Assessment and Diagnosis

What will the consult look like?

There are 2 parts to the ASD diagnostic assessment:

The first consultation is a screening consultation. It is multidisciplinary in that there will be 2 professionals present, Dr Liz McMonagle, Clinical Psychologist and Mrs Orla McCaul, Nurse trained in ASD diagnostic assessment.

The first consultation will take 1 hour, during which information will be gathered about the adult or child attending for assessment. Dr McMonagle will seek to understand a broad range of information about the adult or child to help reach a conclusion as to whether the adult or child may be autistic and needs to proceed to the second phase of the full diagnostic assessment. There will be a lot of questions asked and there are no correct or incorrect answers.

Type of information which will be gathered: 

• Early developmental history from someone who knows the adult from childhood
• Family history including any significant events that might affect a person’s behaviour/reactions
• Read any available reports
• Any past or current mental health conditions
• Daily life experiences
• Neurodiversity – how everyone functions differently
• Behaviour, interests and attention to detail

The multidisciplinary team (Dr McMonagle and Orla) will advise the patient at the end of the consultation as to whether they should proceed for the full diagnostic assessment for ASD and if it is required the patient will be offered an appointment date and time to return for the assessment. It is hoped that the assessment date will be within 1 to 2 weeks of the initial appointment.

If the patient is not to proceed to diagnostic assessment Dr McMonagle will try to identify the type of support needed and advise on how to access this.

Patients who attend for the full diagnostic – when the assessment is finished you will be told by Dr McMonagle what was found on assessment and if you meet the criteria for Autistic Spectrum Disorder. This will be followed up by a written report. You will also be given advice on what support you may require and how to access it.

Conditions Treated

Diagnostic Assessment for ASD

Pre-visit Advice

The service is a multidisciplinary ASD clinic. It follows NICE guidelines and The Regional Autistic Spectrum Disorder Network (RASDN) guidelines. The assessment is Gold standard (multidisciplinary and meets all requisite regional guidelines) and the diagnosis is universally accepted.

For adults:

Please bring a parent or other family member to your appointment, where possible someone that knows you from childhood.

Please also bring any school or professional reports you have access to e.g. previous educational assessment reports.

Please bring an updated list of any current medication.

Kindly ensure you bring reading glasses or sensory support devices e.g. hearing aids.

For school aged children:

A questionnaire will be provided at the time of booking the appointment (essential to get email addresses to share the questionnaire).

The questionnaire is to be completed in nursery/school and returned to NPC prior to appointment.

Children up to the age of 18 should be accompanied by parent(s) or guardian(s).

GP Referral/Self-Referral

GP referral not required, but the questionnaire must be completed by nursery/school for children attending for ASD diagnostic assessment.

Clinic Days/Times

Screening Consultation – Friday Mornings
(£600 + £30 NPC admin fee – Total £630) – 1 hour consultation

Diagnostic Assessments – Saturday Mornings and Evenings
(£1200 + £30 NPC admin fee – Total £1230) – 2 hour diagnostic assessment

Total cost: - £1860
DNA FEE £150