To formally identify and diagnose Autism Spectrum Disorder, we use a range of tools to complete a comprehensive evaluation.
This will include:

• A designated clinical team to lead the assessment. 

• A range of questionnaires to gather further information regarding developmental skills and current presentation.

• Information gathered from education setting.

• Developmental Interview - This covers many aspects of your child’s development and current presentation. Parents/carers are offered a phone call at a convenient time. The interview is detailed and takes around 1 - 2 hours.

• An online or face to face observational assessment (e.g. ADOS-2)

This involves a 60 minute assessment with your child which includes a number of tasks designed to elicit the following observations:

- verbal and non-verbal skills (gestures and eye movement)

- use of non-literal language (metaphor, humour, irony)

- content, clarity and coherence of conversation

- social skills (understanding others and ability to react to verbal cues)

In our experience, people prefer to access this assessment online due to convenience, flexibility and being in their own environment. However, if you feel a face to face assessment is more appropriate  for your child, we can offer assessments at our Manchester and Cheltenham venues. 

· A Multi-disciplinary team will then review all information to formulate an assessment outcome using the DSM-V criteria.

· A telephone feedback session is also offered within the assessment package. This will be to discuss the assessment process and outcome.

· A full report will be written following the assessment, with recommendations and support. 

The full assessment takes approximately 12 weeks from receiving your completed questionnaires.

Any Autism assessment carried out by The Owl Centre's team complies fully with the NICE guidelines (National Institute for Clinical Excellence). However, some local authorities prefer to carry out the Autism assessments themselves. Therefore, it is advisable for clients to contact their local health authority to discuss this prior to making a booking with us. 

If a GP or health visitor raises concerns, then, in most cases, we would be able to assess reception aged children.

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