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Service referral criteria are in place to ensure that this service works with the child/young people and their families who need and will benefit from further highly specialist assessment.

The school-age service accepts referrals for children/young people from the term they are commencing school up to 17 and half years, and who have a Worcestershire GP.  Written consent from parents/carers (or young people aged 16 and over) must be obtained and provided with the referral documents. 

Please note: There is a different referral process for pre-school aged referrals as these come via a Speech and Language Therapist or Community Paediatrician. 

Referral criteria

For a referral to be considered, evidence will be required of significant difficulties, impacting the child/young person’s daily life, across the four areas of their development associated with ASD:

• Social emotional reciprocity
• Non-verbal communicative behaviours
• Developing and maintaining relationships
• Restricted patterns of behaviour

In addition to identifying these difficulties, there must be evidence of interventions previously tried to meet the child or young person’s needs. This is known as the Graduated Response. More information about this can be found in the Worcestershire Local Offer and Graduated Response.

Completing the referral form (professionals)

The referral form requires very detailed information and is best completed in partnership with the child/young person’s parents, school/educational setting, or professionals working closely with the child overtime on a regular basis.

• Referrals from Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians and CAMHS should be accompanied by a report and information relating to the key areas detailed above. 
• Referrals from Family Support Workers should be accompanied by details of involvement and concerns that relate to the key areas detailed above.

The information sent to us will be considered by our multi-disciplinary team usually weekly. Further information or clarification may be requested at that stage. When the information has been considered we will inform parents, referrers and professionals involved of our recommendations.

A re-referral of children previously assessed by the service cannot be accepted within an 18 month period and there will need to be evidence of significant changes in the child’s presentation since the previous assessment was carried out before a re-referral can be accepted.

We require a wide range of detailed information to decide if this is the most appropriate service for a child or young person. The information provided forms part of the child/young person’s assessment if they are accepted onto the pathway.

The Umbrella Referral consists of the following 4 parts and all of these need to be completed in full before the referral can be considered:

1. Umbrella Pathway referral form  
2. Age appropriate consent form
3. Questionnaire completed by parent
4. Questionnaire completed by Educational setting (as long as the child/young person is attending one)

Guidance for referrers

The referral must include evidence that an Early Help or graduated approach response has been considered and implemented over time in relation to the presenting difficulties and the needs of the child, rather than an assumption that ASD is the cause.

• Referrals from school, school nurse, or GP should demonstrate:

• a graduated approach response from school with evidence of ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycles.  This must be in place and evidenced over a minimum of 6 months or 2 terms for all school aged children.  Insert link for graduated response form.

OR

• a supporting report from a professional such as the Complex Communication Needs (CCN) team,  Educational Psychology (EP),  Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), or Occupational Therapy Team (OT) that focuses on key areas as detailed above.

School referrals should be completed and signed by the school ASD Lead or SENCo. If parents feel that they need support to complete their forms we advise them to seek support from school. If no problems are being seen in school we will still require the school view.

• Referrals from Paediatricians and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) should be accompanied by a neurodevelopmental history that makes reference to the key areas above
• Referrals from Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists should be accompanied by a report and information relating to all of the key areas detailed above.
• Referrals from Family Support Workers should be accompanied by details of involvement and concerns that relate to the key areas detailed above.

Parents/carers and professionals need to work in partnership to complete the referral form so that we understand how the child/young person presents at home and at school.