Assessment Process
- Home
- Assessment Process
Transforming Lives Through Expert Personalised Neurodevelopmental Assessments
A renowned expert on all aspects of Autism whose expertise is in great demand both nationally and internationally, Dr Gloria Dura-Vila is also a prolific and established author in the field of Autism and PDA (with seven published books as well as many chapters and papers). She is an Autism Specialist who is passionate about providing personalised assessments for all ages. Her specialism lies with autistic children, young people and adults who present with particularly complex needs relating to co-occurring mental or physical health conditions, additional learning needs, and/or requiring significant levels of support or adaptation in daily life, such as Pathological Demand Avoidance, Gender Dysphoria, Selective Mutism and Eating Disorders amongst others.
Dr Dura-Vila is extremely committed to improving the standards of care and outcomes for autistic people, advancing research, providing training to professionals, and raising awareness. Besides her many clinical and academic commitments, a lot of her time is devoted to unpaid work with charities, national organisations and professional bodies.
Dr Dura-Vila will provide a very comprehensive and extensive multidisciplinary report co-signed by a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist from her team detailing the assessment findings. As she herself always says, ‘this is a report that will be with you for the rest of your life’; she takes great pains to make the report the best it can be, including extensive personalised recommendations, strategies and resources (educational, clinical, etc) for supporting with difficulties and fostering skills now and in the future. Her reports are very sought after as they are incredibly useful to guide the care, adaptations and interventions needed.
The Assessment Process
Dr Dura-Vila offers highly specialised consultations and assessments for Autism (ASD), including complex and atypical presentations such as Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), as well as ADHD, for all ages, carried out face-to-face with the option of being done remotely via Zoom also available.
She is deeply committed to making the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) assessment process as patient-centred as possible and she spares no efforts to ensure that her assessments provide long-term benefits for children with ASD through providing families with strategies, recommendations and resources to be shared with everyone involved in their child’s care. She is also very passionate about communicating the ASD diagnosis in the best possible way to the young person or adult.
In her assessments with adults and young people, Dr Dura-Vila’s diagnostic process will go above and beyond diagnostic labels, providing a detailed account of the client’s strengths and difficulties, with practical advice and resources regarding mental health, employment, further education, etc.
Dr Dura-Vila is a Senior NHS Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and the Medical Lead for the ASD Pathway in Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. In her private practice, she has a national and international clientele, offering the option of online consultations and, when appropriate, remote assessments. She is often asked privately to conduct assessments by the local authority, or by the courts. She is a highly-regarded professional, nationally and internationally, in the field of Neurodevelopmental Conditions.
A passionate advocate for neurodivergent individuals
Dr Gloria Dura-Vila is a Senior NHS Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with over 20 years of experience, specialising in autism, PDA and ADHD assessments. As a passionate advocate for neurodivergent individuals, she provides personalised, comprehensive assessments that truly understand each person’s unique needs.
Her expertise extends beyond clinical practice – she’s a best-selling author with seven published books on Autism, PDA and masking. Dr Dura-Vila’s commitment to excellence ensures every family receives the support and understanding they deserve.
NEURODIVERSE-FRIENDLY CLINIC
Dr Dura-Vila’s new clinic in West London is completely different from a conventional clinical space; it is very neurodiverse-friendly, relaxed and welcoming and is surrounded by beautiful nature as well as providing easy parking and excellent public transport links. She has taken care of every detail when decorating the clinic, from the soft sofas, to calming wall colours and art, from the vast collection of toys to suit almost all tastes, to the kitchen with snacks and drinks, and choosing a location to make your experience a very positive one for everyone, the person under assessment as well as those accompanying them. As the clinic is very close to nature, Dr Dura-Vila has assessed children and young people who were not able to be assessed indoors, outdoors, walking amongst trees and even feeding ducks on the pond.
Assessing those who mask or camouflage
Dr Dura-Vila is very experienced in assessing neurodivergent people who MASK their needs and difficulties in certain settings and/or with different people at a great expense to their well-being. She is very passionate about identifying and supporting them.
She has recently written a book on masking for children (Camille the Chameleon on Masking: How I stopped masking and discovered my awesome autistic self; this book is available from Amazon and from Jessica Kingsley Publishers webpage). In this book an autistic Chameleon called Camille explains all about the masking they used to do at school and with friends and how they became their ‘awesome autistic true self’; this book resonates with children’s own experience of masking. Dr Dura-Vila is currently writing a new book on masking for young people using a Manga style format.
Autism in Girls and Women
Autism diagnoses can be overlooked in GIRLS AND WOMEN; many girls and women are not receiving the support they need. These assessments often require a higher level of clinical expertise. Dr Dura-Vila is very experienced in assessing girls and women. Her clinical work is a relentless battle to fight the gender diagnosis gap.
