Considering Getting a Private Autism Assessment? Three Quality Checks

Ok, so at some point in every parent Autism Assessment journey, you have probably considered getting a private Autism Assessment at least a dozen times. There is a lot of misconception around private Autism Assessments (that we clarified in our previous article) but one thing that we at CareGen always recommend is to carefully consider what company you go with. In this article, we’re going to discuss 3 quality assurance checks you need to make before going down the private Autism Assessment route.

Considering getting a private Autism Assessment with CareGen? Then why not book into our FREE Clinical Appointments here.

Check Registrations

You’d be surprised how many private companies and individuals offer parents Autism assessments when they know they don’t have the qualifications to give a formal diagnosis. There is a reason why most clinicians who diagnose Autism are required by law to hold some form of professional registration. This shows that the individual has the necessary qualifications to practice safely and has the authority to give a formal diagnosis. Without this, there is potential that your child Autism Assessment could be called into question and in some cases not accepted by services.

So what should parents look for? Firstly, ask the clinician what professional body they belong to. The main 2 professional bodies that you’ll find within most Autism services (both private and NHS) are HCPC and GMC. HCPC is the Health Care Professions Council and has very high standards for any healthcare professional offering their services to the public. Thankfully they have a register where you can check if the clinician that assessed or diagnosed your child has registration (click here to see). The GMC is the General Medical Council which is mainly for medical doctors, however this holds the same weight as the HCPC. Regardless, we always advise any parent that is considering going private to check the qualifications of the assessing clinician, to ensure they are getting the highest quality service.

Assessment Process

The second check is to look at what the assessment process entails. What tools are the clinicians using to assess your child? In a standard Autism Assessment, you should expect to have a detailed developmental history taken along with a clinical observation of your child (whether this be online or in person). The clinician should also have some information from a second environment (which is usually school) and should have given you forms for them to fill in.

If your assessment does not reflect a similar process to what is outlined above then that should raise some alarm bells. Any qualified Autism clinician knows that the above steps should give the necessary information to make a clinical decision (whether that is a diagnosis or not). Without a variation of these steps, it could bring your assessment/diagnosis into question by mainstream services such as school and other healthcare services.

Quality Report

This is something that I have seen a lot of in my time of assessing individuals for Autism. I have read some shocking reports in the past where the clinician clearly has not understood the child or doesn’t have a good understanding of Autism. An Autism report should outline in detail how an individual meets the criteria for a diagnosis of Autism. There are 2 main bodies that most services use to make a diagnosis. These are the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) and the ICD-11 (International Classification of Disease). This is where most clinicians go to diagnose anything, and they both have strict criteria’s that must be met to get a diagnosis of Autism.

If you have a report that mentions that your child has received a diagnosis, check in relation to which diagnostic manual. Without specification, this could hinder the quality of your assessment and call into question the validity of the outcome. If this is unclear then you can always go back to the service that carried out the assessment and ask them what manual they use and if they can amend the report to reflect this.

Considering getting a private Autism Assessment with CareGen? Then why not book into our FREE Clinical Appointments here.