Integrated care for autism assessment, diagnosis and intervention

Autism spectrum disorder is one of a group of conditions considered to be a neurodevelopmental disorder. These conditions, including ADHD, language disorders and intellectual disability frequently co-occur. Diagnostic pathways often focus on assessment of a named condition (e.g. autism spectrum disorder) in isolation, resulting in inefficiencies in service delivery; other services look holistically at the child's strengths and needs, and provide a neurodevelopmental diagnostic formulation. However, there is growing support for a change to this neurodevelopmental approach that informs recommendations for ongoing multiagency support and intervention for the child and their family. Whilst there may be different ways to deliver a successful neurodevelopmental pathway, the move to integrated commissioning offers an opportunity to redesign services to bring together teams; for example, CAMHS and child development services could deliver an integrated neurodevelopmental pathway, instead of separate single condition pathways. This paper presents the research and reasoning, as well as potential pitfalls, for services to deliver a neurodevelopmental approach, and what this means for clinical practice.