A quick question about diagnosis

Hi there,

Yes - a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (or Autistic Spectrum Condition) means that she is autistic. 

Have you had any advice post-diagnosis - from the school or any other organisation?  If not, maybe you could go back to your daughter's GP and see if anything is being set up.  The school should have a SENCo who should be assigned to your daughter.  I'd check with them, too.

It can be quite common for children with autism - even high-functioning - to have problems in mainstream school.  I did myself (though I wasn't diagnosed then).  It was always a very stressful place for me.  I was ahead in reading and writing, but bottom of the year in everything else.  I ended up leaving early with no qualifications.  In my 20s, though, I caught up under my own steam and went on to go to university, which was a far more congenial learning environment for me.  The message is: don't despair!  At least she's got her diagnosis, so hopefully support measures will be put into place for her. 

Check out this link.  The Education Advice Lines have a wealth of information:

Education Rights Service

Also, check here:

Support in Education

I know it must be a stressful time for you, but there is help available.  Other people on these forums will have good advice to offer, too.  Your daughter may be having some problems with communication, and maybe her reading and writing will be 'behind' others.  This, too, is common with high-functioning autism.  Her diagnosis doesn't mean that she is 'less than' in comparison to her peers.  She is quite probably very bright.  Again, if she gets the right support, she should progress.

Best regards,

Tom

Hi there,

Yes - a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (or Autistic Spectrum Condition) means that she is autistic. 

Have you had any advice post-diagnosis - from the school or any other organisation?  If not, maybe you could go back to your daughter's GP and see if anything is being set up.  The school should have a SENCo who should be assigned to your daughter.  I'd check with them, too.

It can be quite common for children with autism - even high-functioning - to have problems in mainstream school.  I did myself (though I wasn't diagnosed then).  It was always a very stressful place for me.  I was ahead in reading and writing, but bottom of the year in everything else.  I ended up leaving early with no qualifications.  In my 20s, though, I caught up under my own steam and went on to go to university, which was a far more congenial learning environment for me.  The message is: don't despair!  At least she's got her diagnosis, so hopefully support measures will be put into place for her. 

Check out this link.  The Education Advice Lines have a wealth of information:

Education Rights Service

Also, check here:

Support in Education

I know it must be a stressful time for you, but there is help available.  Other people on these forums will have good advice to offer, too.  Your daughter may be having some problems with communication, and maybe her reading and writing will be 'behind' others.  This, too, is common with high-functioning autism.  Her diagnosis doesn't mean that she is 'less than' in comparison to her peers.  She is quite probably very bright.  Again, if she gets the right support, she should progress.

Best regards,

Tom

To go into what Martian Tom started with, because interestingly it sounded as though he was advocating towards use of ‘with autism’ instead of ‘autistic’, it is actually the case that a majority of autistic individuals do prefer to be called autistic.

What matters is what the individual wants. Your daughter will need to decide what she prefers as time goes on, if it actually matters to her at all. It may not.

This isn’t strictly related to your questions sorry, but Martian Tom’s comments had me a little concerned that you’d read them and decide to adopt ‘with autism’ instead, when that’s less popular with autistic people.