Your professional/specialist recommendations
Posted by
bumblebee
on 9th October 2009
at 08:47
Hi Elena,
The first EP is good for older (7+) high functioning children with any specific learning difficulties (dyslexia/dyspraxia etc) She confirmed my 11yr old daughter's SpLD's and she did a fab report which helped her get into specialist provision. She cost £375 which is also very reasonable for an EP!
: Jan Samson - jansamson@aol.com
The second EP is a tribunal guru! She is also expierienced at court proceedings etc. She is good with all aspects of autism including emotional/mental health/high-low functioning/learning difficulties etc, but as you can imagine,...a lot more expensive £600-£800 for an assessment/report and visits to 2 provisions. She charges about £400 a day and will go to tribunals as an expert witness. I have her report and managed to do formal cognitive assessments on Jack....which is an achievement in itself!!
: Joy Horne - joy@hornes.fslife.co.uk
SLT's:
Juanita Hurley is an autism specialist SLT with years of expierience. She is lovely to chat to, really cares and knows her stuff! She accepts CEREBRA vouchers as payment and is happy to travel for assessment/reports/therapy: juanitahurley@hotmail.com
Geraldine Wotton is an autism specialist SLT with years of expierience. She is very passionate about our children getting specialist support and continuous support as well. She is also very expierienced with tribunals and accepts CEREBRA vouchers, travels for assessment/reports/therapy etc. : geriwspchthpy@aol.com
CEREBRA vouchers are available to any child who has a diagnosis of autism. They must have a report stating they need speech & langauge input and cannot have been seen by a Speech therapist for 6 months. Proof is needed (ie sending copies of reports). CEREBRA send out vouchers to sucessful applicants for the value of £500 to pay for private speech & language therapy.
Legal: Our legal advisor has been Steve Broach soon to be a Barister at Doughty Street Chambers. He used to be involved with Treehouse I believe! I can't say enough about Steve, other than we couldn't have got through the last year or so without him. He has supported us through difficulties with CAMHS, social services, education and with tribunals for educational placements and for disability discrimination (and won..!!) Contact needs to be via a solicitor.
Solicitors: Fisher Meradith in London who are specialists in mental health and dealing with public services etc. The solicitor we had as moved on and I think the person to speak to now is Ollie Studdard??
They have helped us with issues around respite to problems with mental health services and in-patient units. We were told that if our children needed services and we felt they were not getting the right support from any public service, then they can help. They also have a good understanding of autism and related problems.
Finally!! The Michael Rutter Center at the Maudsley Hospital in London is where our 13 yr old daughter was referred to. She had her diagnosis of Asperger's and anxiety disorder removed last year by a consultant Psychiatrist in CAMHS and was re-diagnosed with an attachment disorder. With the help of a solicitor, we encouraged them to refer her to autism specialists at the Maudsley where she was rediagnosed with Asperger's and anxiety disorder! Anyway, they were great and did full and comprehensive assessments. They also can refer families on for genetic testing in order to give, what I understood as being odds of having further children with Autism...we declined as so far it's 3 out of 3!! not sure we need a test for that, but there may be some people who would find that beneficial.
I believe referral to the Michael Rutter Center is via consultant psychiatrist.
Hope this is helpful and I'll let you know if I hear of any more...
Claire
Posted by
bumblebee
on 6th August 2009
at 11:58
Oh! one more I thought of.......Mary Robertson is an Educational Psychologist who also has a huge amount of autism knowledge and associated qualifications. She is highly recommended by legal proffessionals. A good friend of mine had an assessment and report from her a few years ago and she issued a fantastic report detailing all of his needs. SHe has a website http://www.maryrobertson.co.uk/ and I believe she is qualified to carry out the DISCO and other autism diagnostic assessments.
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Posted by
Elena Goodrum
on 5th August 2009
at 14:47
Recently, bumblebee suggested that the community might really benefit from an area where we can all share our recommendations for professionals and specialists who you've worked with, or even just heard of.
I think this is a fantastic idea and so I will make this a "sticky" topic so it sits at the top of this section.
One thing before I head off and leave you all to it - remember what our Community Guidelines say about sharing advice. We hope you will take any recommendations as you would treat any personal recommendation – check that it is authentic and suitable for your personal circumstances. Please only share trusted resources with us, and note that talk about autism and TreeHouse do not necessarily support any of the recommendations given on the community.
Do you know of a professional or specialist that you would like to recommend to others?
Share your advice and tips below...