How can I make an appointment with you?

You can email me at lucysanctuary@protonmail.com and explain what support you want, e.g. assessment, therapy, school observation. I will reply and we can arrange a convenient time to discuss your situation on the phone to help you decide how to proceed and to explain how I work, and what will happen. I do not charge a fee for this phone call. I never charge for emails and I am very happy for you to contact me with questions and concerns at any time.

If we have a multi-disciplinary autism assessment carried out by you and a colleague, will
the outcome be accepted by the NHS and the local authority?

Most NHS trusts and local authorities accept our assessments as we work as a multi-disciplinary team and follow NICE guidelines and we all have a lot of experience of working in the NHS. We have never had a situation where a local authority has not accepted our assessment findings, but there are a very small number of NHS trusts that do not immediately accept private autism assessments. When we have had this situation, we have talked directly to the trust and they have then accepted our assessments. Waiting times for autism assessments are very long currently with many NHS trusts, e.g. between 18 months – 4 years. We want to help the NHS by reducing numbers on their waiting lists.

Can we use your assessment report to support application for an Education Health Care Plan (ECHP)?

Yes, many families do this and it provides a lot of highly relevant and useful information to support the process and put appropriate recommendations in place to support your child in the education system.

Do you have to have the ADOS in autism assessment or can a diagnosis be given without this?

Autism is not always diagnosed using the ADOS, but the NICE guidelines recommend using it as part of the gold standard diagnostic process. https://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/CG128

During Covid times, many NHS trusts and practitioners are not doing face-to-face assessments, which means they are not using the ADOS. An assessment tool called the BOSA (Brief Observation of Symptoms of Autism) is often used, which involves parents administering assessment tasks and a clinician observes.

What is the point of having the ADOS done if it is not essential for autism diagnosis?

The ADOS provides very helpful information on your child’s strengths and areas of need that might not have been identified by other professionals or parents. It can be extremely helpful for the following reasons:

• It highlights what a child/young person can do, what they are beginning to do and what areas need more support
• It provides useful information to help put appropriate support in place
• It helps parents and people working with a child to understand them more, which helps reflect on support in place, and support that the child would benefit from being put in place
• It ties information together and provides a holistic view of a child, e.g. you learn about their whole presentation, rather than separate bits which are hard to put together. The ADOS provides a context, lens to look through and see your child’s difficulties with social communication, social interactions, sensory and repetitive interests and behaviours.

What happens if we do not get a diagnosis?

The assessment process provides answers to questions and helps parents and professionals whether the child meets the diagnostic criteria for autism or not. We will explain to you why your child does not reach the criteria, and we will explain their presentation, what is likely to be underpinning the difficulties they have been experiencing and give recommendations and advice about how to support them and any next steps that we recommend you take.

What are your fees?

Fees are available on request and may vary depending on the location. Costs are competitive and in line with other independent practitioners. I try to keep costs as low as possible but they often include room fees, travel and some assessments require a long time
to analyse findings, write up and add bespoke recommendations.

I am not registered with any healthcare providers, but multi-disciplinary autism assessments can be claimed on some private health insurance, e.g. BUPA. Invoices may be sent to be paid a week before autism assessment depending on who I am working with. I invoice for therapy after sessions and am flexible about how often I invoice, e.g. some people prefer to be invoiced after each session, some prefer to be invoiced at the end of the month. Invoices are paid by bank transfer.

Please give me at least 48 hours notice if you need to cancel appointments for autism assessment and therapy as I have to pay a room charge if I give less notice than this and will have to charge this fee to you.