Demand and capacity in an ADHD team: reducing the wait times for an ADHD assessment to 12 weeks.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavioural disorder characterised by the core symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention. ADHD is thought to affect about 3%-9% of school-age children and young people in the UK. With increased awareness and early identification of ADHD, and the long-term impact of the condition, there is a growing demand for ADHD services for both assessment and treatment of children and young people with the condition.

Improving interventions for parents of children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in CAMHS.

With ever increasing recognition and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children within mainstream schooling, there was a need for City and Hackney Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to develop innovative interventions to meet the needs of a large client group, with limited clinician resource. The importance of psychoeducation about ASD for parents of children recently diagnosed is understood; however, feedback from our service users highlighted the additional need for ongoing access to a network of professional support. Using quality improvement (QI) methodology, we aimed to develop a sustainable regular group programme that was relevant for parents.

A randomised controlled trial of PEGASUS, a psychoeducational programme for young people with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

Background: Psychoeducation is an essential component of postdiagnostic care for people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder), but there is currently no evidence base for clinical practice. We designed, manualised and evaluated PEGASUS (psychoeducation group for autism spectrum understanding and support), a group psychoeducational programme aiming to enhance the self-awareness of young people with ASD by teaching them about their diagnosis.

Methods: This single-blind RCT (randomised control trial) involved 48 young people (9-14 years) with high-functioning ASD.

Three dimensions of oppositionality in autism spectrum disorder.

In autism spectrum disorder (ASD), symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) are common but poorly understood. DSM-5 has adopted a tripartite model of ODD, parsing its features into 'angry and irritable symptoms' (AIS), 'argumentative and defiant behavior' (ADB) and 'vindictiveness'. This was based on findings in non-autistic populations that each of these dimensions of oppositionality has a distinct constellation of associations with internalising and externalising psychopathology.