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Autism Assessment Dublin | Meet the Team
Welcome to SMC Psychology, where our psychologist and speech therapist provide compassionate, neuroaffirmative autism assessments. We celebrate neurodiversity, ensuring every client feels valued and empowered.
Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist
Dr Saoirse Mac Cárthaigh
B.Sc., M.Sc., Psych. D., C.Psychol., Ps.S.I.
PSI Registration: M12071C
Dr. Saoirse Mac Cárthaigh is a Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland. Saoirse specialises in autism diagnostic assessments for children and adolescents.
Saoirse's training has given him the skills to help his clients to thrive. In 2018, he received the Best All-Round Student Award for his Master's in Psychology and Learning Disability at the University of Portsmouth. In 2021, he was awarded the Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology from Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick.
For 10+ years, Saoirse has supported young people in schools, universities and psychological services. His goal is to support lifelong change for his clients.
Saoirse received the Karl Nunkoosing Prize for Outstanding Research. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. For a list of publications, click here.
Autism advocacy is a cause which is close to Saoirse's heart. He has been involved in advocacy work for AsIAm, Ireland's national autism charity. Learn more here.
Senior Speech and Language Therapist
Sinéad Coughlan
M.Sc., SLP-CCC.
CORU Registration: SL018615
Since qualifying with a Masters Degree in Bilingual Speech and Language Pathology from Arizona State University, USA, Sinead has worked in a variety of settings from preschool, primary school, special school, clinic based and private practice. She has extensive experience working with children with autism and intellectual disability.
Sinead has a passion for helping families maximise the potential in their child by providing individualised assessment and intervention plans that will be functional and achievable. She has extensive experience with assessment and completing the assessment of need for families.
Sinead has many years experience working alongside teachers, SNAs, social care staff, and parents and greatly values the team approach to best support a person with communication difficulties.
Sinead is registered with CORU, IASLT and ASHA. Additional training courses completed include: DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, Michael Palin PCI Therapy, Solution-focussed therapy for SLT, Derbyshire Language Scheme, Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-2 (ADOS-2), Parents Plus, Picky Eaters Versus Problem Eaters, SOS Approach to Feeding, Gestalt language processing, and sensory processing for SLPs.
Multi-Disciplinary Autism Diagnostic Assessment:
What are the Benefits?
Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference that affects communication, social interaction, and behaviour. Early identification matters because it opens the door to the right support at the right time, and a multi-disciplinary assessment, bringing together a psychologist and speech and language therapist, gives a fuller, more accurate picture than either professional could provide alone.
Early Identification and Intervention
Getting a diagnosis early makes a real difference. It allows children to access support and therapies while their brains are still developing rapidly, helping them build skills in communication, social interaction, and everyday independence at the point where intervention has the most impact.
In practice, though, early identification through the public system is genuinely difficult to access in Ireland. Public autism assessments run through Children's Disability Network Teams and the Assessment of Need process. While the Disability Act entitles a child to an Assessment of Need within three months of referral, the reality on the ground is very different: tens of thousands of children are currently on HSE waiting lists nationally, and in some regions, families are facing waits of several years for a first assessment. A private assessment removes that wait, giving families clarity in weeks rather than years.
Access to Services and Support
A formal autism diagnosis is often the key that unlocks services and support in Ireland, including government supports, therapeutic services, educational accommodations, and community resources. Without a diagnosis, families can find themselves unable to access exactly the support their child needs, even when the need is obvious to everyone around them.
School can be genuinely difficult for an autistic child without the right support in place. A diagnostic assessment identifies a child's specific needs so that schools can build an individualised education plan and put real strategies in place, not guesswork. With that support, autistic children can thrive academically and build meaningful relationships with their peers. A formal diagnosis is also a requirement for accessing a specialised autism class.
What's Involved?
The Main Components of an Autism Diagnostic Assessment
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Initial Consultation: We meet with parents or caregivers to talk through developmental history, behaviour, and the specific concerns that brought you to assessment.
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School Consultation or Observation: Where relevant, we observe the child in their educational setting or consult directly with school staff, since school behaviour often tells us things a clinic room can't.
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Autism-Specific Assessment Tools: We use standardised, validated tools, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), to assess autism-related behaviours and characteristics directly.
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Cognitive Assessment: We assess cognitive strengths and areas of difficulty to build a full picture of intellectual functioning.
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Academic Assessment: Where relevant, we assess literacy and numeracy skills, which can also help identify a co-occurring specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia.
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Adaptive Behaviour Assessment: We assess everyday functional skills, looking at how a child manages day-to-day tasks independently.
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Feedback Meeting: Once the report is complete, we meet with the family to walk through the findings together and agree on next steps.
Who Carries Out The Assessment?
Every autism diagnostic assessment at SMC Psychology is carried out by the same two people: me and Sinéad Coughlan.
I'm Saoirse Mac Cárthaigh, a Chartered Educational and Child Psychologist (C.Psychol PsSI). I hold a doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology and have specialised in autism diagnostic assessment for over ten years, working across schools, universities, and psychological services.
Sinéad is our Senior Speech and Language Therapist, registered with CORU, IASLT, and ASHA. She holds a Master's in Bilingual Speech and Language Pathology and has extensive experience working with children with additional needs.
