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Seeking an autism assessment

Goldfinch

Hi everyone,

After some months of reflection (and some useful advice from this forum), I have decided to start the ball rolling on an assessment by visiting the GP for an initial chat.

I've done all the online tests which register autism, and feel now is the right time to seek some support.

The GP didn't say too much, only asking a couple of questions, and asked for me to refer myself via Right to Choose and come back to her to 'sign off' the referral. I was under the impression I was to be referred by the GP?

I'm now incredibly confused and overwhelmed about where to start, or to even begin looking at Right to Choose providers.

Advice on this website recommends comparing local providers, including the all-important waiting lists before deciding. I'm not entirely sure where to look for any of this.

I believe there may be other more complicated elements to my diagnosis, such as potentially OCPD, so I'm keen to seek somewhere that will be able to dig further into this as well.

I know this may vary a lot, but does anyone have any idea of average waiting lists?

If I could find the money to go private, how much would this roughly cost, and would this effectively eliminate the waiting list to be seen almost immediately?

Many thanks.

  • Hi Goldfinch,

    You already have some good advice here. I just wanted to mention that Our website has a diagnosis hub, this includes information, practical and multimedia resources to support autistic people and their families before during and after diagnosis.

    You may want to visit the other resources on our website, we have advice and guidance on a wide range of information about autism, socialising and relationships, communication and education: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance

    You can try searching on our Autism Services Directory for diagnostic services in your local area.  The Directory also includes listings for support and social groups for autistic people, their families and friends.

    I hope you find this useful.

     Rishma Mod

  • in reply to Goldfinch

    Or you can maybe try to look for an assessor who would be willing to work only with you and evidence such as school reports, old photos, some diary etc. I have old photos taken by me related to my special intrest, also an evidence of me having no friends and rich inner world. My assessor wrote me that the statements from family member are not significant for her because they are often distorted. Many people do not fill this requirement. Not always because of parents passed away, but often due to conflicts, parents having dementia, living in other country,  speaking different languages, due to emigration etc. 

    You may also talk to your family members and try to convince them that their help us important for you, maybe you could try to explain why you need the diagnosis and assure them that your neurodivergence is not their fault. In my case it's impossible. I wrote my assessor absolutely honestly that my mom does not accept this possibility and this label for me and I don't really have any close relationship with anyone else in the family. 

  • in reply to Alien0n3arth

    Thank you for your reply. I also have a concern about the family member element as I have yet to discuss this with them as I fear they may somehow blame themselves. I’m finding this potential element hard to deal with.

  • I was under the impression that the GP would refer me and give me a list of local providers and I’d decide from there. I didn’t expect there to be so much leg work myself in isolating the providers that are in my local area and if they offer Right to Choose. Perhaps this was naive of me, but it has made the first step of this journey a rather stressful experience for me.

  • in reply to Wordsmith

    I’m so sorry to hear about your heart attack. I hope that you are on the mend. 

    thank you for your reply. It seems £2,000 is around the going rate for private from what I can see. 
    I’ve dabbled with AI a bit to get my head around it, with very mixed results ( as with anything AI!)

  • The NHS route was not really viable because the waiting list up here (Glasgow) is several years long. Given my age (71), I decided I might not live that long, so I chose to go private back in January. I was able to get a preliminary appointment with my chosen provider within about a fortnight. The final stage of my assessment is due to take place next week (the delay was because I had a heart attack a few days after that preliminary meeting). In my case, the cost was just shy of £2000, which seems fairly typical for Glasgow-based providers.

    As for how I chose my provider, I have to confess to having made use of AI (specifically Perplexity). I set it up to sift through all the publicly available information about providers in the Glasgow area with two main criteria: I wanted a provider that was sympathetic to the neurodivergence paradigm of autism and one that was experienced in dealing with older clients who might not have an informant who was familiar with their childhood. What it gave me was a report comparing the various providers and two or three recommendations based on my criteria.

  • Hi, I'm waiting for my assessment,  its gonna be October/ November this year. I go private, this does not mean, I will be seen almost immediately,  but waiting few months versus few years is a big difference. I chose to go private because of one big obstacle- the funded by health insurance providers here require a family member to be ready to be your informant. Not just a friend,  who knows you 20 years. Must be a family member. I don't fill this requirement, but I have some documentation supporting my story. The price varies often depending on place, assessment etc. I requested full report (tgere is another option- short report, just for me to have the confirmation) but I need full report to be able to access services and maybe use my diagnosis in contact with some institutions. So if i am autistic and get the diagnosis,  I need it to help me. For example give me access to local support group. My therapist referred me, who suspects that im autistic, I have therapy there for 1,5 year already. Relatively recently i had another critical episode and needed psychiatric help urgently. Then he decided that it's time to have me assessed. He didn't even ask for the tests results,  but the assessment provider asked and I submitted. I'm not in UK, I'm living in Germany. So the procedures may vary depending on location.

  • Prices vary depending on where you are and who you choose, maybe £2-3k, possibly a bit less.

    Timeline depends on how busy they are. I was done, first phone call to getting report in 7-8 weeks I think, which was delayed as they were on holiday for two weeks. I needed a bit of time at the start to complete the forms. Some may offer an initial consultation to determine if it is worth pursuing for about 20-30% of the cost. This is taken off the full price if you go ahead.

    I used Google, NAS also has a list but I used someone else, I looked for places near me, made sure they were accredited, looked for a nice place I could imagine going with parking, then contacted them by email.

    An ASD diagnosis won't assess you for anything else. I am not sure how you get diagnosed for other conditions. Generally only certain people can diagnose certain conditions. You might want some sessions with a psychologist first to see if this makes sense. Try to be wary of self diagnosing yourself for clinical conditions, because it is hard to see yourself from outside as these conditions affect your perception and perspective. So it is worth discussing with someone qualified.