Adult Asperger's Help

I'm bound to be pedantic, and overlook accuracy, and even if it is down to the web page designer, it doesn't respect your prospective customer base not to be thorough.

I take your point as you've seen her speak she may come over well, but I've been to conferences on autism and witnessed dreadful rubbish from supposedly professionally qualified speakers. I remember one speaker (leading at an afternoon seminar on education), who turned out not to be quite what she said she was, and who held forth that all children with autism had criminal tendencies and should be conditioned using punishments like withdrawal of privileges. And that was at a national level conference (hosted by de Montfort).

Poor old Nene College, degrees were awarded by Leicester University until about 1997, when it became a university college with its own undergraduate degree awarding powers. 

In one sense I'm all for such initiatives, and someone who has completed the courses at Sheffield Hallam University, which does have very good subject teachers on autism, indicates good credentials.

But there are loads of these places being created and we really do need guidelines about credibility. A village near Oundle near Peterborough is not the most accessible of central locations. It might be just inside Northants but certainly not based at Northampton.

My instant concern is with the staff profiles. One studied social work at "Nene University, Northampton" in 1987. What is currently Northampton University, and was for many years University College, Northampton, was in 1987 called Nene College, but never Nene University. So I'm immediately kinda worried......  Another is doing an A level and yet claims to have taught one person with aspergers (ONE), and a third has a partner on the spectrum. Experience of ONE person is enough to be qualified!

The new sensory therapy room (picture supplied) also worried me a bit as it appears to have strip lighting and vertical slat blinds on the windows (noisy things) - otherwise looks like the kids corner in a GP waiting room.

It is good that resources are being created. But they need to be re-assuring to users. Having a member of staff with a qualification from "Nene University" when based in Northants - that's not taking enough care over credentials.

Just checked out their website, it's a little confusing.  The founder, Elaine Nicholson has these qualifications: MA Autism, PGC Asperger’s Syndrome, Cert (Merit) Counselling, Diploma in Management Studies so has relevant qualifications but is not actually a clinical psychologist/psychiatrist and therefore cannot (unless I have misunderstood) legally diagnose ASCs.

She says on the Diagnostic Service page:

"One of our supporters is a family GP and an approved ADI-R diagnostician." (ADI-R is the parental questionnaire)

"An initial assessment conducted by Elaine Nicholson, followed by a meeting on a separate date for the purposes of diagnosing, is the usual procedure and will take place at Action for Asperger’s base in Oundle, Northamptonshire."

But on her About the Founder page she then says:

"...please note that it is our expert opinion that a diagnosis is something that is undertaken by a qualified Clinical Doctor or Clinical Psychologist with a special interest/added qualification in autism/Asperger’s.  A diagnosis by anyone else can only be considered as an ‘assessment’. Such an ‘assessment’ will not stand up in a court of law necessarily and neither will it enable you to qualify for Disability Living Allowance, Educational Statement or similar if that is what you are seeking."

So anyone wishing to use their diagnostic service should check that it would be recognised as a valid diagnosis.

Elaine seems more than qualified for counselling someone with AS, I'm not 100% sure about the diagnostic stuff though.

I had a non-clinical assessment before I had my clinical one, and the person who did the non-clinical one had similar qualifications to Elaine, she had an MA in autism and other qualifications, but she told me that legally she cannot call it a diagnosis (even though she used the AAA) because she was not a clinical psychologist/psychiatrist.

A GP cannot diagnose ASCs so I hope that's a misprint!  Only a clinical psychologist/psychiatrist can diagnose.

I agree that (certainly from an adult perspective) there is discontent with the NAS.

From a parental perspective the NAS failed us too.  When I rang the helpline for advice and support prior to my daughter's diagnosis, they were not interested because she  wasn't diagnosed.