About our teams

The Allied Health Professionals (AHP) Team is made up of Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) and Occupational Therapists (OT). The AHP team contribute to multi-disciplinary assessments which help to identify someone as autistic. This means that a group of healthcare staff from different professions (eg. doctors, nurses, psychologists) work together to make decisions about the outcome of an assessment.

The Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists carry out the ADOS-2 assessment as part of the autism assessment process. The observations made during the ADOS assessment are shared in a multi-disciplinary discussion, and are combined with information provided by schools and caregivers to identify whether someone is autistic.

The Child Development Nurse Team are practitioners and/or nurses who have extensive training and knowledge in Child Development, usually following many years of working closely with children in a variety of specialist settings and supporting families through challenging life experiences.

The Nurse Team undertake various assessments to assist in information gathering as part of our pathway. This may include ADI- Autism Diagnostic Interview or other specialist developmental assessment activities or observations with the child. The Nurse Team also offer support whilst waiting to be assessed, plus guidance and advice post-assessment.

• Heather Astridge
• Temitope Fakayode
• Karen Guarino
• Helen Saville

The Clinical Psychology team contribute to the identification of neurodivergence such as autism and learning disability. To support the autism assessment process, the psychology team carry out ADOS-2 assessments alongside the Allied Health Professionals team.

If there is a question about a young person’s level of learning (cognitive abilities) they might see the psychology team for a Cognitive Assessment. This assessment helps to answer the questions: does this young person have autism, a learning disability, or both? This assessment can therefore support differential diagnosis, further understanding of a young person’s neurodevelopmental profile, identifying their cognitive strengths and challenges.

The psychology team also provide therapeutic support to children and young people open to the Community Paediatric Service who have been identified as autistic. This is for children and young people who are experiencing secondary mental health and emotional regulation difficulties related to their neurodivergence where another service would not meet their needs.

This work can be done directly with the young person, indirectly with parents or jointly and we sometimes offer multi-agency work where it is indicated. We would like to expand this service and be able to offer group work in the future for parents and children.

Our psychology team consists of:

• Dr Anita Marsden (Lead Clinical Psychologist)
• Aishling Dempsey (Senior Assistant Psychologist)
• Dr Kate Appleby (Clinical Psychologist)
• Dr Niamh Ingrim (Clinical Psychologist)

If further information about a child’s sensory processing is needed as part of the autism assessment process the Occupational Therapist can sign post and provide recommendations to support with home and school activities. The Occupational Therapist will give you some feedback as part of the feedback and pass this information onto the paediatrician. You will be able to have this with the ADOS report, either when the doctor receives it or as part of the doctor’s final report following conclusion of the autism assessment process.

Our OT team consists of:

• Kathleen Hicks
• Laura Russell

The paediatrician team are specialist children’s doctors who have particular expertise in child development.

The paediatricians are involved in assessment and support for children who are neurodivergent (eg. autism, learning disabilities), and for children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as Cerebral Palsy and epilepsy. Some of the paediatricians also conduct assessments and support for looked after children such as adoption medicals.

Our paediatrician team:

• Dr Chrys Poullikas
• Dr Isabelle Hodgson
• Dr John Somarib
• Dr Joseph Kalegias
• Dr Melanie Liebenberg
• Dr Nisha Gupta
• Dr Tracey Ward
• Dr Diana Tahir
• Dr Kyikyi Nyunt
• Dr Mamataz Parvin
• Dr Oana Anton
• Dr Arosh Udugamakorala
• Dr Sudeep Shrestha
• Dr Thaw Lin
• Dr Sugandhi Prathapasinghe

If further information about a child’s understanding and use of language is needed as part of the autism assessment process the Speech and Language Therapists can carry out some standardised and informal assessments. Informal assessments are non-standardised and are used to explore the child’s pattern of strengths and needs.

Following assessment, the Speech and Language Therapist will talk to you about what they found and then write a report including: assessment results, strengths and needs, and advice. They will pass this information onto the paediatrician. You will be able to have this report, either when the doctor receives it or as part of the doctor’s final report following conclusion of the autism assessment process.

Our SLT team consist of:

• Clare Armstrong-Roger
• Clare Beswetherick