Diagnosis

Hi @Barbsy, lovely to hear from you! 

Firstly you are best speaking to your child's school, they can start the ball rolling if you believe your child needs additional support, and refer for additional support from your local authority education support services (also known as inclusion teams, or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) departments). 

Alternatively, you can refer yourself via your GP, which will follow a similar pattern as above in order to undertake a formal assessment process. The referral will be to your local children's centre or hospital who specialise in Neurodisability, or CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) who can start the process of exploring a diagnosis of autism. The referral could take quite some time to be processed dependent upon local waiting times, and will then include contributions from a range of professionals such as school staff, educational psychologists and other professionals who your child is already known to. You will also be asked for your contributions as a parent, which can include any evidence you already have that support your thinking, or a statement from yourself giving you reasons why you think your child needs to be assessed for an autism diagnosis. 

If you'd like more information on how the diagnosis process happens after a referral has taken place, just let us know and we can give more information. Hope it helps!