9 year old son possible Autism

Hello to you all, I hope someone is experiencing what me and my husband have concerns about.

My 9 year old has just been accepted on the Pathway Neurology Dept to be assessed for his behaviour. Our son is strict with his daily routine and time keeping, his meals are at a certain time everyday for example and if this doesn't happen, then he gets frustrated and bad tempered, worries, wets the bed, etc. Now each dept will want us to attend appointments certain times of the day, he will be asked questions by strangers, etc. We are adamant that we don't want to upset my son by taking him to be assessed out of his relaxed routine. He will constantly ask questions..why are they asking me stuff? Why are my friends not going? I was hoping that they would accommodate us by doing the Assessments in his school setting where he is more relaxed and part of school day. Has anyone else come across our predicament. We are not wanting to be awkward and refuse taking him but we dont want him upset and having to deal with the consequences after.

  • Hi, can I ask what was the assessment you had to take your son to? We would like to only take our son to one Assessment so not to upset him in his behaviour. We have been offered an appointment with Speech and Language, not sure whether this is the most important and relevant one to take him to.

  • Hi 

    My son has just turned 10 and was assessed aged 9. He was diagnosed last Friday. He only needed to attend one appointment with CAMHS and was also observed at school without his knowledge. All other assessments were done by me either on the phone or via questionnaires on line. The process was pretty straight forward. I understand your reservations about attending out of routine appointments but preparation was the key for us. No surprises and gentle explanation of why we were doing things differently today.I hope this helps.

  • Hi ,

    Thank you for sharing this with the community. I can understand why you are concerned that an assessment outside of your son's typical routine/environment will not be feasible.

    You may like to have a look at this information on 'social stories'. These are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why. They may help your son in coping with changes in routine/transitioning:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/communication/communication-tools/social-stories-and-comic-strip-coversations

    You may also like to contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice around autism assessments and the logistics of these:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/what-we-do/help-and-support/helpline

    You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm.Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an adviser.

    All the best,

    ChloeMod