Home / CareGen Support / Tagged: Autism Assessment

CareGen Support 

Filter by tag:

Posts tagged "Autism Assessment"

So Why are NHS Autism Assessments done Online Now?

Apr 24, 2023 Posted by: CareGen Ltd Autism Assessment

One of the biggest changes that NHS Autism assessment service experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, was the change in completing Autism assessments. As all the clinicians that work within CareGen also work within NHS Autism assessment services, we thought we would explain why the NHS are now completing their Autism assessments online. This is also why we at CareGen complete our Autism assessments online, as to keep our assessments as closely aligned to the NHS as possible.

Need support? Why not book a FREE Clinical Appointment with an Autism Specialist at CareGen? Just click here to book a date and time that suits you!

Managing Waiting Times

Since the first lockdown, NHS Autism services were scrambling trying to figure out how to continue offering Autism assessments and to not let waiting times increase further. Many clinicians at CareGen who were also working with the NHS at the time were worried that waiting times for Autism assessments could have reached 6 years or more, which would have been unacceptable. This is why the decision was made within the NHS to trial completing Autism assessments online. Thankfully, with additional training for clinicians, the NHS were able to offer online assessments to families and have been doing so in this manner for the past 3 years.

Since then, a lot of Autism assessment tools have been modified to allow for online usage. In addition, as this has been the standard for several years now, it has allowed clinicians to become quite good at spotting the signs of Autism via online platforms like Zoom and Attend Anywhere. Therefore, families should be reassured that the assessing clinician will be able to accurately assess you/your child for Autism in this manner.

Easier Access for families

Another thing that NHS Autism services found during the pandemic was the increase in people attending their Autism assessments. Believe it or not, despite the waiting times being ridiculously high for Autism Assessments, there are a lot of families that don’t turn up for their assessment. Obviously this causes delay and frustration to the clinician, as this time could have been better spent with a family that wanted to engage in the assessment process. Nevertheless, due to assessments being offered online and in the comfort of their own home, services found that more people were willing to engage in this rather than having to leave their home with their child.

In hindsight, this make a lot of sense as it can be difficult for people with Autism to go to a new place to meet a new person to discuss personal things. Therefore, by offering this assessment in the comfort of their home, we were able to see a lot more engagement for individuals. This is one of the reasons why NHS Autism Services have opted to offer online Autism assessments indefinitely.

More Assessments Offered

The last reason why NHS Autism services are now offering online assessments is due to clinicians being able to offer more assessments. This is due to less travel time which usually takes a large part of clinicians time during the day. You would think that clinicians would have one building where they complete Autism assessments, however that is not always the case. There are usually issues with room bookings within a particular building which often results in having to change rooms and in some cases even change buildings. This obviously takes a lot of time, however with the introduction of online assessments, all these issues disappear.

With less travel time means more assessments can be offered to families, and in turn reduce waiting times. This is also why we at CareGen offer online assessments as to reduce the waiting times for families that want to access Autism Assessment services. In addition, we can offer Assessments nationwide which was previously not an option. This means that we can help more families throughout the UK to get the support they need.

Need support? Why not book a FREE Clinical Appointment with an Autism Specialist at CareGen? Just click here to book a date and time that suits you!

What happens in an ADOS Assessment?

Mar 21, 2023 Posted by: CareGen Ltd Autism, Autism Assessment, CareGen

This is a question that every parent asks when coming for an Autism Assessment! What happens in the ADOS part of the assessment? Well, we at CareGen are here to give you the inside scoop on what to expect in this assessment. And for those that don’t know what an ADOS is, it’s basically the part where the clinician will need to speak with the individual completing the Autism assessment. In fact, ADOS stands for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, which mean that there are a series of tasks that we as clinicians will ask you to complete.

Need more support? Why not book into a FREE Clinical Appointment to speak with an Autism Specialist at CareGen? Just click here

Conversational Interaction

Now one element of the ADOS is for the clinician to get to know you a bit better and this is usually done through chit chat conversation. Within this part of the assessment, we just want to see how your child copes with conversing with a new person in a social environment. Of course, we don’t just look for how well your child can verbally articulate themselves, but we also explore their non-verbal social skills. Clinicians may look out for appropriate eye contact usage and if the individual uses gestures during conversations.

Conversations aren’t always focused solely on your child. The clinician may attempt to engage your child in different activities and weave in conversations whilst focusing on these tasks. This might help your child become more relaxed during interactions rather than being an intense 1-1 conversation.

Exploration of Friendships

This is a very important part of the ADOS, as the clinician will attempt to understand your child’s friendships and how they feel within these environments. The clinician may explore how your child develops friendship or what their definition of a friend is. All of this is to better understand how your child views these relationships and how they navigate themselves within these situations.

Within this area, the clinician may also ask questions about future relationships and why these may be important. This is to explore whether your child has some insight into different social relationships and if they believe that these are important. The clinician may attempt to explore what your child hopes and aspirations are for the future within this element of the ADOS assessment.

Creativity

This is another element of the ADOS that is crucial. Within this part of the ADOS, the clinician may ask your child to complete a series of tasks that explores your child’s creativity. This may be in the form of playing with some toys or developing a story from different items. All of this is to gain a better understanding of your child and the different difficulties they may be exhibiting.

Now it must be noted that the ADOS should never be seen as a stand-alone assessment. Clinicians will take all the information gathered from the ADOS and add this to the information gathered from different areas. These include, the developmental history gathered from parents and information gathered from different environments such as school. Once the clinician has all this information, they will then be able to make an accurate decision of whether your child meets the diagnostic criteria for Autism or not.

Need more support? Why not book into a FREE Clinical Appointment to speak with an Autism Specialist at CareGen? Just click here

Considering Getting a Private Autism Assessment? Three Quality Checks to look for!

Mar 07, 2023 Posted by: CareGen Ltd ASD, Autism, Autism Assessment

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.

Page 1 of 2