After a long 52 month wait my 8 year old daughter has finally been diagnosed with ASD.
She was first referrred to the paediatrician when she began reception, she was excluded 3 times that first year and I lost track of the times she needed to be picked up early. Both myself and school knew something wasn't right, but trying to get the professionals to listen has been an absolute nightmare.
My daughter can make eye contact, although it's intermittent. She can hold a conversation just as long as it's all about her. And, she has a fantastic imagination, but that's often used to the extreme and as an escape route.
She'd go along to assessment, cooperate fantastically on a one to one basis and they'd say she didn't meet the criteria. They tried to blame general learning difficulties, which our senco disputed and it was only after I wrote to them demanding somebody help her that they agreed to refer us to the tertiary panel. I was told this was our very last chance. For a long time I felt like nobody was listening to me and in the meantime my daughter's behaviour was getting worse each day.
Finally, Tuesday 19th April 2016 she received her diagnosis and now (thankfully) she can access the extra support and help she desperately needs.
