1. Developing an adult autism diagnosis tool incorporating autistic adults’ experiences of diagnosis Research and Development Conference
Barry Ingham (Consultant Clinical Psychologist/Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer) & Stephen Patterson (Autistic Self-advocate)

2. Acknowledgements Sarah Wigham Joan Macintosh Tracy Finch Alex Petrou
Tom Berney
Ann LeCouteur
Marc Woodbury-Smith
Jeremy Parr
Autistica

3. Overview Review of tools and screeners
Experiences of diagnosis in adulthood
Clinician views
Autism Clinical Interview for Adults (ACIA)

4. Review of diagnostic tools and screeners
NICE recommendations
Updated review
What did it say about diagnostic measures?
What did it say about structured questionnaires?
Clinical implications?
Published in Autism

5. Review of diagnostic tools and screeners
Findings
Sensitivity and specificity of structured questionnaires limited.
For adults with intellectual disability, diagnostic accuracy increased with a combination of questionnaires.
In mental health settings, single structured questionnaire unlikely to accurately identify adults without autism or from mental health conditions.
Some utility of diagnostic measures in identifying autism but specificity for diagnosis was relatively low.
Need robust adult autism assessment tools (particularly in the presence of co-occurring mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders).

6. Receiving an autism spectrum diagnosis in adulthood
Survey of people who had received a diagnosis during adulthood
Interviewing some of these
Characteristics of a cohort of individuals diagnosed during adulthood
Experience of the diagnostic process and the impact of diagnosis
Post-diagnosis support received
What are the implications?

7. Clinician views on diagnosis in adulthood
Interviews
Survey of teams
Measures used
Approaches taken
Post diagnostic support
Can we develop a consistent pathway for assessment methods and measures?

8. New study starting March 2018 Methods of Diagnosing ASD in adults
We are particularly interested in the views of clinicians on the best combinations of ASD screening and diagnostic measures for clinical settings
If you would like to give your view on this please use this link to access the survey:
tinyurl.com/ASDadultdiagnosis
For further details contact:
Dr Sarah Wigham
Newcastle University
Tel:

9. Autism Clinical Interview for Adults (ACIA)
Semi-structured interview to inform diagnosis
Developmental & current
Pre-interview questionnaire
With the person
With a relative/supporter
Begun pilot within local autism diagnosis service (approx. 20)
Reliability and validity
Attendees & clinician experience
How will it inform next steps clinically? E.g. formulation, treatment planning, signposting

10. Contact Barry.ingham@ntw.nhs.uk
Psychological Services, Northgate Hospital, Morpeth, Northumberland Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Institute of Neuroscience, Sir James Spence Institute, Newcastle University