Published on 12, July, 2020
Good morning
After a few months of high anxiety with our 10 year old girl - seemingly out of the blue - we have now been told she may have ASD. From nothing to a situation which has spiralled every day to the point that she didn't attend school for the last month, to problems sleeping, major meltdowns (one which ended up in A and E, bad idea on reflection but we were frightened!)...........how has this been masked for so long? We are in a terrible state as a family, walking on eggshells, life being put on hold as our daughter won't do a lot of things, a 7 year old boy who is petrified and despite CAMHS being involved have now been told everything will take months.............
Thank you. Was very out of the blue. First issue was in May when she complained of being sick while on a family trip away to a theme park. Looking back she was clearly anxious. Then when she was due to return to school after the holiday she complained again of feeling sick. She then for 3 weeks increased the resistance to going to school - had been forced to go in many times, teachers getting into cars with her and trying a number of different approaches but it kept escalating until we had to stop forcing her to go in and consider a different strategy. Since then she has also avoided other activities - brownies, dancing, shopping trips - she was a very active child before all this - dance shows, school choir etc, bright, conscientious, polite, no behaviour issues... Gradually she then started to have meltdowns both tantrum style and panic attack like - lasting a few hours. They have increased and she is having terrible trouble settling at night. Have tried massage lavender baths mindfulness but still huge problems - gets extremely agitated in her room with her clothes starts scratching - so we have tried removing her from her room letting her relax but it can be midnight most nights before she is asleep. We also have a 7 year old who is very scared at times by his sister's behaviour. My husband and I are exhausted and feel so helpless. CAMHS have referred her for an asd assessment and therapy but both have long waiting lists. We are meeting with a local autistic organisation next week which is good.....but meanwhile our family is at crisis point ......