Early days in assesment

Thats really useful thank you. :)

Start quoting the NHS NICE guidelines at them and tell them they are in contravention of them:

guidance.nice.org.uk/CG128

I believe your rights in the NHS charter are: "If your GP refers you for treatment, you have the right for any non-emergency treatment that you need to start within a maximum of 18 weeks or for the NHS to take all reasonable steps to offer you a range of alternatives if this is not possible. You also have the right to be seen by a specialist within a maximum of two weeks from GP referral for urgent referrals where cancer is suspected.  For more information visit the section on waiting times on the NHS Choices website."

Also see this: www.adviceguide.org.uk/.../nhs_patients_rights.htm

Start complaining in writing, phone them to hassle them, start making a pain of yourself to get things moving.  Otherwise they will continue to treat you like that.

Ignore people, nursery or otherwise who question your parenting, you know your child the best.

Thank you so much for your replies, sorry it taken a while to respond but I appreciate the information.

Things are getting worse here for us. His behaviour has taken a down turn and we seem to be fighting an uphill battle to get him seen. He was referred back in November but the referall was passed on and rejected waiting for a report from the nursery. No report was requested and it the letter was sent out again. This letter never arrived and now after more chasing it seems he should have been referred to the original hospital.

The nursery are very good but they seem to think that I need parenting classes rather than there being anything wrong with him. They are trying to help me potty train him (hes 4 in May) but he mostly refuses to do this. Yesterday he sat in the toilet for 30mins refusing to come out, so they are getting glimpses of the problems I face with daily. I cant even take my daughter to school now as he screams and fights me the whole way, punching me and running off.

Its so draining isnt it, I just need some answers/help either way.

I should add the hv did the standard test they give to children displaying autistic/aspergers traits and he scored 120 when I think if remember back the normal result should be below 30? So im getting conflicting reports from the nursery and what I experience at home.

When you say verbal assessment, that was probably just part of their information gathering process, perhaps to take your child's developmental history.  Although the assessment itself involves a lot of talking, they will test your child with age-appropriate tests probably in a separate room, and you will know that it is the assessment.  They should write to you to confirm the appointment for the assessment and tell you what will happen.

we were given verble assesmen and waitin full asesment is tha normal  and to look at this site by camhs

...just to add, that my youngest daughter had her ASC assessment today.  They didn't ask for the whole family to attend, it was just me and her.  She spoke to them, she hugged me lots of times in front of them (she is affectionate) - and she also got a very clear diagnosis of high functioning autism.  Like I said, ignore the HV.  There are a lot of myths about autism out there, and professionals should know better than to make uneducated comments.

I would'nt take to much notice of HV or GP as they dont specialise x they are the middle menx my little boy is so loving and affectionate an has asd x we waited for 4 months for our referal and a good tip would be to make notes of your little ones behaviour and difficulties as they can get a bigger picture more quickley x they said 90 percent he had it with reading notes an chatting to him x good luck with you appointment xx

"the hv says because he is affectionate and spoke to her at the meeting it isnt autism but probably a behavoural issue that needs addressing. My Dr agreed that he could be very intelligent and manipulative with anxiety issues but did display some autistic symptoms."

The HV doesn't know what they are talking about.  It's perfectly possible to be autistic and affectionate, and unless someone is a non-verbal autistic it's also normal that they would be able to speak to someone!

Anxiety is frequently co-morbid with autism/Asperger's.

Don't give up, do your research on Google, you will find a lot out there, and Tony Attwood's books offer a lot of useful information too, some of which can be found online.

did you try the online aspergers test at http://www.aspergerstestsite.com/75/autism-spectrum-quotient-aq-test

- the hv says because he is affectionate and spoke to her at the meeting it isnt autism

huh? Everyone with Autism is different. Just becase your son does one thing that many may not do, does not mean he isn't Autistic.

Hi littlewren,

First of all in my experience the HV and the DR will have conflicting views, my advice is leave it to the proffesionals in this area, those who will asses your child.

I think that the waiting time for an appointment in areas varies, for us it was anything between 6- 18 weeks for an initial appointment ( thats out of 4 children).

I have absolutley no idea why the whole family would need to be present for any of these appointments,... not all of the family has had to be present for any of the multiples of appintments i have been to. i guess its possible they do things differently where you are. Maybe you should ask about the relevance of this for your own peace of mind.

 As for explaining things to your 7 yr old child, probably the best policy is honesty, you may be surprised by how accepting they can be.

Best wishes xx