Services
Services
Children develop at very different rates and this process is not linear. However, there may be times when learning challenges become more pronounced and concerning, which may precipitate an assessment.
Academic underachievement has significant long-term implications, including the way a child perceives themselves. This is often carried into adulthood. This process can be interrupted.
Educational and neuropsychological assessment involves administering a series of standardised tests that measure the performance of different areas of the brain. This happens in a face to face setting. The results are considered in the context of a child’s behaviour, history and the presenting questions. Through looking at the pattern of results and how the young person responds to tasks in the context of other information gathered, it is possible to understand any challengesthat contribute to or create particular difficulties.
The assessment process allows a detailed understanding of a child’s strengths and weaknesses. This makes it possible to develop an intervention plan that is personalised, which integrates strengths and which is based on what the research tells us works.
Understanding the pattern of results can be a powerful way of understanding difficulties whilst also enabling a young person’s true academic potential and emotional well-being to be promoted. The assessment process will always aim to enhance a parents’ capacity to respond to their child’s developmental and related emotional needs.
Depending on the questions raised, testing considers overall intellectual ability, attention, visual-perceptual skills, motor coordination, receptive and expressive language skills, learning and memory, planning and organisational skills.. An assessment of educational skills (literacy and numeracy) is always included to identify academic progress, together with any areas of weakness. This allows me to confirm whether achievement is in line with academic potential.
Assessment of Attention:
When there are specific concerns related to the features of ADHD, it is possible to offer an assessment which provides clarity about the extent of the issues and guides next steps. This can help rule out ADHD or will indicate whether the next steps towards diagnosis are warranted.
I am a certified assessor of the Qb, which is a highly sensitive and objective measure of attention control. It also provides measures of impulsivity and activity levels.
Assessment includes the Qb and the gathering of information from parents and from the young person. The Qb is conducted in person.
A feedback session is arranged to discuss the findings in detail with parents and a copy of the Qb report is provided.
Assessment of Social Communication & Autism Spectrum Conditions:
communication, interests and behaviour. Symptoms of ASD are often apparent early in a child’s life. Symptoms exist on a continuum, with milder idiosyncrasies existing alongside more impairing presentations of the condition.
ASD is a lifelong neurodevelopment condition. It is very commonly under-recognised in adolescents, particularly able females. A significant portion of children referred to our assessment clinic also have unrecognised learning difficulties and co-occurring conditions. The identification of these is critical to a child’s longer-term prognosis and emotional well-being. Obtaining a detailed ASD assessment enables parents and others to be able to support a child better. It can clarify whether any additional support or resources are required.
I jointly runs the assessment service with Professor David Skuse. We specialise in the multi-disciplinary assessment of social communication difficulties in young people with typical-range or high intelligence, using internationally regarded standardised measures.
I conduct assessment with the child or young person. Professor Skuse conducts the parental interview with parents.
This multi-disciplinary assessment confirms whether a diagnosis is appropriate and enables the level of severity to be established with detailed precision. It may offer an explanation for the difficulties the child may be experiencing. Whether a diagnosis is warranted or not, evaluation always provides detailed information to help plan the most appropriate care, education and longer term support.
Assessment measures used include the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2), which consists of standard activities to be administered with the child. This is administered with the child or young person by Dr Angela. The ADOS-2 enables key social behaviours appropriate for different developmental levels and chronological ages to be elicited and observed. The tasks vary according to the level of expressed language and may encompass imitation play, playing with balloons and bubbles to creative play and conversational components for older children. The results are quantified via diagnostic algorithms.
Our assessment is particularly comprehensive. cognitive and educational assessment is always administered to the child at the same time as the ADOS-2, as well as an evaluation of ADHD.. This means the assessment is thorough and provides a holistic understanding. This is important as autism spectrum conditions often co-occur alongside other learning differences. Any other unidentified concurrent learning issues can then be included in the overall understanding of the child.
The 3DI assessment conducted by Professor Skuse with parents is a computerised clinical diagnostic instrument. It is a very detailed interview which focuses on reciprocal social interaction, communication and language, restricted and repetitive behaviour, stereotyped interests and sensory sensitivities.
The assessment always includes comprehensive liaison with the child’s nursery or school, which encompasses the child’s teacher completing a series of standardised measures, which are integrated into the assessment results and clinical decisions.
Following assessment, we may suggest additional assessment from a reputable speech and language therapist and occupational therapist, whilst also providing recommendations for future management and treatment.
This diagnostic assessment service is available to families within the UK and internationally, with referrals commonly accepted from Embassies. Asssesment with the child is always conducted in person.
Consultations &
Long-term Review:
For those children I have assessed, I can offer additional consultations focusing on how to support the child, should additional thinking time be sought for parents and professionals. This may be particularly appropriate as children negotiate transitions in their education and development more generally.
I oftenreview a young person’s progress through the course of their childhood, through administering additional standardised assessments within agreed timeframes.
Social Skills Groups – PEERS® (UCLA)
These evidence-based, social skills groups are currently being run by my colleague, Leonie Kenny (Speech and Language Therapist) and her associates. Information on PEERS is included here as we liaise closely regarding children in the groups than I have assessed. Leonie can be accessed via our shared PA (randamousfi@outlook.com) or via this Expressions of Interest link below.
Learning to interact well with others and be part of a group is a lifelong process for all of us, but especially for those with social challenges. With the appropriate supports, education and practice, it is possible to develop the key skills young people want and need to navigate relationships successfully.
The research shows that with appropriate intervention, young people can compensate for social limitations. This has to be done in a certain way over a sustained period for it to be successful. It is also possible to influence the severity of autism and social communication difficulties, which has a profound impact upon a young person’s self-perception and social confidence.
PEERS® is one of the few programmes that has a strong evidence-base for developing social understanding and interactions. It is commonly used for young people with attention-deficit, social anxiety, social communication difficulties and autism spectrum conditions. PEERS® has been disseminated successfully to over 40 countries worldwide.
The sessions rest on the basic principle that any complex skill requires instruction and lots of practice, with targeted feedback. Without feedback, it is very easy to end up rehearsing errors rather than skills that work.
The PEERS® Programme emphasises live practice, with continual close guidance from our Speech & Language Therapist and Behavioural Therapist. The programme consists of a group for children or young people and a group for parents which runs in parallel. We help parents to provide effective support for developing social skills outside of sessions to ensure necessary generalisation and transfer of skills.
The programmes use interactive and didactic instruction, plus behavioural rehearsals to promote targeted social skills, together with video demonstrations.
- PEERS® for Children and Adolescents: This is a 12-week evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated children and adolescents who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. We divide the age range into age groups.
- PEERS® for Young Adults: This is a 16-week evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated young adults (18 years and above) who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends, and to develop intimate relationships.
If you are interested in booking onto any of the programmes, please get in touch via this website and one of our PEERS® colleagues will think with you about whether the programme is a good fit for your child. We encourage you to make contact with us well in advance of the programmes starting owing to spaces on the programme being popular and going quickly. We organise ourselves well in advance of the programmes starting.
Please make contact with us if you would like to be told when the next PEERS group is due to take place.
Expressions of Interest in the PEERS group: if you would like to explore whether this programme could benefit your child, please enquire via this link.