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Health and wellbeing - autism assessments (SEND)

The social, communication and autism multi-professional pathway is for diagnosing autism spectrum condition (ASC) or other complex needs for children and young people in North Somerset.

It is important to know that diagnosing autism is a complicated process that takes time. This is because it is not possible to diagnose using a single test. Instead, health professionals must carefully observe a range of behaviours in different situations over a long period of time to make sure they get it right.

Referrals

As a parent or carer you can make a referral for your child, or you can be referred by a professional like a paediatrician or a key worker from North Somerset Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for Learning Disabilities (NS CAMHS-LD).

Anyone who makes a referral should make sure that parents and their child have discussed whether they want to begin with the pathway. They must have given their consent.

Next steps

The professional who makes the referral starts by gathering information from the parents and settings like schools or colleges about the child’s difficulties with social communication.

The team will meet to look at the information and decide whether there is enough information to begin the process. They may decide that going forward is not necessary and will recommend other support.

If they decide to progress, they will need to carry out more assessments. This could include things like direct observation, speech and language assessments or school-based assessments. Professionals will make sure the parents and child are informed.

All professionals involved in the process will meet to discuss the findings of assessments and will decide if the child or young person displays indicators for a diagnosis of autism spectrum condition. They will make a plan to support the child or young person’s needs.

Parents will then attend a feedback meeting to discuss outcomes.

Final report

All the information is put in a report which is sent to you in the post. The report will tell you about any identified needs and whether they are indicators of ASC. You can add comments or suggest changes before the report is finalised. After that, it can be sent to people involved in caring for your child.

Whatever the outcome, there is support available. See our SEND Hub (Local Offer) webpages for more details. 

You can also have a follow-up appointment with a member of the team to ask any questions.