Private ASD assessment in and around Cambridge

[HollyBerryLaneNW3]

Hi, I've name-changed for this.
Basically, I'm hoping someone can recommend a private assessor for a child of secondary school age who probably has ASD. We live in Cambridge but can travel to London if necessary. I've read about Daphne Keen on here but was wondering if there was anyone closer to home. Would a private health insurance cover it and would a letter from out GP suffice?
Also, is there a book that I can read on how to deal with him?
This evening he shouted and protested for 15 minutes because he was asked to do the dishes...
Thank you very much for any recommendations.

try this one

www.spectrumspecialistconsultancy.com/?page_id=2#!autism-spectrum-diagnostic-services/c1xkc

Wow, thank you so much for all the links! I'll make sure I check them all out.
The reason we want to go private is the fact we've already been through an NHS assessment which took a year and concluded DS doesn't have ASD. We accepted the opinion of the NHS paed initially but two years on it has become quite clear that the paed has missed something. DS has something, I'm sure. He's not just a difficult child.
Can you give me a hand with all the acronyms on here please?
SALT, MARGO, DISCO, ADOS

Thank you so much for all the info.
Why is it that we may need to go back through the NHS route anyway? Are there even any therapies for children with ASD?

Hi fits all but one of the list of criteria for Aspergers on that first link, the Tony Attwood page.
I don't understand why this wasn't picked up sooner by his primary school? I am shocked and angry at the moment. I could have given him more support and been more patient instead of shouting back at him and putting it down to bad behaviour.
Poor child

The school said they will do a CAF. What can I expect from it? Is this a good idea?
In other news, DH's very expensive private health insurance from work said they won't cover any assessment or treatment for ASD
Is this standard practice? I wish we could opt out of that bloody medical insurance, it's just useless

About the medical insurance, neither dh's nor mine's cover developmental issues. As disappointing as it is I wouldn't opt out of it though, I only had to wait 2 weeks for a surgery that would have taken several months otherwise...

It's a fine balance asking the head of form and pastoral care for help but not be too pushy to get them annoyed. Parents' evening tonight and I tried to make the point that DS struggles to plan his lunch hour and gets so frustrated with queues that he ends up eating in a rush or not at all. He can't manage to work out whee he needs to go for a lunch pass if there's a club he'd like to go to. He often ends up eating alone. All this could be prevented of she spent a bit of time explaining to him what to do and where to go. Unfortunately she wasn't very sympathetic at all and I feel quite stuck that she's his head of form. She kept saying that the best thing to do is to have him assessed for SEN and then work out a plan. Yes sure but why can't she be a bit more patient with him in the mean time? I got the feeling she thought the whole thing was just a huge pain in the arse.

Hi Holly,

I just wonder how you got on and whether you found anyone private in the Cambridge area you would recommend?

Thanks in advance.