Autism Assessment

Autism Assessment & Diagnosis 

Trans dis team
Autism Assessment Team

Dublin Waterford Cork & Galway           

info@waterfordpsychology.com  087 387 6841

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

How to get a Report and Services   See prices for the cost of assessment through direct referral                   

When you start the process of ASD assessment you will soon realise The Report is what everyone is asking for in order for your child to get the services treatments and interventions they need. The Report is the result of the ASD assessment and details what your child needs regarding treatment/interventions/resources.

The report is what comes out of an actual Autism Assessment.

You have 2 routes to the report

  1. State Assessment – Through the AON Process or other state services
  2. Private Assessment – Through direct referral

The Assessment of Need (AON) process

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After concerns are reported regarding ASD through your child’s teacher/health nurse/GP/local child clinic, they will be placed in a queue for an Assessment of Need or AON.  When the child receives the AON the results give a list of professionals your child needs to see – if any at all.

The AON process can have the following outcomes

1 Find grounds for further assessment and give onward referrals to various professionals such as OT, SLT and Psychology.

  1. No onward referrals and your child does not need further assessment.

In effect the AON is a screening process to see if the concerns raised need any further investigation.

AON IS NOT AN AUTISM ASSESSMENT.  IT WILL NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD SERVICES OR RESOURCES.  All it does is tell the health service which professionals if any should see your child.

You can then be placed on the waiting list for those people.  Waiting lists vary up and down the country from 9 months to 5 years or over in some cases.  The average seems to be around 18 months to 2 years to be seen.

The Private Route

The private route offers parents the opportunity to have their child immediately assessed and a report given which entitles them to all the services/interventions/resources they require.

Children can be referred through their parents or another professional who has concerns.

A screening appointment can be set up to determine if an assessment is required and will be shortly followed by the actual assessment for Autism. (Some parents prefer to skip the screening as they have sufficient cause to warrant assessment)

A good private assessment will look at your child’s educational/cognitive functioning, adaptive behaviour and clinical evaluation of their needs.  They will consult with preschools/schools/other professionals and yourselves to gain a good all round idea of the child’s needs in various settings.

You will then receive The Report that entitles you to apply for the services your child needs.  See prices for the cost of assessment

 0873876841  info@waterfordpsychology.com

 

Aspergers Diagnosis in Later Life 087 387 6841

Why get an Aspergers diagnosis in later life?      

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Waterford Psychology

I have managed up until now and I don’t need any help so why get a diagnosis now?

This is a question that often comes up and the answer simply is that managing is not really living now is it?

Being able to get past things or get through the day or coping is less than the truly happy, content and fulfilled life you deserve.  The life you may see other people having and wonder why can’t that be me?

Getting into a program now can assist you to fulfill your dreams and goals and to gain inner peace and happiness.  You can get a rest from the constant turmoil of inner stress and never feeling that you are on top of life or that you have a value.

Aspergers Diagnosis in Later Life 087 387 6841

Anxiety drives thoughts to be always productive, measuring up and always on call which produces the stress you feel.  Perhaps you never understood where those thoughts come from or you may think that everyone has them or that you are the only person who thinks like that.

087 459 7652    087 387 6841  info@waterfordpsychology.com

If you stop and look up you will see that you have an amazing amount of productivity in various avenues that probably gives everyone around you a lot of satisfaction and help but you don’t feel the benefit of it.

Diagnosis is the start of the rest of your life which can be lived in a much more self satisfying and content way with interventions that come after the diagnostic process.

Aspergers Diagnosis in Later Life 087 387 6841

Call to talk to someone who really does understand your motivations and challenges… 087 387 6841  info@waterfordpsychology.com

 

Waterford Psychology

 

 

Gap Closing on Female to Male Autism

Waterford Psychology  

The gap is closing on Female to Male ratios in Autism

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The gap is closing on Female to Male ratios in Autism

There is no doubt that Autism in Females and particularly Female Asperger’s is harder to diagnose in girls.

A very insightful article from Autism Hampshire gives a good insight into how the gap is closing and why it exists in the first place.  Likely related to how girls are so much better at coping and may not see their difficulties as something that need intervention.

The different ways in which girls and women present under the traditional ‘big 3’ headings related to

      Social Communication
      Social interaction and understanding
      Social imagination which is highly associated with routines,  rituals and special interests
      are given in the examples below:

Girls are more able to follow social actions by delayed imitation  because they observe other children and copy them, perhaps masking the symptoms of Asperger syndrome  (Attwood, 2007).

Waterford Psychology

 087 387 6841  info@waterfordpsychology.com

Gap Closing on Female to Male Autism diagnosis intervention Dublin Waterford Cork 087 387 6841

Girls are often more aware of and feel a need to interact socially.  They are involved in social play, but are often led by their peers rather than initiating social contact. Girls are more socially inclined and many have one special friend.

In our society, girls are expected to be social in their communication.Girls on the spectrum do not ‘do social chit chat’ or make ‘meaningless’ comments in order to facilitate social communication. The idea of a social hierarchy and how one communicates with people of different status can be problematic and get girls in to trouble with teachers

Evidence suggests that girls have better imagination and more pretend play (Knickmeyer et al, 2008). Many have a very rich and elaborate fantasy world with imaginary friends. Girls escape into fiction, and some live in another world with, for example, fairies and  witches.

The interests of girls in the spectrum are very often similar to those of other girls – animals, horses, classical literature – and therefore are not seen as unusual. It is not the special interests that differentiate them from their peers but it is the quality and intensity of these interests.         Many obsessively watch soap operas and have an intense interest in celebrities.

Diagnosis is important but more so are the interventions to lead on for afterwards as girls need very different help to overcome their challenges than boys.  087 387 6841  info@waterfordpsychology.com

Read more of the article here  ….