS seem to be taking us seriously.

roaring

Where was I aggressive

Just read the thread I’m as to where OP has been aggressive!

Do you have a child development centre near you OP? That’s where my son received his diagnosis. CAMHS are pretty crap at diagnosis IMO.

CDC was quite a quick route too

Thank you, Autistic, that's useful - though I am sorry you have had to mask. I know it must be exhausting and takes its toll.

Yes shed we do. I will look into that too, our CAHMS has an awful reputation and the time it takes to get through is ridiculous.

Dr Daphne Keen is a name I’ve heard a lot about on the SN board for private diagnosis. All good things, highly recommended. But I think her waiting list is pretty long too. And you are in Scotland, not sure if that’s any use to you.

Could I pm you OP?
I'm in the same area and am curious about your experience as we are earlier on in the same nhs process with two of my children.
I've also accessed a private clinical psychologist here for an unrelated issue

Certainly super

Our CDC have a specialist ASD team ie specialist SALT, specialist Paed etc.

I spend years being told by varies community Paed’s That my son didn’t have autism. If your child is ‘high functioning’ it can be much harder to spot and you need professionals who specialise.

I’m very sceptical of CAMHS diagnosis. ASD is a communication disorder, not a mental health disorder. I would say SALT is key.

Camhs do the diagnosis in our area, it’s still a multidisciplinary diagnosis. The bonus of it is that we are now known to the Camhs system for getting support for the mental health problems which so often are co-morbid with autism.

We had our DS assessed privately at the Centre for Autism at the University of Reading, and it cost £850. We decided to go down the private route because DS has been having a lot of problems and waiting the 2 years for a CAGMS assessment wasn't something we wanted to do. Timing wise, DS is in Yr5 and we'd rather have the diagnosis and know what we are dealing with before he starts secondary school. We contacted the Centre for Autism in later Nov 2017 and had the assessment in early January. We were told his diagnosis on the day, sent a draft report a few weeks later, had a follow up meeting which the school also attended and then got the final report in late Feb/early March.

There were some assessment forms which we had to fill out beforehand, and the school also completed some.

The assessment itself involved our DS carrying out activities and talking to the psychologist whilst DH and I spoke to a SALT in another room. We didn't tell our DS why he was there as we didn't want to stress him out and he didn't question it. We told him of his diagnosis a few days later once we'd had time to digest the information and also get some books that were recommended at the assessment for DS.

Our Local Authority accepted the report from the Centre for Autism and the school have been really supportive (well, the SENCO. The class teacher not so much but that's another story).

I'm so glad we went down this route because the diagnosis has given us a much better insight into DS' behaviour and it's been a positive experience.

Sirzy I think multi assessment is extremely important. Lone professionals trying to diagnosis without the appropriate input from other professionals is where it falls apart IMO.

After diagnosis my son was referred to CAMHS and I was asked are you sure your son has autism, what makes you think that his diagnosis!

Do any nhs trusts do diagnosis based on the word of one person? I would be amazed if they did and I think that is part of the reason so many areas don’t accept a lot of private diagnosis because one person spending a few hours with someone can’t really create a broad enough picture to diagnose either way really.

Sirzy here GP would refer to community Paed. I was referring to being told by various paeds my son doesn’t have autism, based on their single opinion.

Agree about private diagnosis. And would urge OP to stay on the waiting list for NHS. I know OP has stated she only wants diagnosis to explain to her son. But things can change so quickly.

shed

We are 20 months in with the NHS route. DC has been seen, but the whole process just takes so long. We will be sticking with the NHS appointments as well though.

It's actually my DD who needs the answers.

Thanks to everyone for all replies, there really is some great information on the thread now.

Blimey 20 months is a long time! We didn’t go CAMHS route. How do CAMHS work? Do they refer off in directions to SALT, OT etc? Then you have to wait for those appointments too?

CDC had a team ready and waiting, literally took about 6 weeks from being seen, assessed to diagnosis.

The specialist nurse makes about 3 appointments to ask questions, they send forms to us and school and then it all gets passed to a doctor who can either diagnose at that point, recommend ASOS, or sign the person off!

When it was other DC (back a few years) he had seen the community paed before the specialist nurse.

From memory NICE guidance requires a formal diagnosis from a multidisciplinary team so I imagine in order to get a recognised diagnosis you will pay a lot as several people are involved with the different assessments.
Payment to 1 psychologist will not be worth the money as it won’t be formal/recognised.

I've just been through adult assessment and it was 1 man assessing. That's interesting that it's supposed to be more than one person diagnosing for children. He says I don't have ASD. I'm not sure.

Have to say, the waiting lists are horrendous. Mine was 2 years from referral to conclusion.