Post-Assessment Support

Joanne has worked as a Speech and Language Therapist since 2007 across a range of clinical and educational settings.

Dr Harish Mahadevappa is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and has worked in the Colchester area for over a decade. His special interests are neurodevelopmental conditions (ASD and ADHD), anxiety disorders and tics.

Emma is a Speech and Language Therapist at Provide Wellbeing.

Ruth qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2000 and has specialised working in Paediatrics since 2002. During this time, she has worked in many different clinical settings in the community, including children’s developmental centres, hospitals, special needs schools, mainstream schools and within family homes. She has a wide experience assessing and treating children therapeutically with a range of difficulties and diagnoses. She has worked as part of the multi-disciplinary diagnostic team since 2008. She specialises in play, developmental delay, fine motor skills, children with social communication disorders, sensory, specialist equipment and children with complex needs.

After qualifying as an Occupational Therapist in 2005, I initially spent time gaining core skills on a rotation between hospital wards and the community before specialising in Community Paediatrics. I developed a special interest in Sensory processing and Autism and completed post graduate study in these areas. I am a member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, SI Network and Children, Young people and families Specialist Section. I joined Tollgate in August 2021, and I really enjoy the variety of age groups and abilities of the children and young people that we work with.

Following an assessment and a positive diagnosis of autism, it can be hard to know what to do next. At Provide Wellbeing, we offer resources and support to connect you with other poeple, parents, children, and autism professionals who can help you to navigate the next steps on your journey.

For Parents

After receiving a diagnosis of autism, we will provide you with a report detailing everything that happened during the assessment and confirming the official diagnosis. A thorough appendix is provided to signpost you to further information about autism at that point.

One of our team's key recommendations is to learn as much about autism as possible. You will be able to better understand your child's behaviours by researching the condition and its symptoms in more detail. Further resources are on our support directory page. We also recommend that you arrange a meeting with the school if your child attends so that you can establish an appropriate support plan in line with their diagnosis.

How can I support my child following an autism diagnosis?

For a parent or carer to support someone with a diagnosis, we recommend finding out as much as you can about the condition. The more you know about it, the more you know what strategies and approaches to take with that person. It will also help you to understand why they might behave in a certain way.

For Young People

After a diagnosis, you will receive a report containing advice specifically for you about what autism is and what you can do next. Guidance is provided about the books, websites and other resources to consult for more information and strategies to manage day-to-day life following your autism diagnosis.

Pricing & Appointment Information

Post-autism Advice session with Therapist following diagnosis - £150

Provide Wellbeing will be able to support you with this new diagnosis. We will discuss any questions about the diagnosis on the day of the appointment. We can also advise you on where to go and signpost you to get further support.

Should you need to cancel for any reason, a refund will be offered if we are informed 7 or more days prior to the appointment.

For full details of our refund and cancellation policy please visit our Pricing & Payment Terms.

I completed an undergraduate degree in Human Psychology in 2007 and during this time worked within a specialist school for children who had a diagnosis of autism. As a result of my enjoyment working with this client group, I continued to provide respite care for families who had children diagnosed with autism whilst also working as an Assistant Psychologist at the National Autistic Society. It was during my time working as an Assistant Psychologist that I was introduced to Ayres Sensory Integration Intervention and decided to pursue a Masters degree in Occupational Therapy in order to undertake the postgraduate training in sensory integration. I have since trained as an Advanced Sensory Integration practitioner and undertaken Sensory Attachment Intervention training.

I have worked within an NHS community paediatrics team, an independent sensory integration clinic, and currently work at a community interest company that provides assessment and treatment for children who have been adopted and experienced developmental trauma as well as working as a Registered Intermediary supporting the police to interview children who have learning or mental health difficulties. I specialise in the area of attachment and developmental trauma, am currently on the practicum to train as a Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapist, and have a particular interest in the co-morbidity seen with autism and developmental trauma.

I joined Wellbeing in 2019 as a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist - I graduated with an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy from University of Essex and have worked with Provide CIC ever since. I have worked with children with a range of needs and have developed a number of specialist skills, including differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, language disorders and speech sound disorders. I love meeting the children and young people and getting to know them.

I qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 1996 after completing my BSc (Hons) in Birmingham. I came back to my home county of Essex to start my first post for the NHS in Mid Essex working with children with a range of communication needs. My focus area of work became preschool/ school age complex needs and autism. I moved on to work in Mansfield and also worked in London and Nottingham. Whilst having a family I continued some work as an Independent S&LT and volunteered for two military charities. In 2014 I came back to Essex to work in the Mid and West Essex area for Provide CIC, including work in autism assessment.

I joined Wellbeing in 2018 as an Occupational Therapist. I have worked as an Occupational Therapist within the NHS for 32 years, working with children/young people of all ages who have a wide range of special educational and physical needs. I trained to administer the ADOS assessment over 10 years ago and during my time working with Provide CIC was a member of the multidisciplinary team which assessed and diagnosed children and young people who have ASD.

I have undertaken many postgraduate courses in sensory processing which have enabled me to provide support and advice to children who have sensory processing difficulties associated with their diagnosis of ASD. I enjoy the variety of my role: although the assessment tool is the same, each child / young person I meet is different.

I trained at the University of East Anglia and graduated in 2014. Since then I have been working with a wide range of children both in the NHS and independent practice, in special needs and mainstream schools. I have completed additional training on gold standard ASD assessment tools including the ADI-R and ADOS-2 assessments, in addition to specific ASD interventions such as Attention Autism, PACT and PECS.

I joined Tollgate in 2021 as an ASD assessor. I enjoy facilitating diagnoses for children as I feel this often helps families gain extra support. Also I enjoy working as part of an MDT. Every day is different and no two children with ASD are the same, so it is always exciting to know you are going to meet someone different every day of your work.

I joined Wellbeing in 2021 as a clinician in the Autism Diagnostic Team. I graduated from Birmingham City University in 2008 and since then have spent my career working in a variety of settings. I have worked with children, young people and adults with a range of communication needs. This has included working in the areas of Autism, Learning Disability, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System. 

I work in my local NHS Autism Assessment team for 3 days a week and work for Wellbeing around this. I really enjoy meeting the children and young people and building rapport with them during the assessments.

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) Human Communication in 2003 from City University. I specialise in working with children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). My 18 years' experience has been in these specialisms and I have completed postgraduate training in a range of different therapeutic and assessment techniques. I have completed health management MSc modules with NHS London and keep abreast of current research and theory for continued quality healthcare Improvement. I joined Tollgate in 2021 to complement my NHS role.

I have worked extensively with a range of paediatric client need groups. I have been a principal therapist and managed a SaLT team, working in schools and in an autism multi-disciplinary assessment team. I am currently employed by an NHS trust to work in education provision and to develop a new role in a youth offending service, in addition to working as an independent consultant in joint communication assessments.

I enjoy working a multi-disciplinary team to holistically consider a child’s needs and working with young people themselves to recognise their own abilities and differences.

My name is Hannah, and I am an Occupational Therapist. I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2006 from the University of East Anglia. I work with children and adults who have a wide range of needs, including neurological conditions such as cerebral palsy and neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). My skills include therapeutic interventions and advice, assessment for specialist equipment and assessment of home environments for manual handling, adaptations and equipment etc.

I completed my ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) training in 2012 and since then I have been working as part of a multidisciplinary assessment team carrying out assessments of social communication skills, diagnosing autism. I have also undergone training using the ‘MAES Approach’ (Movement Analysis and Educational Strategies) which is a specialist treatment approach for children with neurological conditions. I love that in my job, I get to meet and spend time with lots of different people. I enjoy scuba diving, gaming, eating out and walking.

My name is Amy, and I am a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Speech Sciences in 2007 from University College London. I have specialised in working with children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and complex communication difficulties. I worked for the NHS for 14 years and was the lead Speech and Language Therapist in working with children and adults requiring alternative and augmentative communication, as well as being part of the senior management team. I have completed post graduate training in a range of different therapeutic techniques.

I have worked as part of a multi-disciplinary assessment team for autism since 2010. I am a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the Health and Care Professions Council. I feel very privileged that my job means I get to meet such a wonderful variety of different people. I love getting to know each and every one and hearing about their lives. I am very passionate about autism and supporting people and families to get the support they need to help them reach their potential. I enjoy baking and cake decorating, reading, going on walks with my family and dog and eating out at lovely restaurants.

My name is Dr Amin Band, and I am a Lead Neurodevelopmental Consultant. I joined Wellbeing in 2018. My job involves meeting children / young people and their families, assessing them, and answering their queries, making some contribution to making their lives better in some way. I enjoy working with the lovely team from the Wellbeing family and leading my teams. In my spare time, I like walking and cooking.

I have been a Consultant Neurodevelopmental Paediatrician in Essex for more than 20 years and lead clinician for Provide CIC's Community Paediatric service since 2010. I have special interests in Neurodevelopmental Paediatrics and Safeguarding Children. I am trained in autism assessment and have been providing diagnostic and follow up services for children with autism and ADHD since 1994. I hold qualifications of MBBS, MRCS, MRCP, FRCPCH, DCH and a Diploma in Community Paediatrics.