Hi
Has anyone asked for a second opinion on their child and been given a second opinion even though the consultant has not seen or spoken to the child?
We asked with regards to my grandson and we have now been told that we have the second opinion but the consultant only saw and spoke to us so we are puzzled as to how they can possibly make a judgement about whether my grandson has ASD or not, based only on what we said and the reports they had from the other consultant?
Thanks. 
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. 
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.
