Service : Autism Assessment Service

We can assess you to see if you’re autistic. 

Not everybody who is autistic needs a formal assessment for autism. However, you might find that a formal assessment may help you understand why you have a pattern of difficulties in areas of your life, such as:

• relationships
• employment
• education
• your mental health

We suggest first talking with your GP or mental health professional. You can talk to them about how autistic features might be having a negative impact in your life, to see if a referral can be made.

We do not accept self-referrals.

We use the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) classification of autism for our assessments. The DSM-5 is a guidebook for healthcare professionals to help us make a diagnosis.

The DSM-5 guidebook focuses on difficulties that may come with autism, such as processing and communication differences. However, we know that autism can also come with many strengths.

Our service is for people over the age of 17 years 6 months.

If you’re looking for information about getting an assessment for your child, or if you're a young person under this age, go to the service page for our children and young people's service.

You must be aged 18 or over and registered with a GP in Berkshire.

We do not accept self-referrals. Speak to your GP or mental health professional about making a referral to our service.

Once we receive your referral, we will send you a some questions for you to answer. You can complete the questions online, or we can send paper copies to you. 

Your answers will help us collect information which we will use to decide whether a full assessment might be helpful to you. 

You will need to send your answers to our questions within 4 weeks. We won’t move your referral along until you send them back to us.

We’ll review your answers, and email you and your referrer to confirm whether we can offer you a full assessment.  

If you need help completing the questions, your GP will let us know by ticking a box. We will then get in touch by calling or emailing you.

Priority assessment

We do offer some priority assessments based on evidence criteria. Your GP or mental health professional can request these. 

Once you receive your appointment time, please confirm your attendance. Due to our extended waiting list, if you do not confirm your attendance within two weeks, then your appointment will be given to someone else.

A full assessment can take up to three hours, and will be carried out by one or two of our specialists. 

We’ll ask you about your childhood, education, personal history, mental health, family circumstances, and your interests.

We’ll also ask you about your strengths and the sort of difficulties you’re having and assess your social communication skills.

It can be helpful if you can bring a partner, friend, or family member to the assessment. They can help with questions about you as a child and as an adult, and help you feel calm if you’re nervous about the appointment.

After your assessment

We aim to provide you with an answer at your appointment whether you’re autistic.

In some circumstances we may need to ask further questions, or take advice from other care professionals before we confirm a diagnosis.

We'll create a report which explains why we have, or have not, confirmed an autism diagnosis for you. We’ll also include adjustment recommendations to help you with your daily life.

We may offer you a place in our post diagnostic group, called Being Me. This group explores what it means to be autistic, adjusting to a late diagnosis and strategies that some autistic people may find helpful. Each session lasts up to two hours, and the group runs for 6 weeks. 

If you’re not autistic, we may be able to guide you to other appropriate services so you can find the help you need.

We’ve put together some easy‑to‑read leaflets with helpful information about Autism and the support our service provides.

For healthcare professionals