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The Kingston and Richmond Autism Service is a specialist service providing ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) assessment for adults living in Kingston and Richmond.

We work with adults with who have a GP in the Richmond or Kingston boroughs. We provide assessments for people to understand if they have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

 

 

Assistant Psychologists
Ailish Gallimore

Clinical Psychologists
Heidi Adshead
Jo Dunn
Clodagh Harris
Julian Morris

Speech and Language Therapist
Wendy Reed

Team Administrator
Freya Reynolds

We offer assessment and support around the diagnosis of Autism in adults with a GP in Kingston or Richmond.

Our referral for is here: ASD Assessment Referral Form


How can I be assessed for autism?

You can refer yourself to be assessed for autism or ask you GP to refer you.


What happens after the referral has been made?

We will send you an email with a link to a questionnaires that we would like you to fill in. If you have any difficulties at all in completing the form, you can call us on the number/email provided and we will be able to provide advice and help.

We will ask you to complete the questionnaires or to contact us within 1 month. If you don’t do this, unfortunately we will have to close your referral.

What happens to the questionnaires after I have filled them in?


If ASD is likely

If your questionnaires suggest that ASD is likely, you will be automatically added to our waiting list.
We will send you a letter explaining that you have been added to the waiting list for an ASD assessment.
You don’t need to do anything more at this stage. We will get in touch near the time of your assessment to organise the details.


If ASD is unlikely

If it is clear from your answers that ASD is unlikely, we will write to you and explain that you have not been accepted onto our waiting list for an ASD assessment.
If you have more questions about the process and the questionnaire please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for lots more information.

If the questionnaire answers need further review

If it not clear immediately from your questionnaires, whether or not an ASD assessment would be helpful, one of our clinicians will look very carefully at the answers and decide if a full assessment is likely to be helpful. We will then contact you and let you know.

If you’re still not sure and would like to ask some questions of the clinicians in the team, twice a year we deliver a pre-diagnostic information session. If you would like to attend this please contact: nds@yourhealthcare.org

Adult Autism Service: Frequently Asked Questions


1. How long will I have to wait for my assessment?

Please see our ‘Waiting List’ tab or a sense of how long the people being seen now have been waiting.

2. What is involved in the assessment?

In early 2024 two members of the team gave a presentation to people on the waiting list, with lots of information about what the assessment process is like. You can see this here.

3. When will I hear the outcome of my assessment?

Usually within two weeks (more information on the process is on slides 7-8).

4. Why do I need to have someone else give information about my early development?

The assessment involves an interview about your history, from when you were very young. It is often very useful for this to come from someone who knew you very well at this time in your life- like a parent. Sometimes that is not possible, and in those situations, people provide their early history themselves, as best they can recall themselves. Sometimes old school reports or baby books are helpful in this too.

5. What Happens if I change my GP?

We regret that if you change your GP from one in Kingston or Richmond, you would move out of the catchment area for this service and would not be able to remain on the waiting list. We are happy to write to your new provider to let them know how long you have waited already. Some other areas are able to honour pre-existing wait times, and others unfortunately are not.

6. What is a working diagnosis?

Sometimes, the clinicians feel that someone does have autism, but it is hard for them to be sure of how that person presented during development. This can be due to a lack of information, or to some uncertainty about the impact of traumatic experience. When a working diagnosis is given, a person would still receive a summary statement confirming diagnosis because a working diagnosis means that the assessment indicated that your current needs are well explained by the diagnosis of Autism.


7. How can I access support while I am still on the waiting list?

Not all of the organisations that provide support for people who have current needs and who may have autism require a diagnosis. We have put links under the Information and support tab so that you can explore the options now.


8. Are there any reasons why I shouldn’t pursue a formal diagnosis?

Assessment can be an emotional process. The vast majority of people who go through this, report that this is positive, however it can bring about some complicated feelings. Please see slides 15 and 16 of the presentation for more about this.


9. What if I’m not Autistic?

When you are assessed, you will have a detailed assessment that seeks to understand you as a whole person in the context of your experiences. Whether or not a diagnosis of Autism is the conclusion the process does generally result in some increased understanding, and often leads to new ways forward.


10. How much will you contact me when I’m waiting?

You will have email or letter contact to confirm that you are on the waiting list for assessment, and then you will not hear from us until it is time to book the assessment.

In the past we have tried making periodic contact with people on the waiting list to share updates, links or information, before it was time for their assessment. Ultimately, it seemed this could have the unintended effect of increasing anxiety/confusion for some of the people contacted- so we decided not to do it anymore.


11. I’m really good at masking. Would you be able to pick up on that?

We favour a longer assessment, and a face to face assessment because this does help us to see more of how people are when they are less able to mask. In addition we do occasionally use a questionnaire designed to capture masking (the CAT-Q). If you’d like to try it, you can find it here The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) | Embrace Autism (embrace-autism.com)

 

If you have any questions not covered here, please do contact us on: ndsasd@yourhealthcare.org

Last month we got 50 new referrals.
At the moment there are 838 people on the waiting list for assessment.
We are currently seeing people who were added to our waiting list in March/April 2022.

We know the waiting list is long.
Information and knowledge about autism can be very helpful in the meantime, click on the 'information and support' tab for information.

We really like feedback, if you want to tell us about a recent appointment, please click here or complete the form below:

If you would like to contact us, or give us some feedback about your experiences by email, details are below.

Email: nds@yourhealthcare.org

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