Child Autism Assessment

The fee for a child ASD assessment with The Autism Service is £2350.

We assess children from three years of age. Before this age, children can change significantly in their areas of strength and difficulty. We need some stability in their presentation and needs to be able to complete an accurate assessment. For children under the age of three, please contact your health visitor or local NHS child development team for advice and support.

In our opinion assessing a child in person is key to a reliable and accurate assessment. We do not believe that you can safely assess ASD in a child without seeing him or her face-to-face: ASD is a communication and interaction disorder and so you need to experience interacting with the child first-hand, and without interference caused by technology during video calls, to accurately assess if the condition is present. The ADOS-2, which is part of our assessment pathway, cannot be administered online.

The only parts of our assessment that are completed via video call is the clinical history aspect, whereby we meet with parents online to interview them about the child’s development and current presentation, and the feedback appointment. All observations of the child are completed face-to-face.

Most parents seek an assessment for their child because he or she is experiencing problems in school or because they have concerns about his or her emotional wellbeing or mental health. It is not uncommon that a family member, friend or professional has mentioned the possibility of ASD before parents contact us. There might be a family history of ASD or another neurodevelopmental condition, increasingly the likelihood of ASD in relatives.

For an independent opinion on whether or not an ASD assessment would be useful for your family, please speak to your GP.

It is more likely that older children will be aware they are being observed than younger children, as older children are generally more actively involved in the assessment process and are told it is taking place. For children in middle childhood one of the main factors to consider in telling the child about the school visit is whether or not it will cause them significant anxiety. The office staff and clinical team will be able to discuss your specific circumstances with you and advise. Please note that a child knowing about the visit does not invalidate the observation in any way.

Having ASD can make attending school very difficult for young people, and as such, it is not unusual for the children we see to not be in school. On these occasions, to ensure that we have a second set of observations to inform our diagnostic decision, we arrange a suitable alternative appointment with you. Typically, this involves your child meeting with a different clinician in clinic. If your child is still registered with a school, we can speak to teaching staff over the phone to obtain their input.

We assess an equal split of male-to-female children each year; in the same way that we complete an equal split of child-to-adult assessments. On a daily basis we see firsthand the many different ways ASD can present. 

Furthermore, our clinicians are all registered with statutory professional bodies, meaning that they must by law work within their field of competence and engage in continued professional development (CPD), ensuring they are up-to-date with the latest research relevant to assessing and diagnosing ASD.

The ASD assessment pathway uses the ADI-R and ADOS-2; these are tools specific to the assessment and diagnosis of ASD, and therefore, whilst we can make recommendations about other assessments your child might benefit from, we cannot make any diagnosis other than ASD. If you would like ADHD to be assessed also, please see our combined assessment pathway which covers both conditions.

Our assessment pathway includes your child being assessed by three highly trained and qualified clinicians, each of whom are specialists in diagnosing ASD, and most of whom continue to work in diagnostic teams in the NHS. They have attended relevant courses, clocked up hundreds of hours of clinical time, and receive ongoing supervision of their work. 

Your child will be seen on multiple occasions and we use the best assessment tools available to us, collecting information from a range of sources. We are confident that our assessment pathway is robust enough and that our clinicians have the right skills to detect masking in children.

This is not something we are able to provide at present. If your child is avoidant of demands and this is observed by clinicians, the assessment team will make reference to this in the report and make recommendations about what will be helpful, but as PDA is not currently a recognised diagnosis (as per DSM-V and ICD-10), the report will not refer to PDA specifically as a subtype of ASD.

A child having selective mutism certainly makes the assessment process more challenging, but it is not impossible because ASD has a very different footprint. It is the clinical team’s responsibility to tease apart what aspects of your child’s presentation are due to ASD rather than part of their selective mutism. Occasionally, we may need to spend additional time with your son or daughter to be able to conclude.