What will happen when P.A.S.S. receives your referral for an Autism Assessment?
If your referral is accepted, we’ll contact you to confirm your place on the waiting list for an autism assessment. Our website offers a range of supportive resources to use while you wait.
When you reach the top of the waiting list, we’ll get in touch via email again. We will ask you to complete some self-report questionnaires. We will also ask someone who has known you since childhood will to answer some questions about you.
If you don’t have an email address, or if we haven’t heard from you within a month, we’ll send you a letter in the post to check that you still want to continue with your assessment.
We have support available to help you complete the questionnaires if you need it. If you find it difficult to fill in this information, we can talk with you about reasonable adjustments to make the process easier for you.
What will the assessment be like?
You’ll be invited to a clinical interview that lasts about 1.5 hours with two of our trained clinicians. Before the session, they will review your questionnaire responses. During the interview, they will talk with you about some of your answers and observe how you interact in social situations.
We know that differences in social communication and behaviour can have many causes, such as past experiences of trauma, mental health difficulties, or other forms of neurodiversity. The assessment helps us explore these factors and understand whether autism fits with your experiences, or whether there may be another explanation for your differences.
After your appointment, all of the information we’ve gathered will be carefully reviewed and discussed at our multi-disciplinary team meeting. We aim to update you within four weeks to let you know whether we have reached a conclusion or if further assessment is needed.
If we are able to reach a conclusion — whether you are autistic or not — we will prepare a report explaining our decision, which will be emailed to you. If more information is needed, we will contact you by email to arrange another appointment. This may involve a further clinical interview, or an assessment called the Adult Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS).
Where will my Autism assessment happen?
P.A.S.S is located in Westbourne, Scott Business Park, Beacon Park Road, PL22PQ. Please do not come to the building without an agreed appointment date and time. We have recorded a walk-through of the building to help prepare you for your assessment, this will be sent to you to watch if you wish.
What if I don’t want to do the assessments?
You don’t need to do anything you are not comfortable doing. We will always check with you first. But if you choose not to do the assessment it may mean we can’t answer the question “Am I Autistic?”. Please let us know by email if you no longer wish to proceed with an autism assessment, if you have moved out of area or if you have been assessed elsewhere.
What if I don’t agree with the decision?
If you do not agree with our decision, please contact us and we can arrange a meeting to talk it through with you. If, after this feedback appointment, you would like a second opinion, we can help arrange that for you.
I have been waiting a long time for an assessment can you let us know where we are in the wait list?
Due to the demands on the service, we are unable to respond to emails about waiting list time frames.
P.A.S.S. is not a crisis service. If you need crisis help you should contact First Response by calling 111 and selecting the mental health option.