ASD and ADHD combined assessment Hertfordshire

Initial contact and screening

For combined ASD ADHD Assessment we accept self-referrals from families.

If you are interested in having a combined ASD and ADHD assessment, then please get in touch. We will start by sending you some information about our service. You can let us know by email whether you would like to go ahead or you may prefer to give us a call to talk through the process before deciding.

If you would like to proceed then we will then send out the screening measures. We normally send screening measures to the family and to the school (with your consent).

Here at Private Child Autism Assessment we are very aware that children can ‘mask’ their neurodiversity in school settings. We always think about possible masking in our assessments and we do often give diagnoses of ASD and/or ADHD even if the school are not concerned. Additionally, we still find it helpful to gather information from school and sometimes families are surprised that the school have picked up on more of the difficulties or differences than the family may have expected.

When we have received the completed screening questionnaires we will advise you as to whether we feel that the combined ASD and ADHD assessment pathway is the right pathway for your child. Additionally, we may advise that you move to the ASD only pathway or the ADHD only pathway. At this stage we would also advise you if a neurodevelopmental assessment is not indicated for your child.

ASD & ADHD – Initial assessment

The next stage is to book a Developmental Interview appointment with one of our experienced Clinical Psychologists. This appointment is conducted via MS Teams. Please note this appointment is likely to last for around 3 hours. We understand that this is a very long appointment and you can let us know if you would prefer to split this across 2 appointments. During this assessment we will ask you lots of questions about your child’s early development and what they are like now.

It is important that at least one parent attends this appointment. It is also helpful if your child attends for the first 15 minutes or so of the appointment. The focus of this interview is on parental reports and your child will have their chance to talk to one of our clinicians during their face-to-face appointment.

We will give you some feedback about the ‘picture’ that has developed so far at the end of the appointment.

Face-to-face appointment ADOS-II and QB Check

The next stage is to book your child into one of our face to face clinics with a different clinician. At this appointment, we will assess your child using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2^nd Edition (ADOS-II). This is the gold standard tool for assessing ASD. Furthermore, we will also assess your child using the QB check which is a computerised test of:

• attention
• hyperactivity
• behaviour

This tool is commonly used in ADHD assessments. Your child’s clinician may also complete some other observations and ask your child some questions.

Our face to face clinics currently take place in Hertford. The appointment is likely to take around 2 hours. Parents are usually asked to wait outside of the clinic room if the child is ok with this.

Discussion and Report

After the appointments are complete, our clinicians will meet as a multidisciplinary team to pull together all of the assessment findings, agree an outcome and discuss helpful recommendations for the family.

In a minority of cases it is not possible to conclude and additional information may be needed, such as a school observation. School observations incur an additional cost to cover clinician time. We will discuss this with you if we think that it is needed.

Combined ASD ADHD Assessment – Post diagnostic follow-up appointment

Next, our team will write a comprehensive report about your child’s profile. This will include a clear statement as to whether or not any diagnoses have been given. It will also include recommendations tailored to your child’s individual needs.

We aim to have all assessments completed and reports sent out within 6-8 weeks of the initial appointment. If we need to do a school observation then it can take a bit longer to complete the assessment process.

Finally, you will be able to book a post diagnostic follow up appointment to discuss the findings, if you would like. These appointments typically last for around one hour.

Important Notice

It is important to be aware that whilst Clinical Psychologists can diagnose ADHD and help with behaviour support, we cannot prescribe medication. We know that some families may wish to consider medication as part of their child’s treatment plan. This is not something that we can help with in our clinic.

Medication usually needs to be initiated by a psychiatrist and in some boroughs this can then be managed by the GP after a period of stabilisation. We do not currently have an in-house psychiatrist. However, we may be able to provide recommendations for private psychiatrists, though waiting times to see them will vary and this is out of our control.

If a diagnosis of ADHD is made and you would like to consider medication, you could also ask your GP to refer you to the relevant local NHS service to request an ADHD medication follow-up appointment. Please note that a private diagnosis will not lead to prioritisation for medication follow-up in the NHS.

If you would like an Assessment please start the process by completing our form and we’ll be in touch. Please feel free to connect with us on Facebook too.