Private autism assessment?

[itbereet]

Hi all,

Has anyone ever paid for an autism assessment? Looking for any recommendations in Yorkshire/Lancashire.

We've wondered for years about our 12 year old DD and she's been referred to CAMHS 3 times over last few years. Now her mental health support worker and her school have all mentioned autistic traits. GP has put her on CAMHS list for an autism assessment but the waiting list is 2 and half years!

We're in a position now where she wants to know if she is or she isn't as she's depressed and is having strange thoughts. She had a psychosis assessment a couple of weeks ago, which was all okay (but they mentioned autism as well).

Her MH Worker and school have been amazing and have given me lots of info about autism, but I'm a bit stuck about finding a practioner to do an assessment

Google is a minefield...😳

Thank you so much! I've stopped looking as had Google overload but I'll give them a quick Google.

Thanks again 🙏

Lorna Wing is gold standard for female autism assessment and they use DISCO rather than ADOS for assessment. Heard recently though that it is a 10 month waiting list.

Health Horizons in Cumbria are absolutely brilliant and did my DC’s over Zoom during lockdown 1.

Before you pay think about what you want from the assessment. If she is autistic then what would the confirmation do? School adjustments and camhs aren't based on diagnosis but on need, you don't get something because your dc is autistic (my dd is). I just hate to think you or or others reading this think the diagnosis is a magic bullet, it wasn't. Camhs can provide therapies not just a diagnosis

I think the recognition that there may be a reason for their challenges would be a really good reason for diagnosis. And while the system is supposed to work on need rather than diagnosis, it rarely works out that way.

Place mark

I diagnose autism, I think it is massively helpful especially for women and girls and especially at your Dd's age. I am in the South East so not much help but I have seen some good reports from London recently.

Just to clarify, we're not expecting anything from this and have hummed and hawed about having her assessed for years as it won't change anything or the support she gets from school.

The only reason that we're thinking about it is that she wants to know if she is or isn't, and the not knowing is impacting on her recovery as she believes that there is something wrong with her brain (and keeps asking to have it scanned!).

www.daisypsychology.org/private-assessment/

This looked ok to me using recognised tools and criteria. Similar price to what I would expect as well. Not cheap but looks like a comprehensive assessment. (As I say this is my day job)