A diagnosis is not necessary to receive any special educational need (SEN) support in a place of learning; it is based on need, and a diagnosis is not necessary.
If a parent/carer or young person would still like to pursue a diagnosis through the NHS, they can to go to their GP and ask them to refer the child or young person to the Neurodevelopmental Service (NDS) Pathways alternatively the SENCo at the place of learning can also make a referral to NDS.
Under the ‘Right to choose’ pathway parent/carers or young people have the right to choose who provides the diagnosis through the NHS, this can sometimes speed up the process. If a parent/carer or young person wants to do this, they will need to speak with their GP.
The GP/NDS team will need some documentation to support their decision about the referral, this might be:
- Reports from the SENCo
- Home to school diary
- Exclusion/Suspension letters
- Behaviour plans
- SEN Support Plans /EHCPs
- Other relevant professional reports such as Educational Psychologist, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy
For private diagnosis, we are unable to recommend a list of services that can provide this, but if the parent/carer or young person decides to get a private diagnosis they must consider the points below to ensure they are recognised/ratified by the NHS and Local Authority:
- A multi-disciplinary quality assurance (QA) process is undertaken
and
- Any report must meet the clinical standards set out by both:
- The National Institute for Health and Care Clinical Excellence (NICE) NHS England