The Social Communication Pathway (SCP) is the local autism assessment service in Manchester. The SCP team is a multi-agency team which assesses social communication difficulties in children and young people living in Manchester. If a young person or their family thinks they might be autistic, this team will make an assessment to see if they meet the criteria for a diagnosis of Autism.

You can read more about the SCP on the University of Manchester NHS Foundation Trust’s (MFT) website.

There is also a new Social Communication Pathway for Early Years children (i.e., those aged 5 years or younger) that was piloted in South Manchester in 2022-2024. You can read about that here: http://manchesterparentcarerforum.org.uk/the-early-years-social-communication-pathway/
The Early Years SCP pilot has shown a number of positive outcomes so we are hoping that it will get implemented across Manchester someday.

Below are some articles and events on our website that are related to the SCP:

Transitions (Preparing for Adulthood) Q&A

Transitions (Preparing for Adulthood) Q&A

We are aware that many parents and carers have questions or concerns about the support that their children will get once they get to adulthood. This Question-and-Answer (Q&A) session is an opportunity for parents and carers to ask questions about Preparing for Adulthood and

By Jordan @ MPCF|2022-07-11T16:21:58+01:00July 21st, 2022|Categories: Learning|Tags: Adult Social Care, CAMHS, Children's Social Care, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, learning disability, Manchester City Council, Manchester Local Care Organisation, Preparing for Adulthood, Social Care, Social Communication Pathway, transition|

Q&A Regarding the Social Communication Pathway

Q&A Regarding the Social Communication Pathway

We are aware that many parents and carers have questions or concerns following the recent changes to the referral system for Manchester's Social Communication Pathway (SCP). This Question-and-Answer (Q&A) session is an opportunity for parents and carers to ask questions about the newly updated

By Jordan @ MPCF|2022-06-14T19:09:56+01:00June 21st, 2022|Categories: Learning|Tags: autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CAMHS, Social Communication Pathway|

Important Changes to Referrals for the Social Communication Pathway

Important Changes to Referrals for the Social Communication Pathway

Please see below a letter explaining some changes to the Social Communication Pathway (SCP) referral process. In summary, the changes are: For Early Years children (aged 3 to 5): The SCP will only accept referrals for those who have had exposure to community group

By Jordan @ MPCF|2022-06-10T18:00:27+01:00June 10th, 2022|Categories: Information Sharing|Tags: autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), coronavirus, Covid-19, Manchester City Council, Manchester Local Care Organisation, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, One Education, Social Communication Pathway|

Autism and Education – Online Post-Diagnostic Groups for Parents/Carers

Autism and Education – Online Post-Diagnostic Groups for Parents/Carers

Educational Psychologists from One Education in Manchester are running free live online half-day training sessions for parents/carers whose children have received an autism diagnosis from one of the following centres over the last two years. The Powerhouse - North and Central Manchester Social Communication Pathway

By Jordan @ MPCF|2022-05-14T12:21:31+01:00May 19th, 2022|Categories: Information Sharing, Workshop|Tags: autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Education, One Education, Social Communication Pathway|

Autism and Education – Post-Diagnostic Groups for Parents/Carers

Autism and Education – Post-Diagnostic Groups for Parents/Carers

Educational Psychologists from One Education in Manchester are running free half-day training sessions for parents/carers whose children have received an autism diagnosis from one of the following centres over the last two years. The Powerhouse - North and Central Manchester Social Communication Pathway (SCP) The

By Jordan @ MPCF|2022-05-02T13:04:32+01:00May 5th, 2022|Categories: Information Sharing, Workshop|Tags: autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Education, One Education, Social Communication Pathway|

Under-5 Autism Assessment Pathway Discussion

Under-5 Autism Assessment Pathway Discussion

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is currently looking to develop a specialist autism team for Early Years (i.e., under-5s). As with the Social Communication Pathway, they are looking to run a pilot, testing out some new ways of working in one area of the

By Jordan @ MPCF|2021-10-13T18:47:26+01:00October 15th, 2021|Categories: Co-Production, Meeting|Tags: autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Early Years, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, MFT, Social Communication Pathway|

Social Communication Pathway FAQs

Social Communication Pathway FAQs

Last March, we held a virtual Question-and-Answer session with the Social Communication Pathway (SCP) Team so that parents and carers can learn more about this new autism assessment pathway in Manchester. A few parents joined us at the session and we were joined by:

By Jordan @ MPCF|2021-06-27T19:07:48+01:00April 10th, 2021|Categories: Information Sharing|Tags: ASD, autism, Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), CAMHS, Jo Bromley, NICE, Social Communication Pathway|

Virtual Q&A Regarding Social Communication Pathway

Virtual Q&A Regarding Social Communication Pathway

Following last year's approval of the new Social Communication Pathway (SCP) for Manchester, we have been working with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to run a parent/carer session where you will be able to ask questions you may have about this new

By Jordan @ MPCF|2021-03-15T15:58:58+00:00March 18th, 2021|Categories: Community, Learning|Tags: autism, CAMHS, Carol Kendrick Centre, Social Communication Pathway|

Review of Social Communication Pathway Diagnostic Reports

Review of Social Communication Pathway Diagnostic Reports

Manchester's Autism Board are reviewing how they write their diagnostic reports for the Social Communication Pathway (SCP) and are looking for parents to join the panel that looks into what the reports should look like. The panel's meeting will be on 11th March, 9:30-11am,

By Jordan @ MPCF|2021-03-06T19:32:42+00:00March 11th, 2021|Categories: Co-Production, Meeting|Tags: autism, Clinical Service for Children with Disabilities, co-production, Health, Jo Bromley, SCAIT, Social Communication Pathway|

Review of Social Communication Pathway Diagnostic Reports

Review of Social Communication Pathway Diagnostic Reports

We are looking for parents/carers to join a panel that will review how diagnostic reports for the Social Communication Pathway (SCP) are written. The panel's meeting will be on 11th March, 9:30-11am, and we would like to invite 2 parents/carers to join the forum in