At The Edinburgh Practice we offer a comprehensive, multi-professional assessment for children, adolescents and adults who may have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Our diagnostic team all have specialist experience of assessing and supporting individuals with ASD in the NHS and private practice.
What is Autism?
Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that affects how an individual communicates with other people and how they view the world. It is thought to affect around 700,000 people in the UK. It is a spectrum condition, which means that while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways. The three main areas of difficulty faced by individuals with ASD are sometimes referred to as the 'triad of impairments', they are:
- Difficulties with social communication e.g. difficulties understanding body language, facial expressions, sarcasm and metaphors.
- Difficulties with social interaction e.g. difficulties understanding social norms, recognising others emotions and expressing their own emotions.
- Difficulties with flexibility of thinking. e.g. difficulties interpreting the actions of others, understanding abstract concepts and coping with new or unfamiliar situations.
If an individual has ASD, their symptoms will have been present from birth. Some individuals are assessed as children and for others it may be that their symptoms were unnoticed or misinterpreted, so they are assessed in later life. For this reason, the ASD Assessment Team at The Edinburgh Practice utilise a vast range of diagnostic tools which allow us to offer a diagnostic service for individuals throughout the lifespan.
The assessment procedures differ slightly depending on the age of the individual, please follow the links below to find out more information about each service.