We offer holistic multidisciplinary support for young people with an autism spectrum disorder, or related special developmental needs.
Our therapists work together to support all areas of your child’s developmental needs, including appropriate support for your child’s family and school.
Our holistic Autism, Aspergers & ASD assessment is our recommended starting point to clarify your child’s developmental needs. As part of the ASD assessment, our Neurodiversity Team may identify specific areas where your child may benefit from a focussed intervention detailed below.
Private GP’s autism post-assessment services include speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, counselling, and functional medicine. These services are available for any young person with direct concerns relating to these specific areas.
Speech and Language Therapy
Specific Assessment of Speech and Language
We offer a detailed baseline assessment of your child’s speech, language and communication difficulties. Our speech and language therapists have experience of working with a broad spectrum of children. This means we are able to offer an assessment whether your child is at the preverbal stages and needing alternative methods of communication, or whether your child has good surface level language skills but struggles with the higher level aspects of language e.g. inference, sarcasm, language processing, emotional literacy, problem solving etc.
As a team we specialise in providing social skills interventions and curriculums in schools to support the children that might otherwise “fall through the gaps” or are displaying their difficulties in other ways such as behaviour.
Intervention
After an assessment, our speech and language therapists offer a variety of evidence-based intervention sessions for speech and language difficulties.
Intervention can be delivered either at home or at school. We are committed to supporting parents and schools to continue with the games and strategies throughout the week to support children to make as much progress as possible. We aim to teach children specific skills which are then generalised into multiple situations.
Intervention sessions are fun and enjoyable and based around your child’s interests, ensuring maximum participation.
Occupational Therapy
At Private GP, our occupational therapists offer a detailed baseline assessment of your child’s movement (fine and gross motor) and sensory processing difficulties.
This allows us to provide a sensory diet, advice and recommendations to support your child to get to a ‘just right’ level in order to access the world around them.
Assessments are made up of observations of your child at home and at school, a case history and discussion with yourselves as well as formal and informal assessments with your child. Assessments are then written up into reports with advice and recommendations.
Ella, our hypoallergenic therapy dog, may also offer support in some of the therapy sessions, where suitable for the child and their specific goals.
Specific examples of how occupational therapists can help include:
- Full Sensory Integration assessment and report
- Individual therapy to sensory or motor skills difficulties
- Therapeutic intervention to support self-esteem, self regulation and emotional well being
- Therapeutic parenting advice and support including to manage difficult behaviour
- Regular parents’ meet-up group, each session will have a topic focus and time to discuss with other parents who ‘understand’.
- Training workshops for schools or parents
Counselling
Our Specialist Children and Young People’s Counsellor and Advanced Skills Teacher can work alongside you and your family, to extend your young person’s strengths and build upon their challenges to interact and engage more successfully with the world around them.
Most counselling sessions are available remotely via Zoom video chat. Specific packages include:
Therapeutic session(s) following diagnosis
Processing a new diagnosis can be challenging. We offer 1:1 session(s) to support parents and carers through their emotional understanding of the diagnosis (for parents/carers, without children present).
How to communicate a diagnosis with the young person
Sharing information about this discovery with your young person is a pivotal moment. We have a number of practical solutions that would help support you and your family at this time (for parents/carers, without children present).
Counselling for the young person on the Autistic Spectrum
If the young person wishes to attend, then specialist counselling can be offered to them. This might work upon the discovery itself or the strengths and challenges this brings.
Lego-based® Therapy
If the young person has an interest in Lego®, working therapeutically using this medium can be enjoyable and rewarding once strengths and challenges have been identified. This 1:1 therapy is only available in person.
Young person profile & targeted intervention plan
This would encompass:
Remote appointments with both the primary caregiver and school representative
Visiting the young person in situ and observing their educational experience
Report of key findings and recommendations for moving forwards
Discussion with both caregivers and school representative to give recommendations
A bespoke package can be discussed.
Support following an inconclusive assessment
This session is for parents and carers to understand what steps they might take to support their child after an inconclusive assessment process.
Counselling for the young person (General)
If the young person wishes to attend, then counselling can be offered to them.
Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine combines traditional tests with in-depth medical investigation to diagnose and treat underlying causes of chronic illness, which includes autistic spectrum disorders.
Dr Julia Piper is a widely sought-after Functional Medical doctor, and owner of Private GP.
As with many chronic illnesses, autism symptoms may be worsened by an underlying process of inflammation. Many factors contribute towards the inflammation process. Some symptoms of autism spectrum disorders may be reduced by the diagnosis and treatment of these factors, including:
- Diet, the gut and digestion
- Underlying infections
- Allergies or intolerances
- Problems with the immune system, for example autoimmunity
- Biotransformation or detoxification challenges
- “Toxic burden” or “body burden” (e.g. toxic presence of metals, chemicals, chronic infections involving viruses, bacteria, funguses, yeasts, parasites and so on)
- Mitochondrial problems (which are the energy powerhouses of the cells)
- Fatty acid imbalances, which affect the brain (the brain is made of 60% fat)
Functional Medicine often involves dietary interventions. Our nutritional therapist has worked with many children with autism, and can offer advice with regards to coping with fussy eaters, and finding ways to incorporate healthy nutritious foods under the radar. Repetitive food choices and poor digestion can contribute to worsening symptoms but we realise that change can be difficult to implement. Feedback from the assessments regarding sensitivity to foods will be taken into account, as we support with ideas for small but far-reaching modifications to diet.