Second opinion

Thank you for your replies, they have confirmed what I thought.

Its not quite as clear cut as I thought though because I have just re-read the letter that the second opinion consultant sent and, despite my grandsons normal consultant telling us, in no uncertain terms, that 'we have a second opinion and he isn't ASD, and thats the end of it' (near enough the exact words he used), I have noticed that the letter does NOT say he isn't ASD. It says that, "if we decide to go along the route of having him reassessed, we might find that they come to the same conclusion i.e. that he doesn't have an ASD." In other words, she is saying that the conclusion MAY be the same...she isn't saying he doesn't have an ASD. She did refer him for another assessment with OT but that was cancelled because they apparently didn't receive the forms from us and the school.  This happens quite often, according to my grandsons support worker.

When we saw her, she said the same to us as she wrote in the letter, and we understood where she was coming from but she certainly didn't say he definitely wasn't ASD, which is what his normal consultant has told us she said. I am actually quite disgusted with him now because that is, at the very least, twisting what has been written/said to suit his own purpose.

I think we will ask for copies of all of the reports and then ask for him to be seen by a different consultant, because my grandson doesn't like him anyway and we now don't trust him. I think we might go along the GP route to see if he can be assessed elsewhere.

Thanks again for the help.

Also, if your local provision isn't able to give a proper second opinion - say for example, it's a very small dept and your grandson is likely to just be seen by the same professionals again - insist on going out of area.  As Intense World says, it's important that they take a completely fresh look.

No.  My daughter had a second opinion and they assessed her more than the first assessment which failed to diagnose her.  Don't trust the second consultant, insist that they see your child and ask them pointed questions such as:

"if you don't see my child, how can we be sure that the second opinion is a thorough assessment and a fresh look?  After all, the first conclusion, is we feel, erroneous, therefore it is imperative that a new assessment is done which doesn't take into account the findings of the first and is entirely independent.  We all know that professionals don't like to undermine each other and our child needs an assessment that allows the conclusion to explicitly state the reasons for the opinion reached."

Hi - we asked for a second opinion regarding our son after being 'fobbed off' for a couple of years by the local consultant.  I actually went to the GP with a list of people I would be happy to give the second opinion.  I was lucky to have a great GP who fought our corner and I got one of those individuals.  We had to wait - in total about a year from referral to diagnosis but I believe people wait a good deal longer.  For the second opinion my son was given a very comprehensive assessment by several different professionals.  So no, I don't think a chat with a consultant who hasn't met your grandson equals an adequate second opinion.  It certainly makes up part of that assessment but not the whole - well not in my experience anyway.  Hope that helps.