Diagnosis and help for 21 year old with suspected autism

[Tenebrae]

My student daughter, aged 21, was diagnosed with dyspraxia 5 years ago, but now thinks she may also be autistic.

Please can anybody recommend a professional clinician in London who specialises in autism and who could carry out a formal assessment. (Please PM me if you don't want to publish names on the thread). Also, any recommendations as to therapists, websites, support groups, books etc, would be wonderful.

I would be so grateful for any advice, as DD is having a rough time at present and I want to do all I can to support her.

Is she at Uni? If so, Student Support should have a lot of helpful info.

Otherwise, how-to re: diagnosis www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/adults.aspx

The thing is, whoever assesses her should be competent in assessing autism in women simply because they present very differently. Most of the assessment criteria are based on the male presentation of autism and it's fairly easy for a non-experienced clinician to say a woman does not meet the (male) criteria, whereas a more experienced clinician would recognise more signs of the female presentation.
NAS recommend the Lorna Wing Centre as they specialise in diagnosing women. They are in Bromley, Kent and Chigwell, Essex.

Not sure if Daphne Keen only diagnoses children, maybe email her secretary? www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/people/dr-daphne-keen/

NAS have an autism services directory, but do not accredit or inspect the people on it. www.autism.org.uk/directory.aspx

Hopefully someone will be able to give you a personal recommendation.

Thank you Blank, that is really helpful. Yes, she is at uni, so that is a great suggestion to contact them first. DD has also had a couple of recommendations from a FaceBook group, which we will follow up.