Helping Hand

Help and Assistance Navigating a Diagnosis for Autism – an app developed to support parents and carers of children who have been referred for an autism assessment in Scotland. Autism assessment is a complicated and lengthy process, involving multiple professionals and various appointments. Many parents and carers who have gone through this process report that they found it very stressful. Helping Hand is designed to reduce that stress and empower parents and carers throughout the process. The project is led by The University of Edinburgh, based at the Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre for Learning Difficulties and their third sector partner, The Salvesen Mindroom Centre, in collaboration with Colouring Outside the Lines. Funding by Nesta and the Scottish Government brought together this diverse team, along with parents/carers of children with autism, who collaboratively helped co-design the app. ABOUT Giving you access to up to date, evidence-based information about autism and how it is diagnosed in Scotland. TIMELINE The timeline provides an indication of what is likely to happen at each stage of the assessment process. This pilot phase gives a likely timeline for children under 7 years old in NHS Lothian. This may vary for older children and those in other areas. DIARY Record information about your child’s sleep, day and any triggers that have led to difficulties or times of upset. The diary content may be useful to take along with you to your appointments. RESOURCES Access to resources in Edinburgh and the Laotians to help you, before, during and after assessment. CONTACT Find useful contacts such as carer support, informal support and external educational contacts. DATA PRIVACY All data added to the Helping Hand app by parents and carers is stored on the users’s phone. The only information which will be shared, is the first part of your postcode – this will be used for monitoring purposes only and you can choose not to supply this information. All other data is not uploaded anywhere or held by anyone else. Only the parent or carer can see the information they put into the app. If they choose to share the information with any professionals, they can do this at an appointment by showing them the phone screen.