Children’s Autism Assessment Service

The Children's Autism Assessments Service is based in both Harrogate and Hambleton and Richmondshire, and provides an autism assessment and diagnosis pathway for children and young people aged 0-19.

Our Autism Assessment Service

The Autism Assessment Service is based in Harrogate and Hambleton and Richmondshire, and provides an autism assessment pathway for children and young people aged 0-19.

The autism assessment is designed to capture a full developmental profile, including identifying strengths and challenges. We aim to gather information from a range of sources – the young person, their parent(s)/ carer(s), school or other setting and any other professionals involved.

Make a Referral

In submitting a referral form, you are agreeing that the child/ young person being referred has a GP within the Harrogate or Hambleton & Richmondshire area. The information you provide on these forms will be shared with the Early Help Team. If we think it is appropriate, we may also take the referral to the Multi-Agency Team Meeting to consider whether onward referrals to other services may also be helpful. This will involve sharing the referral information with Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Social Care, Compass Phoenix and other providers of care.  For further information about information sharing, please refer to the privacy notice on our website:  www.hdft.nhs.uk/privacy-notices

Children/ Young people referred in March can expect to wait approximately 36 months.  This is an estimate and will vary depending on the complexity of assessments, frequency of missed appointments and number of assessments commissioned in future.

Month of referral Approximate waiting time in months
March 2024 36

Download this form if you’re a parent or carer who wants to refer their child/young person for an autism assessment

Download this form if you’re a young person (16-17 years old) who wants to refer yourself for an autism assessment

Download this form if you’re a professional who wants to refer a child/young person for autism assessment

We will communicate with you via secure email. When we first send you an email, we will ask you to setup a secure email account. If you would prefer to setup an account now, download the leaflet below that has instruction on how to do this.

Download the Accessing Encrypted Email Guide

Optional information you can provide while your child is on our waiting list

  • Supplementary Information Form: If you have any extra information that you would like us to know while you are on our waiting list, or if you feel anything has changed, please full out this form.
  • Professional’s Questionnaire: Please ask someone from school who knows the young person best to fill out this form with school information
  • All About Me form: This form can be filled out by any child or young person and this helps us learn more about them before the assessment.
  • Adaptive Morphing Questionnaire: This questionnaire can be filled out by the young person to help us figure out how they feel in different social situations.
  • Camouflaging Questionnaire: This questionnaire can be filled out by older teens to give us more information on what strategies they use to fit in, act more like a non-autistic person, compensate in social situations and more
  • Young Person Additional Information Form: This detailed form allows young people tell us about how they prefer to communicate and how we can tailor an assessment to their needs, as well as help us learn more about them before the assessment.

If you are also considering an ADHD assessment, you can find the referral form in our Resources section of our website under ‘Other Neurodivergence’. The NeuroPack form can be filled out and sent to CAMHS as this is a separate service.

Key Staff

Dr Beth Billington: Team Lead and Clinical Psychologist

Helen Cairns: Speech and Language Therapist

 

Laura Edwards: Speech and Language Therapist

 

Sophie Finch: Speech and Language Therapist

Hayley Hartley: Assistant Psychologist

 

Dr Ewan McNeill: Clinical Psychologist

 

Rachel Molyneux: Case Coordinator

 

Heather Kenny: Occupational Therapist

 

Dr Siobhan Dunleavy: Clinical Psychologist

 

Susan Saunders: Occupational Therapist

 

Sharon White: Speech and Language Therapist

 

 Sarah Barrett: Admin Co-ordinator

Rachel Kramer: Assistant Psychologist

 

 

Rachel Geary: Speech and Language Therapist

Ella Oakley: Assistant Psychologist

Trish Voukolos: Administrator

Joseph Merrick: Assistant Psychologist

 

Vicky McDonald: Deputy Admin Team Lead 

Harrogate

Autism Assessment appointments in Harrogate are usually at the Child Development Centre.

This is the address:

Child Development Centre
Wing F, 207
Harrogate District Hospital
Lancaster Park Road
Harrogate
HG2 7SX

reception desk
Reception
Harrogate District Hospital waiting room
Waiting room
plain room with chair and tables
Clinic Room

Hambleton & Richmondshire

Autism Assessment appointments in Hambleton & Richmondshire are usually at the Friarage Hospital Children’s Outpatients Department

The Friarage
Northallerton
North Yorkshire
DL6 1JG

Entrance to children’s unit
Reception
Waiting Area
Clinic room (where we do our activities)

Children’s Autism Assessments Service Pathway

This powerpoint presentation explains recent service changes. You can listen to audio narration by watching the slide show, and the script is in the notes section.

Do you want to be involved?

As a service we are always striving to be as up to date and relevant as possible and you could help us achieve this. We are constantly evolving through updating our information and revising the assessment process and your feedback as a service user would be invaluable.  If this is something you would be interested in doing please complete this form and email it back to [email protected]

If you would like to give us some feedback, please fill out the first survey if you have started/completed the assessment or the second survey if you are awaiting an assessment:

Autism Team Feedback – Assessment Started/Completed

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2PRSR28

Autism Team Feedback – Awaiting an Assessment

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/AutismServices-WaitingList

Children’s Autism Resources

Below are some resources to help understand what autism is, written by autistic people themselves

For more useful resources visit our Children’s Autism Resources page

Neuro Bears

YouTube video aimed at young autistic people at pre-school or primary school age to educate and increase understanding of their autistic experience.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_490q6LaHIY

Amazing Things Happen

YouTube Video that introduces autism and aims to raise awareness for non-autistic young people. Great resource to share with parents and teachers.

amazingthingshappen.tv/?projects=amazing-things-happen

Immie’s Signs to Spot Autism

YouTube video where Immie discusses her diagnosis, experience in education, ‘masking’ and spotting undiagnosed autism.

www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=hqioYJGbpNs

The Key that Unlocked my World

Ted Talk by Elisabeth Wiklander in which she talks about her autistic experience and successful everyday life.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvvrme5WIwA- 

Understanding the Spectrum

A comic strip explanation of what autism is by Rebecca Burgess. Suitable for children and adults 8+.

https://the-art-of-autism.com/understanding-the-spectrum-a-comic-strip-explanation/ 

Autistic Self-Advocacy Network

Description of autism and what autistic people may have in common. Aimed at teenagers and adults.

Website: https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/about-autism/

Neurodiversity Explained

A YouTube video explaining the idea of neurodiversity using Lego.

For more resources on a range of topics related to autism and neurodiversity, please click here