Who are we?

• Dr Katja Osswald, Consultant Clinical Psychologist
• Dr Huarda Valdes-Laribi, autistic Speech and Language Therapist

Who is our service for?

We offer private autism assessments and post-diagnostic support for children, young people and adults. If you or your child would like to explore whether you meet the current diagnostic criteria for autism, please get in touch.

Why choose us?

• Our approach is collaborative, in-depth and our assessments are tailored to your needs.
• We offer support following all assessments, whether a diagnosis of autism is given or not. One post-assessment support session is included as standard in all our assessments, in addition to our feedback session.
• We do not believe in simply ticking boxes. Our aim is to help you better understand yourself or your loved one’s communication, psychological profile, and needs.
• We take the time that is needed to ensure we understand your profile. 
• We have experience with NHS assessments.
• Our assessments follow NICE guidelines.
• As an autistic person herself, Huarda has extensive personal and professional experience of masking/camouflaging and internalised profiles.

How does it work?

We tailor each assessment to the individual’s profile, and we may modify or add to the below structure as needed. We will always endeavour to discuss the structure of your unique assessment with you to make sure you feel comfortable with each step. Each part of the assessment feeds into the bigger picture to help us all determine together whether you or your child meets the criteria for autism. All of the following points apply to both adult and child/young people assessments, unless otherwise specified.

• One or more questionnaires to gather background information before we meet.
• An initial appointment to explore you or your child’s hopes and to decide together whether a full assessment is needed. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a formal diagnosis with you and/or your child as appropriate. This appointment usually lasts around 60-90 minutes.
• If a full assessment has been recommended, and you decide to go ahead with this, we will organise a further four appointments with you and/or your child or young person.
• Observational assessment: one of our clinicians will meet with your child/young person or with you (adult assessments). This is usually in person. This appointment consists of a series of activities and conversation to gain a better understanding of your experience of the world, and it usually lasts around 90-120 minutes.
• Developmental history: one of our clinicians will conduct an in-depth interview with a family member who knows the person well and can provide detailed insight into the person’s early development. This appointment can last up to three hours.
• Following these assessments, our team will meet to discuss our observations and the information you will have provided. This meeting usually lasts around an hour.
• Information from educational setting if applicable: for children and young people who attend an educational setting / activities outside the home, we will get in touch with the setting to conduct an interview of a member of staff who knows your child well. In some cases a school observation will be necessary, and will incur an additional cost. This is always discussed with you.
• Feedback appointment: once we have all the information we need and have reached a diagnostic conclusion, one of us will meet with you and/or your child/young person as relevant and appropriate. During this appointment we will explain how we reached our conclusion and you will have plenty of time to ask questions. This appointment usually lasts an hour.
• Report: you will receive a report outlining the main elements of the assessment as well as the rationale for the conclusion and recommendations for further support as needed.
• Follow-up session: we firmly believe that our assessments need to provide more than just a “yes” or “no” answer. We will have spent hours together exploring your child’s or your own neurotype, and we want to make sure you have time to process the information we have given you in the report and feedback appointment. We will offer you a follow-up session approximately six weeks after your feedback appointment, following NICE guidelines. During this session you will meet with one of our clinicians to discuss any outstanding questions you may have and to explore any topics which may have arisen since your feedback appointment.