Children and Young People's Autism Service

Please note: Referrals into the service can only be made by a professional who has met with the child and family and understands the needs of the child. If the child is in an educational setting we require input from the school as part of the referral. 

All referrals into the Children and Young People's Autism Service are triaged by our practitioners.  

To refer a child or young person up to the age of 18 to the service for assessment of autism please complete our referral form (above) and return to autism.referrals@mpft.nhs.uk 

Once the referral has been triaged by our practitioners, it will either be accepted or declined. 

If a referral is accepted, the child/young person will be added to the assessment pathway and parents or guardians will be contacted once appointments are available. 

If a referral is declined, a letter will be sent to the referrer, and information may be provided for other services that may be more appropriate. 

Intervention

Referrals for our intervention team are only accepted for children and young people who have a confirmed diagnosis of autism up to the age of 19 (25 with an education, health and care plan (EHC)). Referrals for intervention can be completed by professionals or parents by completing the below form. Please ensure all questions on this form are answered with as much information as you can provide. 

Kellee Ward

Role: Team Leader

Kellee joined the team in May 2024 and has a background of leadership and operational management both external and internal to the NHS. Kellee has been in the NHS since March 2020 and has worked across various trusts, the most recent being Community Paediatrics at The Royal Wolverhampton. Within this role, Kellee worked with various services, local authorities and service users to develop and improve services offered to children and young people. Kellee is looking forward to using her previous experience to work with the team and improve autism services for children, young people, and their families across Staffordshire.

Vicki Lloyd

Role: Clinical Psychologist

Vicki completed a PhD in Psychology before undertaking Clinical Psychology doctorate training and qualifying in 2005. Vicki has worked with children and families across NHS, local authority and independent sectors and has specialist interest in working with individuals with Autism, Learning Disabilities, Looked after Children and those with attachment difficulties or developmental trauma. Vicki has worked in children and young people’s autism services since 2016 and within the service she specialises in the assessment and diagnosis of autism.

Jay McFarlane

Role: Clinical Psychologist

After completing his Clinical Psychology Doctorate, Jay has been predominantly employed in child mental health services. Jay has previously worked in CAMHS, youth offending services, ADHD, and autism services. Jay works in a cognitive and systemic manner. He has had years of experience working with complex cases. At MPFT, his work involves assessment, intervention, supervision, and consultancy.

Jivone Bhandal

Role: ASC Practitioner

Jivone has experience working with children, adolescents and adults who have mental health difficulties. She has extensive experience working with a range of difficulties such as autism, anxiety, depression, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, stress, anger and relational issues.

She conducts autism assessments and provides interventions to families. Jivone likes to work in an integrative way drawing upon various therapeutic models to help young people and families. She likes to be transparent in her work and offers a non-judgemental, confidential space where she likes to build a rapport with her client base.

Stephanie Lowe-Hodgkins

Role: ASC Practitioner

Steph, a qualified teacher, assessor and trainer has over 25 years’ experience in NHS, education, social care and voluntary sector across the midlands. She is experienced in offering information, advice and guidance to families, professionals and CYP to remove barriers and challenges, empowering them, offering strategies and interventions to enable progress. She has an extensive knowledge, understanding and passion for empowering individuals with an ASC, managing behaviours that challenge, SEND, development and the education pathway.

Tina Boswell

Role: ASC Nurse Practitioner

A paediatric nurse for over 20 years, Tina trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital before qualifying and joining Birmingham Children's Hospital's Renal and Urology team as a staff nurse. Tina formed part of a specialist nursing team that provided highly technical treatment, education, and support to children and their families who were living with chronic and end stage renal failure. In 2018 Tina took up a role as a Roald Dahl clinical nurse specialist within the rare disease team at Birmingham Children's hospital. Tina was responsible for supporting children and families, with complex needs, helping them to co-ordinate their care, providing practical, and emotional support, one of only a few specialist nurses in this area, based in the UK. Tina is passionate about holistically caring for children, young people and their families, and ensuring they access the support they need to live happy, healthy lives.

Janice Tivey

Role: Occupational Therapist

Janice qualified as an Occupational Therapist (OT) in 1982 and has worked in a number of OT roles, including with children and young adults. In her role, Janice will carry out full occupational therapy assessments, which will also include understanding the child’s sensory processing needs and the impact on their daily life. From this, goals will be developed alongside recommendations to improve and support their home and school life, as well as within their community.

Vicky Harvey

Role: Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Vicky qualified in 2009 in Birmingham and is passionate about promoting and improving the lives of children and young people with communication problems. She has extensive experience working within the NHS, education and independent sectors with young people with neurodevelopmental conditions, learning and physical disabilities as well as social emotional and mental health issues. Vicky joined the team in September 2022 and is excited to be working to support and develop local NHS services.

Jayne Saunders

Role: Administrative Assistant

Jayne is part of a team of administrator’s who help with general enquiries from families and other services. She is also heavily involved in the day to day tasks such as,, booking appointments, updating clinical systems and sending out reports and letter’s. Jayne joined the service in 2022 and is enjoying being part of a very caring and professional service.

Tracy Lawford

Role: Administration

Tracy joined MPFT late 2021 as admin for Children's immunisation, doing bank admin for covid immunisation clinics and also attending a few clinics as front of house.  Tracy started with CYP Autism Service in March 2023 working for 2 days a week answering the phones and adding referrals onto the system. Tracy worked as a travel agent for almost 40 years and has many transferable skills which really benefit the team.

Abbey Boss

Role: Team Lead Assistant

Abbey is currently assisting the admin team with general enquiries and administration tasks. Abbey has over seven years’ experience of working within the admin field.

Websites and leaflets

If you wish to be added to the distribution list for these updates please email communications@mpft.nhs.uk with the subject line ‘Children and Young People’s Autism Service update’.

The service update is issued monthly - check the Trust’s Facebook page or this service web page for the latest news.

Who works in the service?

The service consists of a range of professionals including psychologists and psychology assistants, speech and language therapists, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists. You can meet the team on the Children and Young People’s Autism Service web page via the MPFT website.

Where is service based?

The service has an administrative hub at:

• Anglesey House, Wheelhouse Road, Rugeley, WS15 1UL

Appointments with the service will be at a range of local community venues including:

• The Bridge, St George's Parkway, off Crooked Bridge Road, Stafford, ST16 3WT
• Cross Street Clinic, Cross Street, Burton-on-Trent, DE14 1EG
• Argyle Street, Tamworth, B77 3EN
• West Chadsmoor Clinic, Clarion Way, Cannock, WS11 4NJ

We also use other local bases and venues, depending on where referrals are from.

What happens when I am referred for assessment?

Before the assessment, with your permission, we will seek additional information about your child’s current strengths and difficulties at nursery, school or college. We will collect this information by asking the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) or class teacher to fill in a semi structured questionnaire. It is helpful if you can let them know that we are going to contact them to request this information.

Once we have received this information you will be offered an initial appointment; this is usually by telephone or video consultation. This first appointment is with parents/carers and a professional to get a good understanding of your child or young person’s development.  We use a structured tool called the ADI-R. This is an in-depth interview and can take up to two hours.

The parent and the specialist will go over the child’s medical history (and earlier assessments made), how they behave in general, key developmental milestones your child has passed, and any speech and language concerns.

The questions explore the child’s behaviour patterns in three key areas. These are the areas most affected by ASD:

• Social interactions - How does the child engage with the people in their life? For example, do they make eye contact? Do they smile and use facial expressions to communicate? Do they seem interested in playing with other children? And do they engage in imaginary play with their peers.
• Communication & language - Is the child trying to communicate? If your child is non-verbal, do they attempt to communicate in other ways such as gestures, eye gaze, pointing or leading by the hand? If your child is verbal, are there any concerns you may have around speech and language
• Restrictive and repetitive patterns of behaviour. Do they have repetitive rituals?

Following this assessment, the majority of young people will be offered a face-to-face play-based assessment called ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), to look at their current profile of strengths and difficulties. The ADOS is a standardised assessment that allows us to look for social and communication behaviours that are typical of autism spectrum conditions. It consists of age-appropriate games, books, imaginary play or activities and conversation with one clinician. At the end of the ADOS, observations are summed in pre-arranged categories.  With children over the age of about five, it is better for family members not to be present during the ADOS, as we find the child often looks to the parent for answers to questions. The ADOS can take up to one hour to complete.

My child has not been seen by the service before but has been diagnosed by another provider, but I feel that they now need support – how do I access the service?

Parents/carers can complete a self-referral form by clicking Self-referral form - Children and Young People’s Autism Service - MPFT and email it to cypautismservice@mpft.nhs.uk. Please note we will need a copy of the autism diagnosis report.

If your child has been assessed prior to October 2019 please send us proof of a full or working diagnosis and this will be reviewed by our multi disciplinary team (MDT) to ensure the diagnosis is NICE & MDT compliant. The service also has a duty worker available to discuss urgent concerns by telephone on 0300 303 0691 (9am-5pm, Monday to Friday) regarding your child.

How long will I have to wait to be seen?

It is currently taking between 3+ years to complete an autism assessment. This is due to the high number of referrals, staffing challenges and a backlog of young people to be seen. We are continuing to work on ways to significantly reduce this timescale. All families will be contacted for their first appointment via telephone or letter as soon as an appointment becomes available.

As a service we understand your needs are urgent and we aim to address these as soon as possible as part of our intervention pathway.

What if I have an urgent need and need to contact you for advice or support?

You can contact the Staffordshire Children's Advice and Support Service (0300 111 8007, 08:30 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, and 0345 604 2886 out of hours) 

For urgent mental health crisis out of hours, MPFT do provide a help line on 0808 196 3002 

In the event of a medical emergency please go straight to A&E. 

What is the access number for the Children & Young People’s Autism Service?

• The telephone number is 0300 303 0691
• The email address is cypautismservice@mpft.nhs.uk

The team will be available between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

How can I access records from the service?

Parents can also make a Subject Access Request (SAR) more details on how to access your records can be found via Your Rights - MPFT.

What is the position on additional diagnoses such as pathological demand avoidance (PDA), sensory processing disorder (SPD), dyspraxia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) etc.?

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

As PDA is not a formally recognised diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), our team would not make a formal diagnosis; however if demand avoidance is a key feature of your child’s profile we would make it known in any reports and support you in putting in place suitable management strategies. 

For more information please see Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) - National Autistic Society.

Sensory processing disorder (SPD)

Sensory processing refers to the way the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into appropriate motor and behavioural responses. ‘Sensory Processing Disorder’, is not a diagnosis that is currently recognised in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), however that is not to say your child may not have sensory processing difficulties.  Many children with an autism spectrum condition will have sensory processing difficulties associated with their diagnosis. 

More information about sensory difficulties is available via Sensory differences - National Autistic Society. 

Dyspraxia

Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age and appear to move clumsily. 

Dyspraxia is thought to be caused by the way that the brain processes information, which results in messages not being properly or fully transmitted. It affects the planning of what to do and how to do it, and is associated with problems of perception, language and thought. Dyspraxia sometimes runs in families. 

While it is distinct from autism spectrum conditions many parents notice similar symptoms, including sensory processing issues. In some cases, the two conditions can co-occur. As with autism, people with dyspraxia may be over- or under-sensitive to certain sensory stimuli. MPFT has a pathway for dyspraxia in our Community Paediatrics service, including an OT/Physio joint clinic. If the CYP autism team think it appropriate a referral to support to this service will be made. 

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is common in people with autism. If someone has ADHD, they have significant difficulties with things like poor attention, over-activity and impulsiveness. MPFT are currently reviewing the pathway for diagnosis and intervention for children with ADHD. We hope to move towards a more integrated neuro-developmental offer. This is subject to service redesign and further discussions with the CCG. If the CYP autism team think it appropriate a referral can be made to paediatrics or CAMHS depending on criteria.  However, we would recommend for children or young people that have received a recent diagnosis, we would recommend gaining a greater understanding of their autism and implementing strategies before considering further assessment for ADHD. 

More information is available via Related conditions - a guide for all audiences - National Autistic Society. 

What is the service provision for ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder)

Unfortunately MPFT are not commissioned to provide an ARFID service, however we may be able to provide advice through our Eating Disorders or Dietetic service, depending on their needs. Further information about ARFID can be found via the BEAT eating disorders website.  

Further information in relation to Paediatric Dietetics service can be found here.