Published on 12, July, 2020
Why is it so hard to get a diagnosis?
My son will be 3 in October and we have always known he will be on the spectrum.
Everyone from family, friends, health visitor, nursery staff even strangers at the park have all commented on his autistic behaviour.
At first I was devastated, now...i wouldn't change him for the world ( except having him talk would be everything! )
As a baby he would ignore everyone except mum and dad, loud bangs for attention didn't phase him, toys didn't interest him, not did other kids or babies. We had his hearing tested and it was all fine.
He started babbling very early on and said a few words mama, iggle piggle, dada, bit-bit ( for food ) but then suddenly regressed.
He sat up unaided. Crawled, walked all very early on. Pincer fingers skills were something else, he could find the tiniest crumb of food and eat it from the floor
Tiptoe walking was constant and when excited would go rigid open mouthed and wave his arms
Became very fussy with food, only plain food, mainly beige in colour - chicken nuggets, plain pasta etc if he didn't like the colour he would not even attempt to touch it. We had to shove a taster in his mouth to force him to taste something. Which if he liked he would eat.. Only if we forced that first bit.
Meltdowns... Oh my god... I had never experienced anything like this. Was like he was possessed. Fortunately we have adapted to these and they are less frequent but they come from nowhere, sometimes when he wakes up during the night and can last for a half hour constant chaos...nothing calms him down. Eventually he just drops to a heap. Exhausted and let's me cuddle and comfort him.
He puts toys into piles of colour, texture, shape..its a work of art really lol. He never plays with toys as they should be. Rolling cars etc he would rather spin the wheels for hours
I won't post everytbing as I'll be here forever!
We got him to a fantastic nursery at 2yrs and his progress is fantastic..but still, the autism is definately there..there is no doubt.
He doesn't talk or point, he will take our hand and place it on things he wants so we have him with speech therapy
He is getting psychologist to assess him at nursery this year also.
The help we get is fab but I don't understand why it takes so long for that official diagnosis. We had our 2nd review and the Dr has stated she thinks he's GDD...everyone who knows Harrison both professionally and personally knows this is most definitely not the case! The only delays he has is speech and social..so why is GDD being brought into it? I thought that was it they had multiple learning delays?
He is clearly on the spectrum..so why do we feel like the specialist doctor is trying to come up with other things like she's avoiding giving the asd diagnosis? It's like with each diagnosis you get 1million pound so they don't wsnt to give it to everyone.
I understand if you are diagnosed it's lifelong diagnosis so they are careful at making that decision but why not make it a 3yr review or something?
Sorry for the long post. My heads just fried with all of this. Anyone else have to wait so long when clearly the ASD is there?? What's your experiences of diagnosis?
Thanks for reading my rant
Hi, I’m new to this forum, but it seems my child is going through the same difficulties as yours. But I seem to have had a much better experience with professionals involved with my son.
my son is 3 and has all the traits yours has. I went to a speech group in my area , which involved group work with a speech therapist. She noticed my son was on the Autistic spectrum and referred me to a paediatrician ( took around 6 weeks). She told me that day she thought my son had Autism. And referred him for a ASC assessment. The waiting list is 8 months.
My son has only been in the system just over 6 months, so I know I’m extremely lucky