Type of service: Diagnostic services, Diagnosticians

We provide assessment and psychological help to young people aged 0-16 years and their families/carers. A young person will usually be referred to clinical psychology because they, or someone else, is concerned about their emotional well-being, their development or their behaviour. Ours is a specialist service which accepts referrals from general practitioners (GPs), hospital and community consultants, social care (only when the family has an allocated social worker), child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and psychiatrists, educational psychologists and clinical psychologists. The complex behaviour service is a specialist mental health service for children with learning disabilities. The service provides intensive support in the family home to facilitate behavioural change. Staff work closely with the child's existing professional networks, and can also provide consultation about children not directly referred to the service. The team consists of clinical psychologists and specialist learning disability nurses. This is a small team, and referrals will only be accepted if the child and family have already received significant support and advice from specialist professionals. Referrals can be made by paediatricians, child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and community learning disability nurses.

Assessment procedure: Parent/Carer autism specific interview; 3Di or ADI-R; Cognitive Assessment; Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, School questionnaire (usually includes observation for children aged under 8 years old).

Follow up service: A follow up appointment is offered.

Multi-disciplinary assessment: Multi-disciplinary approach with clinical psychology; paediatrics; speech and language therapy.

Aimed at: Adolescent , Child , Young person

Referral Sources: NHS Only

Specialisms: Has autism-specific elements

Other specialisms: Asperger syndrome and emotional regulation, Challenging behaviour, Learning disability

Registrations and professional qualifications: BA (Hons) degree in Psychology, PhD. Psychology, Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

Approaches and tools used: 3Di, ADI-R, ADOS