Neurodiversity Training International Reviews 13

I completed the ADOS-2 & ADI-R training with Sarah and Jude this year. As a huge ND advocate, working in the field, I was so pleased to be accepted onto the course. This was something I’d always dreamt of doing so jumped at the opportunity when I saw Jude’s advertisement. I’ve been following Jude’s work for a few years and have used his diagnostic assessment clinics. It was great to spend five days learning, alongside likeminded individuals who too had a passion for ND. It gave me an invaluable insight into the assessment process.
Sarah has such a wealth of knowledge and experience, I could have listened to her talk all day! There was the opportunity for reviewing real life cases, asking questions and learning about the scoring system. I’m excited to make use of my training in the near future, as an Autism Diagnostic Clinician but for now it’s given me such a great insight that I can use both personally and professionally.

I completed a course with this company at the end of September. A week before it commenced, I began to feel it wasn't going help with my career path, even though Jude checked with his colleague and assured I was eligible to participate in the course. I asked about their refund policy and was told it was too late to back out. The course was very well delivered, however I knew as the days went by, it was not what I was initially sold. As a neurodivergent adult, I felt my passion and naivety were exploited in getting me to sign up, and I had to pay up front as places were filling up fast. I was very disappointed with how my cohort was treated when we requested a group follow-up regarding shadowing and career options. I would not recommend this training organisation based on my experience.

I am one of a group of people who signed up to complete autism diagnostic training with this organisation.

Initially, I expressed interest and then assumed that as I am not a healthcare professional (nor even a teacher) that I wouldn’t be eligible. However, a telephone call from Jude soon changed my mind because he said he’d checked with his colleague and they wanted to offer me a place. As someone who is deeply passionate about the current crisis surrounding autism diagnostics, I was too thrilled and excited to realise how naive I was being. The phone call was of such a nature that I rushed home and paid immediately; I was told that places were extremely limited, led to believe that the training was an exclusive opportunity, and told that I’d be offered a placement on completion of my masters degree. I messaged my whole family excitedly telling them exactly this because it’s what I’d just been told. On this basis, I paid the fee within an hour or so of receiving the phone call because I didn’t want to risk losing a place.

The training itself was absolutely fantastic. I cannot fault it. However, upon completion, the members of my cohort slowly started to realise that we weren’t going to be able to use our training easily at all because most of us are not HCPC registered. During the training we were assured that this shouldn’t and wouldn’t matter, but it evidently does in practice and there’s no escaping that.

As time went on and we received either radio silence or bad news (ie ‘we ask you to be HCPC registered’) from the various diagnostic centres we approached for experience, it dawned on us that we’d spent almost £1000 apiece on a qualification hardly any of us can use. Many of us tried to reach out to Jude and the course facilitator, but most of us received no response.

Jude did respond to one email sent as a group with a phone call to the cohort member who sent it. That call ultimately amounted to, “Nothing was ever guaranteed and it’s very quiet right now with very low demand for assessments, so give it time and we’ll be in touch if anything becomes available.” Of course, this is what we were told while the course continued to be advertised for further cohorts on the basis of extremely high demand. The fact remains that several of us WERE given the very strong impression that post-training opportunities definitely awaited us, notably these assurances being made via voice note or phone call and never in writing. Those of us who were not given this impression felt pressured in other ways, eg limited places, limited time, limited opportunity, use the qualification right away to make a difference in the midst of extremely high demand for assessors etc. These were high pressure sales tactics based on an emotional connection with the subject matter at hand, and yes, many of us absolutely do feel taken advantage of.

We were initially going to go back to Jude as a group with a number of questions via email, and our member did follow up the phone call with a very polite and pleasant email to try and re-establish a positive rapport and continue a dialogue, but this went unacknowledged. Consequently, the group concluded that following up with questions regarding our concerns ultimately wouldn’t be adequately addressed and that we’d just be given the same boilerplate justification and sent on our way.

This course needs a much more rigorous admissions policy and REALISTIC eligibility for actually being able to use the qualification made abundantly clear from the outset, with the organisation rightly refusing places to those who don’t meet the criteria for the qualification to be functional rather than taking their money anyway and leaving them with no recourse whatsoever beyond leaving TrustPilot reviews. The whole point of us joining was to make a difference to the countless families desperately waiting for assessment, and we’ve paid almost £1000 for a digital certificate and the privilege of not being able to help a single person.

Edit to respond to organisation:

When the words “We’ll give you a placement” are used in a pre-purchase phone call alongside allusions to how well you know/understand the customer and how much they want to make a difference, it instils a false confidence and trust in that customer. You are perfectly aware that this is what happened. It is very clear from the reviews that this feeling is a consensus amongst multiple people, which doesn’t happen without some error on your part. The right thing to do is to acknowledge that multiple reviews echo very similar experiences and that this indicates a problem you can’t explain away with a template justification.

I made initial contact with Jude regarding a training course and he signposted me to Sarah at Autism Services Group to discuss in more detail as the two appear to work and train in partnership. Sarah advised of the training and the volume of work that would be available to me if I completed the training. She advised that shadowing experience is recommended post training and explicitly stated that if I booked I could complete my shadowing with her. I paid almost £1000 for this training as a result of this phone call and now neither Sarah nor Jude will respond to any of my emails post training. This has meant that I have been unable to avail of any shadowing opportunities that were promised and subsequently have been unable to secure employment. I am not alone in this situation and the majority of my training cohort have had the same experience.

Whilst the training itself is well taught and interesting, be very careful in considering any training with these companies (despite the pushy sales pitch) because what they don’t tell you before booking is that you need to have professional registration and no where will take you on as a clinician without any prior experience…including them. That information is most important to anyone in the teaching or counselling professions who most likely will not be registered under a professional body. There is no post training support and it is unlikely that you will get a reply to emails.

As a group of professionals we have felt scammed and exploited, and as such I have felt compelled to write this review so others don’t fall into the same trap.

** Edited to note that NTI attempted to flag and have this review removed before responding with a generic and factually incorrect response. Four times I emailed Jude and Sarah prior to writing this review and there was no reply so attempts were made on my behalf already for an open and respectful dialogue. What NTI have failed to acknowledge is that I was told explicitly that I would have a shadowing place with Sarah post training if I booked. What is written in the course small print regarding opportunities and professional registration is NOT what was sold on phone calls and voice notes to the trainees.

I echo the reviews of my fellow Autism Diagnostic Clinician training course delegates, as I had a similar experience. I specifically asked if this training would enable me to start a career in autism assessment based on my current job and industry (which is not HCPC regulated) - little did I know that I would have to do a further course to assess adults, and a period of work experience shadowing other assessors to be eligible for employment. Having contacted a wide range of autism assessment companies all across the UK, I cannot even gain shadowing experience without HCPC registration, never mind an actual position assessing autism. While the course was well delivered and informative, I am £1000 worse off, plus the full week’s lost income while attending the course. Caveat emptor….

Edit in response to provider comments: : not once was it flagged to check with employers/regulatory bodies nor was I encouraged to check regulatory and employer criteria carefully in advance of enrolment, particularly where career progression or employment is a key goal - as I stated, I was new to this field, and we don’t know what we don’t know. That’s where the vetting for course candidates should come in

Booked to do an online course through this company which required taking a week off work. Was reassured that the course would enable me to do testing in a particular area re ASD diagnosis and that I was a ‘perfect candidate’ for the course as I was a teacher. Was NOT told that I would actually also highly likely need to be HCPC registered if I was wanting to get a job / work / training in this field. Was ‘encouraged’ to ‘get my name down quick’ for the course as the spaces were few and far between, which did have an impact on me coughing up the sum of £995 without doing my due diligence….- I have since heard and read about a number of cohorts of this course now being on offer so there was no need for the pressure to ‘get in now’ before the chance was gone.

Whilst on the course my cohort then found out that this qualification didn’t automatically enable us to go out and get work within this specific field and that we’d need to get more training. Post course a number of us have found that companies aren’t so willing to offer training/observation particularly within NI and also if you aren’t HCPC registered. We also found out that the facilitator offers this course herself via her own website for £100 LESS than what we paid… leading my cohort to wonder whether we were overcharged or had to pay a kind of ‘finders fee’?

Since doing the course - which in itself was fascinating and taught very well by this other company based in England - a number of those within my cohort have tried to make contact with both Jude and the course facilitator to raise a range of our worries and concerns. Unfortunately we still await any proper consideration and/or conversation been carried out to discuss our concerns.

Edit to address feedback from business - in response to

“We always encourage prospective delegates to check eligibility, registration requirements, and scope of practice with their employer or regulatory body prior to booking”

This was most definitely NOT my experience - I sincerely hope it is your practice from now on for future participants of the course.

I paid £1000 for a course which the director of the company pressured me into paying for immediately due to the high demand for the course and how useful it would be.

He didn’t however tell me that the course would not enable me to practise, nor did he tell me that he would run repeated cohorts of the course for months to come.

He and his training partner have ignored almost every email from the training cohort. They state on their ads that there would be after training support. There has been none, rather almost every attempt at contact has been ignored.

Many of the trainees were themselves neurodivergent and feel taken advantage of.

This company is profit driven with no concern for neurodivergent people, rather it manipulates them to make money.

Edit in response to company’s reply: I contacted the company and had no response. Others had the same experience.
Their voice note to me encouraged me to book that night because places were going fast, there was no mention of checking with employers or regulatory bodies.

I was a parent on a long waiting list and finding very little support for my child. I found Jude and got talking to him. I booked a 1 to 1 appointment with him. He put me to ease so quickly, and I finally felt like I was being listened too.
I booked the diagnostics after our phone call and within 11 weeks we had a diagnosis through Insight Clinic. I couldn't believe it after all these years on a waiting list I wish I done it sooner.
I highly recommend SEN parents to use this service.
The aftercare and support is super.
I cant thank this team enough.

I am still awaiting a refund as I mistakenly bought two courses but haven't even had a response to my accidental extra purchase email report.

Great resource and new community with lots of helpful webinars and support.

I have been trying to cancel this since my first month was free but after countless emails i have heard nothing back and a payment still came out of my account.
Could you please cancel this please or I will have to contact my bank.

Fantastic community and run by people with lived experience and not experts telling Autistic and neurdiverse how to act and not try to change us. A very inclusive community and not a tick box experience. I am proud to be a founding member.

This is a long sought-after resource. It is headed up by Jude, who has massive experience in the field with a warm and caring approach to all he does.
It is further boosted by his passion for the topic and a clear need to see the right things done for the right people and in the right way.
I look forward to learning a lot from my membership with Neurodiversity Training International and hope to pass on all I learn to fellow neurodiverse people, those I work with and even clients.