Support for all pre-school children

All pre-school children can access support through the ICAN Needs Led Support Pathway, whether or not they are offered an autism assessment.

The needs led support pathway provides practical support for children and families and includes:

• Parent workshops
• Face-to-face groups
• Online groups and workshops
• Advice and support for communication and interaction needs
• Access to mainstream Speech and Language Therapy assessment, groups and workshops where appropriate

You do not need an autism diagnosis, or to be waiting for an autism assessment, to access this support.

Who is offered an autism assessment?

The ICAN service provides autism assessments for some pre-school children in Leeds. Due to high demand and commissioning arrangements, not all pre-school children referred to the service will be offered an autism assessment. Assessments are only offered to children who meet the current service eligibility criteria.

If your child is not offered an autism assessment through ICAN, they can still access the full needs led support pathway offer.

If your child is waiting for an autism assessment somewhere else, or has already had an autism assessment, please tell us. Children cannot be on two waiting lists for an autism assessment at the same time. If it is brought to our attention that your child is on another autism assessment waiting list, we will contact you and ask which waiting list you would like your child to stay on. If you choose to stay on another providers waiting list, your child will be remove from our waiting list.

Children who are referred to our service and meet the criteria for an autism assessment currently wait about 12 months. This is only an estimate and may change.

Appointments and attendance

If your child is offered an autism assessment, our administration team will contact you to arrange an appointment. If you are unable to attend an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the appointment to another child. Because many families are waiting for assessments, referrals may be closed if two appointments in a row are cancelled or not attended.

What happens during the autism assessment?

Before your appointment, information will be gathered from professionals involved in your child’s care. This may include:

• Nursery questionnaires
• Health and Education Notification (HEN) information
• Ages and stages questionnaires (ASQ)
• Speech and language therapy reports
• Information from other professionals involved with your child

A paediatrician will review this information before meeting with you and your child.

Paediatric assessment

The first assessment appointment is usually with a consultant paediatrician or paediatric registrar and lasts around 90 minutes.

During the appointment they will:

• ask about your child’s early development
• ask about your child’s communication, social interaction, play and behaviour
• explore whether your child shows features associated with autism
• discuss any medical concerns
• review information received from other professionals

Following the appointment, the paediatrician may be able to complete the assessment and provide an outcome. If further information is needed, your child’s assessment may be transferred to the wider clinical team.

Further assessment by the wider clinical team

Some children have more complex presentations and require additional assessment before an outcome can be reached.

The wider clinical team includes:

• Speech and language therapists
• Senior clinical psychologists

The team will review all available information and decide what further assessment is needed.

This will be different for every child and may include:

• Observing your child in nursery
• Speaking with professionals involved in your child’s care
• Additional appointments with parents or carers
• Direct assessment with your child
• A formal autism assessment such as an ADOS
• Discussion within the multidisciplinary team (MDT)

A member of the team will contact you to explain and arrange any further assessment that is required.

Assessment outcome

Once all assessment activity has been completed, the multidisciplinary team will review the information and reach an outcome. You will receive feedback about the outcome and a written report explaining:

• The assessment findings
• Whether your child meets the criteria for an autism diagnosis
• Recommendations for support
• Information about services and resources that may be helpful

The needs led support pathway remains available before, during and after the assessment process.

Following completion of the assessment, children are usually discharged back to the professional who referred them, with recommendations for ongoing support.