I have made inquiries of the NAS about overall target times for ASD assessment. This is their response:
"There is currently no official set of guidelines on how long an assessment should take or what should be involved. The process, people involved and length of time will vary from area to area but many do operate a multi-disciplinary approach. There is a document called The National Autism Plan for Children that has been produced as guidance on good practice in autism diagnosis, but is currently not binding. The National Institute for Clinical Guidance (NICE) are also running a consultation into autism diagnosis that may also lead to future developments regarding this process."
Click here for National Autism Plan
Click here for NICE consultation
I thought the NICE consultation might be of interest. You can?t feed into it though unless you are registered as a stakeholder and, in relation to parents, this is limited to organisations which represent the interests of people whose care is covered by the guideline.
Perhaps we should set up a "parents worried about rubbish autism diagnosis procedures group"!