Cerebro was founded with a clear purpose: to offer high‑quality, personalised neurodevelopmental assessments at a time when families had almost no alternative to long NHS waiting lists. When we began, private autism and ADHD assessment was rare. There were no local options in Sheffield and only a handful of clinicians nationally working independently. We created Cerebro because families needed thoughtful, experienced assessment — not because the market was profitable. Our business grew from values, not opportunity.
Those values remain at the centre of everything we do. We prioritise quality over speed. We prioritise accuracy over convenience. We prioritise people over processes.
A changing landscape — and why families feel overwhelmed
In recent years, the private neurodevelopmental sector has changed dramatically. Long waiting times have led to an explosion of new clinics offering autism and ADHD assessments. Families now face a crowded, confusing market filled with services claiming to be “gold‑standard”, “specialist”, or “multidisciplinary”. It must be incredibly difficult to navigate.
After working in neurodevelopmental services for many years, it is striking how many of the names now presenting themselves as experts are people I have never encountered in the field. Some are individuals who were not permitted to carry out assessments within NHS teams because they could not demonstrate the necessary skills, even under supervision. Yet they are now able to set up their own clinics, advertise themselves as specialists and offer diagnoses without the depth of experience required to do this work safely.
This shift has been driven, in part, by large corporations entering the sector. Many have recognised that long waiting lists create a profitable market. Their business models often rely on shortcuts: splitting assessments between multiple clinicians, conducting key components remotely, or insisting that staff complete ADI‑R or ADOS‑2 training as a tick‑box requirement rather than developing genuine expertise. Many businesses owners have no experience of working in healthcare, let alone neuro-developmental assessment. These approaches can make services look multidisciplinary or efficient, but they undermine the quality of the assessment. When no single clinician holds the full picture, formulation suffers. And when formulation suffers, misdiagnosis becomes far more likely.
Many families are already feeling the impact of this shift. I know people personally who have been diagnosed with autism through Right to Choose pathways delivered by private companies contracted by the NHS. They do not believe they are autistic, their families do not recognise an autistic profile, and their original referral was simply an exploration of wider developmental questions. Yet they have been given a diagnosis of “mild autism”. This is not because autism is being better recognised — it is because inexperienced clinicians, fragmented assessment models and commercial pressures are creating an environment where unnecessary diagnoses are becoming increasingly common.
Why experience and continuity matter
A high‑quality autism or ADHD assessment requires continuity, context and clinical depth. It is not simply a matter of completing the ADI‑R or ADOS‑2. It involves understanding developmental history, observing subtle patterns, recognising differential diagnoses and integrating information carefully. These skills take years to develop.
Cerebro was built deliberately to be different. We do not offer quick online assessments with minimal contact. We do not rely on inexperienced clinicians. We do not reduce complex developmental profiles to a pair of standardised tools.
Instead, we offer assessments grounded in experience, clinical skill and a commitment to understanding each individual’s unique context. Our clinicians have worked in neurodevelopmental services for many years. We have seen the complexity of autism, ADHD and related conditions across ages, settings and presentations. We know how subtle these profiles can be, and how important it is to integrate information carefully rather than rely on isolated tools.
Person‑centred, ethical and transparent practice
Families come to us because they want clarity, not shortcuts. They want recommendations that make sense to schools, GPs and other professionals. They want assessments that stand up to scrutiny and genuinely support long‑term wellbeing.
In a crowded and increasingly commercialised market, our values set us apart. Cerebro remains focused on personalised care, clinical integrity and meaningful outcomes. We believe the sector needs stronger regulation, clearer standards and greater transparency. Until that happens, our commitment is to continue offering assessments that are ethical, thorough and rooted in genuine expertise.
Cerebro 