Type of service: Assessment, Diagnostic services, Interventions and therapies

Everlief is a child psychology service offering assessment and therapeutic intervention for children aged 0-18. Their ASD assessments include an initial meeting and observation of the child, observation at school (where possible), and the DISCO (Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders) semi-structured interview with the child's parents. In total the assessment takes approximately 5 hours. Interventions include 1-1 support for children, individual parent support, and parent group workshops (see http://everlief.co.uk for details). One-to-one interventions are individually tailored but may include support in developing social skills, or cognitive-behavioural therapy for associated mental health difficulties such as OCD. ASD assessments for adults is also offered - please contact Everlief for details. Able to provide independent expert reports, make home visits and visit a client's nursery, school or college (as long as within 30 miles of West Wycombe).

Dr Lucy Russell is a clinical psychologist with a specialism in autism. She offers the diagnostic service and writes the overall report for clients of this service. Dr Russell previously led the autism specialist service in a CAMHS service and also has a brother with Asperger's Syndrome. This theory with 'real life' experience can be very valuable. Dr Russell is DISCO trained and has received the NAS autism awareness training.

Assessment procedure: There are four parts to the assessment, the largest of which is the DISCO. We combine this with a cognitive assessment (conducted by a second psychologist), OT assessment, and finally an observation in a different setting.

Follow up service: We will start by answering any questions after reading the reports. Next, we will help prioritise the recommendations. Finally we can support the child therapeutically.

Multi-disciplinary assessment: Yes, we use a multi-disciplinary approach with clinical psychologists and occupational therapists.

Aimed at: Adolescent , Adult , Child

Referral Sources: Private Only

Specialisms: Has autism-specific elements, Staff and volunteers get autism awareness training

Other specialisms: Challenging behaviour, Learning disability

Registrations and professional qualifications: Clinical Psychologist.

Approaches and tools used: ADOS, DISCO