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The Children's Autism and ADHD Assessment Service (CAAAS)
Published
The Children's Autism and ADHD Assessment Service (CAAAS) went live on the 1 January 2025. This is a single service for the delivery of children and young people’s Autism and ADHD assessments within Gloucestershire.
This service is hosted by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together the previous Social Communication and Autism Assessment Service (SCAAS), CAMHS Neurodiversity Team and the Paediatric (under 11s) ADHD Clinic within the hospital.
The service will consist of a multi-agency team including Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Paediatricians, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapists, and Nurses. The service is commissioned to offer assessment when a child or young person’s presentation is having significant impact on day-to-day life.
Referrals into the service can be made by any health, education or social care professional working with the child or young person. Please note: this includes ADHD referrals for children the under age of 11 which previously required a GP referral to Community Paediatrics.
Before any child or young person is referred, support must be put in place via the Gloucestershire Graduated Pathway based on the child’s needs, prior to an assessment being undertaken.
In addition, evidence of two review cycles must be provided. This may be two reviews of a My Plan with evidence that the child has then moved to a My Plan+ or two reviews of a My Plan+ or equivalent. This should be provided alongside the My Assessment. This is to ensure that your child’s presenting needs have been acknowledged and appropriate holistic support is in place to help them.
It is always best if the referral is made by someone who knows your child well, generally education settings are best placed as they see children daily and can initiate the Graduated Pathway process mentioned above. However, where a child is home educated or the education setting do not feel best placed to make a referral for reasons such as not seeing presenting needs within classroom, other professionals who know the child well such as Mentors, Social Workers, Early Help Coordinators, Social Prescribers, GPs or Mental Health Professionals can progress a referral if they feel well placed to do this and the Graduated Pathway approach has been initiated.
Due to very high levels of demand, there is a long wait for both Autism and ADHD assessments, locally and nationally. A diagnosis of any neurodivergent condition is not required in order to access support via the Gloucestershire Graduated Pathway.
For further information and a Q&A from the Children and Young People’s Autism and ADHD Assessment Service visit the Local Offer