Service name
Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Service
Main contact number
01782 408399
Service based at
Dragon Square Community Unit
2 & 3 Dragon Square
Chesterton
Newcastle-under-Lyme
ST5 7HL – click here to get directions from Google Maps
Service hours
9am–5pm – Monday to Friday
About the service:
The Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Service is a multi-disciplinary team consisting of Nurses, Speech and Languages Therapist, Psychologists and Assistant Psychologists.
We accept referral for children and young people up until their 18th birthday.
We provide:
- A comprehensive assessment to explore whether a child or young person meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ASD. This assessment will take place over a number of appointments and will include collecting information from parents and school, as well as a play-based assessment with the child or young person who is being assessed.
- With parents’ consent, information will be sought from other professionals who have worked with their child and a school observation may be carried out. Parents will be provided with a written report following the assessment.
- We offer a post-diagnosis workshop for parents whose child has recently received a diagnosis of ASD. This takes place over half a day.
Referral criteria
We offer a specialist assessment when there are significant concerns regarding social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviours.
We also accept referrals for parents to attend the post diagnosis workshop when their child has already been given a diagnosis of ASD, but have not been able to attend previously.
Referral routes
- Professionals working in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) providing that an initial assessment has been carried out and further specialist assessment or intervention by the School Age ASD team is recommended.
- Community Paediatricians
- Educational Psychologists
- Speech and Language Therapists
- GPs
- School Nurses
- SENCOs
- Social Workers
How should a referral be made?
Referrals from professionals should be made in writing containing sufficient information to allow the team to understand why the referrer believes an ASD assessment is appropriate. All referrals should contain informed consent from the child and/or those holding parental responsibility.
A service evaluation to review the current CAMHS ASD team referral process: Executive Summary