Type of service: Assessment, Counsellor, Diagnostic services, Diagnosticians, Interventions and therapies

Website: http://www.avenuetherapies.com

We are a team of qualified therapists (including psychologists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists) experienced in working with children, adult and family services within the NHS and Social Services. We are passionate about helping people of all ages and their families in understanding whether a diagnosis of Autism might explain your experiences and to use this information to guide future support and/or intervention. Our team is headed up by one of our directors, Dr Nicole Stokoe and detailed profiles for all the team can be found here. 

We offer ASD assessment services both virtually and face to face in London, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire.  What we offer: We offer assessments to children, young people and adults from the ages of 4 years and above who are suspected of having ASD (see below for some of the indicators). We have assessment clinics in Southampton, Surrey, London and Hertfordshire. Our assessments involve several different stages, which help us understand whether a person meets the diagnosis of Autism. 

These include direct clinical assessment and indirect information gathering and analysis.  
Initial Contact: One of our team will take some basic information from you and send you our information sheet that outlines the phases of the assessment and the pricing structure. If you would like to make a time to speak with one our assessors about the assessment process in more detail, this can be arranged for you.
Initial Assessment: We will discuss your reasons for considering an ASD assessment and ask for some further information about your early development and experiences through education and into adulthood (where applicable). The assessor will also screen for other neurodevelopmental and mental health conditions. Where possible, it is helpful for us to speak to a family member or someone who knew you from birth, to obtain an objective overview of your developmental history. With child and young person assessments, we will be working closely with the core family members as part of the assessment process.

Based on the outcome of this initial assessment, we will discuss with you whether the full structured ASD diagnostic assessment is indicated. Structured ASD diagnostic assessment: If you decide to go ahead, we will gather more comprehensive information from relevant sources e.g. from your education institution, GP. We will also arrange a time for you to come in for the formal structured interview process, which will involve an assessment tool called the ADOS-2. We will explain more about this to you if we all agree to go ahead with this stage of the assessment. Once both the direct and indirect assessment processes have been completed, we will arrange a final appointment to feedback the results. Recommendations to support you in moving forward will be discussed. We will finalise the report with you and then send you a final version of the assessment results and recommendations.
 

Gender: All genders

Specialisms: Has autism-specific elements

Other specialisms: Therapeutic models - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).

Registrations and professional qualifications: Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)

Approaches and tools used: ADOS