What your child can already do, and what is actually in the way.
This is not a diagnosis and it is not a screener. It is two to three weeks of watching your child in the places they spend their day, talking to the adults around them, and writing down what would have to change for things to work.
Where this sits in the five stages
What this actually is.
Diagnosis answers the question what is this. A functional assessment answers what do we do on Monday. They are different questions, and a diagnostic report — however good — very rarely tells a school what to change in a lesson.
So we observe at home and at school, we interview the people who know your child, and we ask the school directly what it can deliver with the staff it actually has. A recommendation the school cannot resource is not a recommendation, it is a complaint.
- Observation at home and at school or nursery
- Interviews with you and the adults around your child
- A direct conversation with the school about what it can resource
- A written report in plain English, addressed to you
- The Independence Plan, if a programme is the right answer
- Named alternative providers where they are the better fit
- A formal diagnosis of any kind
- An educational psychologist report or exam access arrangements
- Medical, hearing or vision assessment
- Any obligation to start a programme with us
What it costs, and when it stops.
A single fixed fee, quoted in writing before we start, and unchanged by what the assessment concludes. The person doing it is salaried and earns exactly the same whether they recommend twenty hours a week or nothing at all.
AED —
Published here once the rate card is signed off. We would rather show you an empty box than a number we made up.
You, the school and we have a written plan all three of us agree with.
Agreed in writing before the stage starts, not negotiated on the way out.
Straight answers.
Can we buy just this?
Yes, and a meaningful share of families do. It is priced and sold on its own, the report is yours, and you can take it to any provider you like. We publish the proportion of assessed children who do not become clients precisely so this is not a claim you have to take on trust.
Do you need a diagnosis first?
No. The assessment is functional and does not depend on a label. If a formal diagnosis would help — for school access, insurance, or because the picture is genuinely unclear — we will say so and name independent clinicians.
How long does it take?
Two to three weeks from the first observation to the written report, depending on school access. If a school is slow to schedule, we will tell you rather than quietly letting the clock run.
What if you conclude we don't need anything?
Then the report says that, and it is one of the more common outcomes. We would rather write it than sell you a programme you do not need.
Our other services.
Therapy and clinical intervention
The most intensive stage, deliberately. Data against the goals every session.
Stage 04 · TransferLearning support in school
Supervised LSAs working to your school's IEP, with a handover plan agreed before day one.
Alongside stages 03–05Tutoring and academic support
Curriculum help that works to the same goals as everything else, and stops when it should.
Stages 03–05Parent coaching
Because a strategy that only works when a professional is in the room is not a strategy.
Tell us what you've noticed.
Twenty minutes on the phone with someone who does this every day. No assessment, no cost, and no obligation to become a client at the end of it.
If we're not the right people, we'll tell you who is. That includes naming providers we don't own, and it costs you nothing either way.