What do you do if you want an autism assessment?
Referral pathways
The Autism Diagnostic Youth Service for Suffolk (ADYSS) is a specialist autism assessment service, for 11-17 years olds, and is part of the neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) pathway.
Before a referral can be made to the NDD pathway, for an autism assessment, a young person should have been supported using one of the following:
1. The graduated response, within education
The graduated response is a model of support used within education to identify and try to support a young person's needs.
Stage 1 means, the education provider works with the young person to assess their needs, plan how to meet these needs, do the plan, and then review. This process can be repeated many times to continue to identify and then support the young person's needs.
If the young person continues to make less than expected progress, following interventions and support, then stage 2 support may need to be considered. Stage 2 support includes professionals in education making a referral to a service, or services, outside of the education setting for example the specialist education service (SES), psychology and therapeutic services, mental health services, social care or other specialist services such as ADYSS. A referral to ADYSS is considered when it is identified that a young person would benefit from an autism assessment.
If a child or young person has been accepted for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) then they are at stage 3 of the graduated response. Young people, at stage 3, can also be referred to ADYSS, if it is identified that they would benefit from an autism assessment.
You can learn more about the graduated response here graduated-response-to-support-schools-and-settings
2. Support from health or social care professionals
Some young people are supported by health or social care professionals, such as a mental health worker, social worker, health or medical professional. Through working with the young person to identify their needs and ways to support them, the professional may identify that the young person would benefit from an autism assessment. A referral to ADYSS should be considered alongside other interventions from services to support the young person's identified needs.
Not all young people access an education setting or work with a health or social care professional. These young people can speak to their GP, who can think with them about their needs and offer advice about the best next steps. This may be advice, signposting or a referral to another service such as mental health, social care or support in accessing education. These can be thought of as first line support services to meet the young person's most significant needs.
For a referral to ADYSS to be considered, first line support services need to have been accessed and tried. If after accessing these services, it is identified the that the young person would benefit from an autism assessment then a referral to ADYSS can be made.
Summary of when a referral to ADYSS should be made
As a specialist service we consider referrals, from education, for young people who are at stage 2 or stage 3 of the graduated response model. When referrals are made by other health and social care professionals we consider these when they have gone through a process of working with the young person to try and identify and support their needs.
Young people waiting for, or working with, our service should continue to access appropriate support from other health, social care and education services to meet needs that have already been identified.
Consent when making a referral
Before making a referral to ADYSS, the professional, making the referral should discuss this with the young person, and where appropriate, their parent or carer and, if they agree to the referral being made, refer to our team via The East & West Suffolk NDD Pathway - Suffolk SEND Local Offer