We offer Combined Adult Autism & ADHD Discoveries (assessments) by collaboratively working with your child and you.
If you have ever wondered whether your child may be both Autistic and ADHD, the answer may be yes!
There are many children and young people who are both Autistic and ADHD* - a neurotype that is often called ‘AuDHD’. We offer a discovery process (assessment) that explores both ways of being with your child.
We draw from best-practice clinical guidelines that incorporate a Neuro-affirmative informed approach to Combined assessment, where we place your child and you at the heart of the process.
Whilst we continue to use the term ‘assessment’, we also intersperse this with the neuro-affirmative terms ‘ADHD and Autistic Discovery’ as this more faithfully describes what we do:
We support your child and you to discover their neurotype.
*Rong Y, Yang C-J, Jin Y, Wang Y. Prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis. Res Autism Spectr Disord. (2021) 83:101759. 10.1016/j.rasd.2021.101759 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
There are several parts to this discovery process that we break down for you into 5 steps.
A play based session with younger children OR a conversation about experiences relating to the Autistic way of being with older children/young people (both informed by the ADOS-2). This part of the assessment is delivered by a Chartered Psychologist (Clinical or Educational) and a Speech and Language Therapist or Occupational Therapist. This takes place in person in our Sligo Clinic.
Cognitive assessment with your child, where we establish a cognitive profile of their strengths and challenges, and we spend time with them, getting to know them. In our Sligo Clinic.
Parent Interview (based on the ADI-R and DSM V criteria for ADHD); we get a holistic sense of your child’s developmental pathway, their strengths, challenges and needs. This takes place in person or online.
Online Forms called the Conners-4 to be completed by Parents, Teacher and your child (if applicable). The Butterfly Practice Intake forms to be completed by Parents, Teacher and your child (if applicable).
An Outcome session to explore the outcome of the assessment with parents (and your child if they would like to come along). In person or online.
A PDF report describing your child’s profile of strengths and needs in terms of how they meet the DSM 5 criteria for ADHD and.Autism (if indicated) and detailed recommendations is issued. This is issued 4-6 weeks following the Outcome Session.
This report is accepted by HSE Services and the Department of Education.
Cost: € 2,700
Payment for Combined ADHD and Autism Discoveries
We realise that this assessment in particular can be difficult to meet for parents, so we have spread the payments out over 5 time points as follows:
€540 deposit to secure Assessment
€540 due on the day of your child’s play-based/conversation based assessment
€520 due on the day of your child’s cognitive assessment
€520 on the day of the Assessment Outcome Exploration session
€520 on the issuing of the MDT Report (approximately 4-6 weeks following the Outcome Exploration session).
Please contact us if you wish to spread the payment out over a longer period of time.
Step by Step by Step Guide to the Combined ADHD & Autism Discovery Process
There are five main stages to the ADHD assessment process. It can be really helpful for you and your child to know about all the steps from start to finish:
Step 1:
Book online – go to Book an Assessment and fill in the contact form. You will be asked to sign a GDPR form so that we can legally hold your family’s information.
Step 2:
We will contact you via email and you will be invited to fill out consent forms and a form about your child’s strengths, needs and development. Your name will go on a waiting list.
Step 3:
When your name is near the top of the waiting list, we will email you with dates for the assessment that suit you and you will be asked to pay a €540 deposit to secure the assessment dates.
Step 4:
We send you out online forms called the Conners 4 for you, your child and school staff to complete. These usually take 10-20 minutes to complete.
Step 5:
The Discovery Sessions - 4 appointments:
1. Parent Interview: We meet you for a parent interview, this takes 90 minutes
We meet with your child twice:
2. The first session is the play/conversation based session with a clinical psychologist and another team member (Speech and Language Therapist or Occupational Therapist). This takes 60 minutes, you are welcome to attend this session with your child.
3. The second session is a cognitive assessment with a clinical psychologist, this takes up to 2 hours.
4. Outcome Session: We invite you to an outcome exploration meeting (your child can attend if they feel comfortable). This takes about 60 minutes or so.
Step 6:
Following our outcome exploration meeting with you, we send you a draft PDF copy of the report (whether your child is confirmed as ADHD and/or Autistic or not) and we invite revisions. We then send you a PDF of the final report which is accepted by HSE and Dept. of Education.
The report is issued 4-6 weeks following the Outcome Session.
Important Notes
Due to high demand for our services, a cancellation fee for individual sessions will be applied if less than 48 hours notice is given. If you cancel within 48 hours of your appointment or fail to attend without notifying the psychologist, a fee of €100 will be charged.
Preparing additional documentation, outside our standard suite, will attract an additional fee (fee details available as and when such documents are requested).
If you are applying for Domiciliary Care Allowance and require a supporting letter, there is an additional fee of €150. Preparing a rich and detailed letter requires additional time and administration to gather and present relevant information in support of your application.