Vision
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- Private Autism and ADHD assessments for Women and girls.
- Robust, high-quality assessments using gold standard tools, that exceed NICE guidelines.
- By Women For Women.
- Multi-Disciplinary Team.
- Female-only practitioners with expert knowledge & lived experience of the female presentation.
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For too long women and girls on the spectrum have been underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed or late diagnosed. At Spectrum Sisters our goal is to support neurodiverse women and girls to achieve their goals by delivering specialised female-centric Autism and ADHD assessments using gold standard tools (ADOS-2, DIVA-5 etc). Our mission is to redress the imbalance amongst professionals and ensure that neurodiverse women and girls have the appropriate assessment, understanding, and treatment that they need to thrive in life!
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Masking
We know only too well how the female presentation of Autism and ADHD is vastly different from the male presentation. We know what masking looks like and we also know how deeply it can affect a person's mental health and wellbeing. Research has shown the devastating impact long-term masking can have on the mental health of children and adults, and we are highly trained to recognise this, making our assessments far more reliable and in-depth.
Expertise
Our Team
Community
In addition to assessments, we want to build a community for women and girls on the spectrum, and their parents. We want to empower them, raise awareness, and bring them together so they have the appropriate support to thrive. We do not see Autism or ADHD as a disability but as a difference. And we believe that any neurodivergent person - with the right scaffolding around them - can thrive!!
Therefore we provide free support groups, workshops, community events, and networking events for women and girls on the spectrum - and their loved ones. Please contact us for more details or if you want to advertise an event/group you are holding through us.
*Please note all the artwork on this website was created by a very talented young lady called Scarlett, who has autism*.
Our assessment team is highly unique. We are an MDT multi-disciplinary assessment team (as per NICE guidelines). Every one of us is a highly-trained professional from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, mental health nursing, social work, occupational therapy, educational psychology, and speech and language therapy. What sets us apart is that in addition to this we all hold a professional interest and have had in-depth training in the female presentation of neurodiversity, and we are all females with lived experience in this area. In addition, every one of our assessments involves at in-depth review by our MDT team.
This means, that when you get an assessment from us, you can ensure that it will be highly-specialised, high-quality, person-centred and with in-depth understanding and knowledge of the female Autism and ADHD phenotype. All our assessments are strengths- based, meaning we do not believe that neurodiversity is a disability - but a difference, and we focus on strengths not 'deficits'. All our reports include detailed recommendations, signposting and a follow-up appointment to discuss outcomes. We strongly believe with the right understanding, support, and scaffolding, women and girls with neurodiversity can learn to fly!
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If you are a practitioner who aligns with our values and feels you may want to join our team we would love to hear from you as we are currently hiring.
Benefits
Many people ask us why assessment is necessary? Why label your child or yourself? What are the benefits?
Women and girls with autism are currently vastly underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and/or are diagnosed later in life than males. Yet early identification and intervention has been linked to improved functioning and wellbeing of people with autism. Girls and women with autism are more likely to be victims of bullying, child abuse, poor health care, domestic violence, sexual assault, crime, depression, addiction problems, social isolation, PTSD, poor living conditions, poor employment, and affects them across the lifespan. A diagnosis can help to access well-designed support around understanding of oneself and prioritising safety, assertiveness, good mental health, and self-determination. It can also help to empower our girls to become the amazing people that they can be with the right understanding and support in place. All our assessments include detailed recommendations that can be used for reasonable adjustments for the workplace for adults, and for children in school.
Our Story
- By Women For Women -
Spectrum Sisters was founded by two social workers who were regularly seeing in practice vast amounts of neurodivergent women and girls being misdiagnosed, and under-diagnosed and the impact that would have on their life. Passionate about redressing this imbalance, Spectrum Sisters was formed and we now have a growing number of professionals from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, social work, mental health nursing and beyond who support our goals. We are all committed to offering much needed specialised Autism and ADHD assessments for women and girls in order to help them access the right support, understanding and the tools in life to be able to succeed. We operate under stringent CQC regulations and adhere to NICE guidelines, ensuring the highest standards of assessment.
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