Social Communication Pathway Autism Assessment

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The Social Communication Pathway (SCP) is an autism assessment service in Manchester.

Access our referral forms

There are three separate teams, covering South Manchester (Carol Kendrick Centre), Central Manchester (The Powerhouse/Winnicott Centre) and North Manchester (The Powerhouse/The Bridge).

Our team includes a:

  • Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
  • Clinical Psychologist
  • Speech and Language Therapist
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Mental Health Practitioner
  • Educational Psychologist from OneEducation
  • Consultant Paediatrician

Who do we work with?

The SCP team work with children and young people who have differences with the following:

  • Social relationships
  • Expressing and understanding feelings
  • Communication
  • Changes to routine/unexpected changes
  • Sensitivity to sensory input such as noise, textures and tastes
  • Young people may also have special interests and things they are very good at

Some children and young people experience these differences because they are autistic (also known as autism spectrum disorder or autistic spectrum condition).

Some children and young people have these differences but are not autistic.

The SCP’s job is to work with children/young people and their families to see if the child/young person is autistic.

Referral Criteria

  • Child or young person over the age of 3 years; young people can be offered appointments until their 18thbirthday
  • Registered with a Manchester GP
  • Questionnaires completed by parent/carer and school about the child/young person’s social communication.
  • There are other reasons that children and young people can present with social differences, communication differences and behaviour that challenges. For example, if the child has specific learning or language difficulties; or behaviour may be a reaction to significant life experiences.  We may feel an autism assessment is not appropriate in this case.

Referral Process

  • Parent/carer completes a parental questionnaire. If you are a professional, you should provide parent/carer with a copy of the form and support them to complete it, if appropriate.  Copies of the questionnaire are available online.
  • School/nursery should complete a separate education questionnaire. Copies of the questionnaire are available online.
  • For young people over the age of 14 years, it may be helpful to complete a Young Person’s questionnaire as well.
  • Please also include any relevant reports and information, e.g. Speech and Language assessments, Educational Psychology assessments. This will help avoid delays in processing your child’s referral.
  • Once both PARENT/CARER & EDUCATIONforms are completed, we will consider whether we think an autism assessment is needed.
School or nursery referral form Parent referral form Young person’s referral form

How do I return my completed form?

You can return your completed forms to us by email:

South team: mft.south.scp@nhs.net

Central team:  mft.centralmanchesterscp@nhs.net

North Team:  mft.northmanchesterscp@nhs.net

FAQs

You can find a list of frequently asked questions and their responses here.

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