Autism: After assessment

Information and support for your child, your family and those educating or caring for your child is delivered through online resources, parent workshops and in nursery and school settings. Much of this information and support can be accessed before a child has had an assessment and does not depend on having a diagnosis. There may be some very specialist areas of support, services or educational placements that do need a child to have a formal diagnosis.  

After the assessment, if your child is given a diagnosis of autism, you will:

• Be given a short letter confirming the diagnosis and the next steps. This letter can be used as evidence of a confirmed diagnosis.  
• Be given information about the autism support videos created by the neurodisability team.
• Be given a copy of the autism resource pack. This will include information about autism and what support services are available in the local area and nationally.  
• Be given information about our nurse-led post-diagnosis sessions. These cover areas such as sleeping, behaviour and anxiety.
• Be sent a report that outlines the details of the assessment, a description of your child’s strength and needs, and the evidence for giving the autism diagnosis. We will ask for your consent to share this with your child’s nursery or school and any other relevant professionals that can help support your child. Please be aware reports can take a few months, but the letter you receive at the assessment appointment is sufficient evidence of a diagnosis. 
• Be discharged from the autism assessment pathway, if you do not want to access the nurse-led support sessions.

Follow-up

Your child will be offered a follow-up appointment with a doctor only if they are preschool age and have not yet seen a doctor, or if there are ongoing medical needs.

Follow-up with other specialist teams will be arranged as needed.

There are many different reasons why children may have difficulty with communication and interacting with others or sensory differences or have a need for routine. Many children and young people will demonstrate autism-type difficulties which overlap with other conditions. It is really important that we understand this in the right way so we can suggest the best approach to help your child.  Sometimes, children have real strengths in some of the areas we are looking at which means they don’t quite fit the diagnostic criteria. They can still have very significant needs in the other areas and still need help and support with these difficulties.  

After the assessment, if your child is not given a diagnosis of autism, you will:

• Be given a short letter confirming the outcome of the assessment and the next steps.  
• Be referred to any relevant services for further assessment and investigation if this is identified as needed during the assessment.  
• Be sent a report that outlines the details of the assessment, a description of your child’s strengths and needs, and why a diagnosis of autism was not right for your child. We will ask for your consent to share this with your child’s nursery or school and any other relevant professionals that can help support your child. Please be aware reports can take a few months, but the letter you receive at the assessment appointment is sufficient evidence of a diagnosis.  
• Be directed to information sites and support services to help you and your child 
• Be offered a follow up appointment with a doctor if there are ongoing medical needs.

If your child receives a diagnosis, you may be offered a space in our CAMHS autism follow-up clinic, if it is felt that this would be helpful. Sessions can be arranged if requested by parents, typically every few weeks to every few months. We are unable to offer very regular slots. Clinic slots are often used for parents to meet with the clinician on their own to discuss their child’s difficulties. The clinician will give you information and support to help you understand your child’s difficulties and needs.

The clinician may also be able to think with you about strategies to support your child or may signpost you to helpful resources or other avenues of support. If you do wish to be seen in the follow-up clinic, you will be sent a letter which gives you six months to contact the team and request an appointment. If we do not hear from you within six months, we will assume you do not need the support of the clinic and you will be discharged.