Child Autism for Saffron Walden and surrounding patients, conducted in person at our Bedford clinic (approximately 75 min via M11/A505/A428). NICE CG128-aligned, led personally by Tina Fox. £1,200, family-led in person at bedford. Typically 6–8 weeks from first call, next available soon.
Hello, I'm Tina. I'm the lead clinician at NeuroFX. At our CQC-registered clinic, we offer specialist autism and ADHD assessments for children aged six and over and adults.
So after booking an assessment with us online or in person, you'll then be invited to take part in the onboarding process, and that is for you to be able to tell your story. It will include physical and mental health history, and then after that, you'll be sent some additional screening tools, which can all be completed in digital format online. You can pause at any time, and you can do that in the comfort of your own home. This enables me to better understand your story and your individual needs before we meet.
Next is your ADHD assessment, which is either online or in the clinic, coming to talk to me face to face. The process does take about two to three hours. That'll give you a chance to hopefully feel relaxed in an environment where you can tell me about the impacts and difficulties and how these have affected you. This follows all NICE guidelines.
In some situations, I may be able to tell you the diagnosis on the same day that we meet. In other scenarios, I might have to perhaps gain some more evidence. You might need to talk to other people, employers, family, partners, school, university, for me to be able to get a really good idea of the evidence, perhaps that you can't see yourself, and might help towards that diagnosis. You'll be provided a diagnostic report, provided I have all of that evidence, within 14 days.
So wherever you are on your journey, all the information is available on our website. You could book a call to talk to our team. You can book online. You can also simply email us if you have any questions. We do have payment plans available to pay in three or four instalments. So we look forward to meeting you and working with you on your journey.
Tina Fox is Clinical Lead at NeuroFX. Every child autism assessment for Saffron Walden patients is led by her personally, alongside Cheyenne Contreras for ADOS-2. A short video introduction to who we are, why we do this, and what to expect.
Take a couple of minutes with it. The point of the video is to make the room feel less unfamiliar before you even book a conversation.
Autism rarely arrives alone. A few related neurodevelopmental pathways available to Saffron Walden patients.
Family-led NICE NG87 pathway. Young DIVA-5 plus SNAP-IV (parent and teacher), SDQ, RCADS and sleep screen. Outcome letter within 48 hours.
Read more
Six-month family titration with weekly check-ins in month one, school SENCO loop-in at month five.
Read more
NICE CG142-aligned ADOS-2 plus ADI-R autism assessment. In person at Bedford. Two structured sessions with MDT review and follow-up video call.
Read more
Take the validated AQ-10 (adults) or ASSQ short (parents) self-screen in your browser. The short autism screeners NICE cites for first-pass screening. Not a diagnosis.
Take the screen
Child autism assessment uses the gold-standard ADOS-2 plus ADI-R protocol, family-led, in person at our Bedford clinic. NICE CG128-aligned for under-19s. Not available online because ADOS-2 requires direct observation.
Parent or carer referral. We discuss whether NeuroFX assessment is the right fit and what existing evidence would be useful (school, SENCO, previous reports).
Referral or phoneASSQ short (parent and teacher) plus a structured developmental history form. Allow up to 2 hours to complete carefully.
~2 hours · parent + teacherDetailed informant-led ADI-R interview with parents (child not present). Covers early development, social reciprocity, language and restricted/repetitive behaviour.
~2.5 hours · in person or videoA semi-structured ADOS-2 observation with Tina and our specialist ADOS-2 practitioner Cheyenne Contreras. Calibrated to your child's age and language level.
~1 hour · in person at BedfordInternal MDT review of all evidence. The diagnostic outcome comes to you in writing within 7 days, and if a follow-up video call would help, we arrange one to talk it through in a calmer setting than the assessment day.
Outcome within 7 daysNICE CG128-aligned written report including ADOS-2 and ADI-R findings, diagnostic formulation, recommendations, and SENCO/EHCP-ready clinical detail.
Within 14 days
Specialist Neurodevelopmental Practitioner & Independent Prescriber (NISP)
Every NeuroFX child autism assessment is conducted personally by Tina. 15 years of specialist mental health nursing experience and extensive neurodiversity specialist care, having conducted hundreds of ADHD and autism assessments. Tina is also an independent prescriber and an advanced specialist paediatric sleep practitioner. Assessments and prescribing follow NICE CG128 (autism in under-19s).
For Saffron Walden patients in particular, child autism is multidisciplinary by design. Tina leads your assessment and report; Cheyenne Contreras, NeuroFX's specialist ADOS-2 practitioner, co-conducts the ADOS-2 observation. After the session both clinicians attend the internal MDT case review before your follow-up video call. Meet Cheyenne on the About page →
Saffron Walden patients are seen in person at our Bedford clinic. This service is in-person only because it requires direct clinical observation or measurement that video cannot replicate.
Bedford Consulting Rooms on Goldington Road is a calm, residential-style space, not a hospital. Pay and display car park immediately next door (1 minute walk). Central rail station 8 minutes walk.
You are served clinically by NHS Essex ICB. A private NeuroFX assessment is typically 6 to 8 weeks (next available soon).
Saffron Walden is the largest market town in Uttlesford, the rural West Essex district that, with Harlow and Epping Forest, makes up the West Essex health locality. The town itself has no standalone NHS neurodevelopmental clinic, so assessment is organised at locality level: children and young people in Uttlesford are seen for ADHD through the West Essex ADHD Service (for ages 6 to 17.5) and for autism through the West Essex Journey to Autism Diagnostic Service, known as JADES (for ages 2 to 18), both delivered by the Essex Child and Family Wellbeing Service on behalf of Essex County Council and reached via a GP, school nurse or health visitor.
Demand across the system is high and the wait can be long; University of Cambridge researchers, including Professor Tamsin Ford of the Department of Psychiatry, reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry in March 2026 that there is no robust evidence ADHD is over-diagnosed in the UK and that the real concern is under-diagnosis and long waiting times, with people driven into the private sector while they wait. As local news, the former NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB closed on 31 March 2026, and from 1 April 2026 Uttlesford and the rest of West Essex joined the newly launched NHS Essex Integrated Care Board, not NHS Central East; adults can be referred under NHS Right to Choose to providers quality assured by NHS Essex ICB. A private assessment with a CQC-registered clinic such as NeuroFX, which can be delivered by secure online appointment, sits alongside NHS care rather than replacing it; at NeuroFX the wait is typically 6 to 8 weeks.
Any subsequent move to shared care for medication remains at the GP's sole discretion, so it is worth speaking to your GP first if shared care matters to you. There is local support to draw on too, from the Saffron Walden-based charity Accuro and the new Autistic Lately scheme for late-diagnosed adults at the Quaker Meeting House, to the Essex Family Forum parent carer voice and the Essex SEND Local Offer, all of which help families regardless of whether a formal diagnosis is in place.
Adult autism services commissioned via this ICB. Right to Choose is available to some patients in this area.
Figures reflect the trust's own published service page at time of last review. Re-check before relying on it for any decision.
Autism has no NICE-recommended pharmacological treatment, so the conversations after diagnosis are different to ADHD. Here is what to expect for Saffron Walden patients.
Right to Choose lets eligible patients pick any NHS-contracted provider. For autism specifically, the list of RTC providers is shorter than for ADHD, and most published waits are still measured in years.
NeuroFX is a fully private autism assessment outside the RTC framework. We can be quicker (typically 6 to 8 weeks), but you pay the fee directly.
There is no NICE-recommended pharmacological treatment for autism itself. After diagnosis we focus on:
Onward signposting: Saffron Walden community autism services, the National Autistic Society's local peer network, and any free workshops or peer-led groups in the area.
Workplace and study evidence: Your report is designed for DSA applications and Equality Act 2010 reasonable adjustment requests.
Co-occurring conditions: If ADHD is also suspected, we book a separate adult ADHD assessment, which can be added at the £950 top-up rate.
Read our autism pathway →
Saffron Walden is named for the saffron crocus grown here commercially in the Middle Ages to supply the textile-dyeing trade, and the town has had the rare good fortune to have been prosperous enough to build well but not prosperous enough since to knock any of it down. The result is an extraordinarily well-preserved medieval and Georgian town centre with over three hundred listed buildings, an ancient turf maze cut into the common (one of only eight surviving in England), and a market running since the Norman period.
The Fry Art Gallery and the town museum are both excellent small institutions. It sits in the northwest corner of Essex close to Cambridge and draws from a wide, particularly pretty rural catchment.
This page is for Saffron Walden, Cambridge, Haverhill, Bishop's Stortford, Royston, Thaxted, Braintree and surrounding villages.Schools, universities, employers and parent-carer networks in the Saffron Walden area all have routes you can use, some free, all helpful while you wait or after a diagnosis.
For children and young people in this area, the LEA is Essex County Council. Your child's SENCO is the right first call about how a private assessment is used in an EHCP application or annual review.
Our reports are designed to support DSA applications and Equality Act 2010 reasonable-adjustment requests at universities, colleges and employers in the area.
National organisations that are well-researched, neurodiversity-affirming, and free at the point of access. We recommend them whether you're a NeuroFX patient or not.
Specific service variants for Saffron Walden patients. Same clinic, same clinician, different pathway.
Anything not here? See our full FAQ page or just call us.
School support for autistic children in England: SEN Support versus an EHCP, adjustments under the Equality Act, and what to do when help is thin.
What an adult or paediatric autism assessment involves: the structure, the ADOS-2 and ADI-R, what the clinician asks about, and what happens after.
Adult ADHD assessment uses rating scales, checklists and a detailed history: what these tools do, what they cannot do, and how diagnosis really works.
Nearby towns with their own NeuroFX assessment page, same Bedford clinic, same fee, same NICE-aligned pathway.
Book direct, send a referral, or call the clinic during office hours. We come back to every referral within one working day. No pressure, no obligation.
We use cookies to run essential parts of this site and embedded tools such as Google reviews, the CQC widget and chat. You can accept or reject these. Read our privacy & cookies policy.
Chat with us on WhatsAppQuick question about assessment, fees or availability? Start a WhatsApp chat and we will come back to you.
