Great question! People choose to get a diagnosis for many different reasons. Being autistic can make the world a difficult place to live in from childhood right into retirement, and here at The Cognitive Collective we are passionate about you knowing your rights no matter what stage of life you are in. With a diagnosis you are rightfully protected under The Equality Act (2010). This means that if your child is in school you will have more power behind you to fight for their needs to be met by the SEND team. As your child progresses through school they will be given extra considerations in exams, timetables and thier overall treatment. A diagnosis will also open up the door for more family-based support. If you are heading for university, a diagnosis will help greatly in the transition. You will be able to apply special considerations such as a private room with an en suite in halls, or disabled students allowance, which could help you buy specialised equipment that will help with your studies. For adults, many of the clients we get through the door just want to know who they are after a lifelong struggle of masking. But that's not the only reason to have a diagnosis; you might be struggling in work and need to be treated with your autism in mind. A diagnosis gives strength to your voice when asking for reasonable adjustments, if you find yourself in unfair disciplinaries or if you are clashing with friends and colleagues who are not respecting your needs. Furthermore, if you find yourself so overwhelmed you are unable to work, then a diagnosis provides vital evidence when seeking help from charities and when applying for PIP.

This is the best practice in line with NICE guidelines for autism diagnosis. The screening will ensure that you are likely to have a positive result in the full assessment. This not only makes sure that autism is the best fit for your presentation, but also that you are not spending money you don't need to. The ADOS-2 assessment is the gold standard of assessment tools for identifying autism through behaviour and social interaction. meanwhile, ADI-r is the recommended follow up for information gathering from an informant. It is very important to us that we are compliant with NICE guidelines in every step of the process to provide you with the best possible care. NICE guidelines for Adult assessments NICE guidelines for child and adolescence assessments (Under 19s)

More often that not, yes. The increase in waitlists through the NHS has understandably pushed more and more people into getting private autism and ADHD diagnosis. The problem that this creates is a lack of clarity around how and why a professional has diagnosed you, with many GPs becoming concerned that as someone is paying for the service privately, they are effectively paying for a positive diagnosis. However in our experience, this is more of a problem when it comes to private ADHD assessments, as someone with ADHD might go on to want medication, which puts more responsibility onto the GP to prescribe in good faith. With private autism assessments we see much less push back from GPs. However, this is why we urge all clients to go through an initial screening in which we use multiple tools to go above and beyond the NICE guidelines for screening. This is also why when booking a service we will ask for your GP details and ask if you'd like us to send them your reports. We have learned over our time in the industry that openness, visability and building relationships is key. We will happily send all of your screening information and full diagnostic report after your ADOS and ADI-r assessment regardless of the outcome. Your GPs want what is best for you - as do we - so when your GP is able to see us focusing on your best interests, they are much more likely to trust our service.

Not just yet, but hang tight! We are working hard to provide you with this option.

No, autism is a lifelong neurodevelopment condition. It cannot be cured or 'treated' and our service does not aim to do that for you. We are mental health professionals though, who are passionate about changing the mental health world to work in a neurodiverse-informed way. Autsim assessments are just the beginning of what we have in store, with plans of expanding our services to offer mental health support through integrative CBT which has been reshaped by Amanda and Clarissa to suit neurodiverse needs.

We have a 48 hour cancellation period in which we are unable to make changes to your booking. Up until this point, you can easily reschedule your appointment through logging into the 'Booking' portal or contacting us. If cancelling a week with a week or mores notice, we will be able to offer a refund as per the T&Cs you agreed to when booking. We of course understand however, that sometimes things happen outside of our control. So if you are unable to attend once in the 48 hour window, please contact us to discuss this further where we will help you the best we can.