Do developmental peds have 'reputations' in UK? Anyone heard of Dr. Denise Challis at the Portland Hosp in London?

[Mamax4]

I am the American mom, and if we move to London in 2months, we won't have the time to go through the NHS waitlist for an eval and a dx for a 2.5 delayed ds (i was thinking speech only but it is now clear it is also cognitive). So we'll have to dx privately and I am wondering if someone can recommend a developmental ped who has a good reputation in London. I called the Portland Hospital and was given the name of Denise Challis, but Googling her did not produce anything of substance.

I have not heard of her, but that doesn't mean she is no good! The BIG one that is the most well known is Gillian Baird at The Newcomen Centre, Guy's Hospital. I don't know how hard it is to get to see her these days, she used to have long waiting lists on NHS and private. I have also heard of Dr Paul Gringras who I think is at St Thomas's as well as private. Many of them do NHS and private work and I would recommend our NHS Paediatrician but I'm not sure he would be any better than the one you have been recommended. He is not everyone's cup of tea but I got on fine with him and found him very helpful. Let me know if you want to know more. I expect most of us will have gone the Paed route on NHS (although we did see Gilly Baird privately all those years ago).

I wouldn't rule out NHS, DH is a community pead, he doesn't do private work but I know people who were hassling to see him privately were very surprised that they got seen within 2 weeks on the NHS. Therapies etc can be a long wait but initial assessment isn't always, it depends on the area.

Yes I agree. Do try the NHS as well, you will probably have to get into the system at some point and you may be pleasantly surprised, esp if you are near UCH or The Royal Free as we are.

Folks, I have a question: if the dev ped has a connection to a practice that does not do ABA, is that dev ped any good for my child who is 1) dx'd on the spectrum (PDDNOS), 2) is younger sibling of 1). Ie, I think it has been well established that there is nothing better than ABA for delivery of education and beh help to spectrum children. So why would a reputable doctor refer ASD patients to a practice that does not do ABA? Makes me wonder. What do you think??

Do you have to move to the UK?

Almost no one does or gets ABA over here..... :(

We don't live in London, but our DS was diagnosed with ASD in March this yr aged 3.5, and we have a follow up appt in March. We have received no referrals or suppport, not even a leaflet on ASD. IndigoBell is correct in that there is no referral to any therapies, no ABA, nothing. if you want that you have to source it yourself and pay for it yourself. Any extra help my son has had, speech therapy etc we have had through the NH|S through different referrals we have done ourselves. The paed has made no referrals to other services for us. You should expect to have to look for everything yourself i'm afraid.

GOSH has a autism unit that they do assesments in, but not sure of the critria.
ABA isnt provided by the NHS here, you nearly always have to pay privately for it. So weather you see a doc who supports ABA makes no difference in my opinion.
The other difficutlies you may come across is some educational settings and proffessionals arent keen on private dx. They feel that if your paying for it, your likely to get what you need.

I guess my advice would be to get into the NHS system, await adx BUT in the meantime start a ABA programme.
I also know of 2 specialist Autism settings for children 2-5years, one in Herts and one in Berkshire, if that helps. The one in Herts that DD2 goes to is wonderful