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Autism diagnostic assessment process
What to do if you think your child might be autistic
Receiving support at the earliest stage without the need for a diagnosis is really important to help you and your child. If you think your child may be autistic, talk to a health, education or social care professional. They can help you consider if your child might be showing signs of autism.
These are different from one person to another but may include any of the following:
- difficulties with social communication
- difficulties with social interaction
- restrictive and repetitive behaviours
- repetitive activities and interests since early childhood
- disturbance of daily functions due to the above
- other difficulties such as sensory processing and co-ordination difficulties
- difficulties in learning, information processing and other behaviours may be apparent
The professional should work with you to think about and put in place adjustments or strategies to help meet the needs of your child. These are made as part of a graduated response of support and are a combination of academic adjustments made in an education setting and strategies to try at home to help daily life. It may also involve small adjustments made to usual school processes that make the child’s life easier, or onward referral to services that provide support.
What this looks like is different for every young person.
Statement on steps to improve support and diagnostic assessment process for Paediatric Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Over recent years there has been a dramatic increase in referrals for paediatric diagnostic assessments for ADHD and Autism with referrals for assessment growing by over 300% from the pre-pandemic levels. Demand for local services currently exceeds capacity and steps are being taken to address this. NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire is working closely with:
- local providers to reduce the waiting times and
- with partners organisations, children, young people and families to re-design the care pathways for Autism and ADHD, bringing them into one Paediatric Neurodevelopmental Care Pathway linked to mental health support
In the meantime, we know families need support while they are waiting for and following a diagnostic assessment. So, we are also improving information available on Autism and ADHD here through the Council’s ‘Local Offer’ website and while people wait from an appointment.