Published on 12, July, 2020
Good evening My name is debbie I have 16 yr old daughter who has been declining since she turned 13 years old. We have been under Camhs for the last year without much progress. It has come to light with sessions my daughter has with a mutual friend who is a Senco that he feels she is autistic. We met and the more questions I answered the more he is convinced. I would like to know what the diagnosis process will be with camhs? They have been so far unhelpful and have never really looked into my daughter and her issues and just gave her medication which hasn't helped at all. I am worried that they will not listen to me when I ask them to test her? At present she is in a PRU as her secondary school felt it wasn't a safe environment for her. The PRU is like a prison and are totally ignoring me at present. With GCSE exams fast approaching and her being so far behind I am pretty desperate for advice. Has anyone else been through this before?
Hi Debbie,
As a parent, I would suggest following Ferret's advice.
If your daughter does have autism then having this diagnosed is far more important than the GCSE exams, especially if she has fallen behind. Neither of you need this added stress and there are alternatives post 16 regarding education.
A lot would depend on the individual unit, but overall I am far from convinced that PRUs are the right place for autistic young people. For one thing they are often used for students with EBD and other behavioural issues, this can create a volatile and unpredictable environment in which autistic people do not usually do well.
Diagnosis can take a while, it took two years for my daughter to be diagnosed and for much of that time it seemed very little was going on, and that was after the educational psychologist told her school he thought she had Aspergers.
We were told anxiety, depression, other mental health issues and OCD type behaviour is common among young autistic people. My concern is that diagnosis among girls can take longer and could be disguised by these other conditions, so getting the right diagnosis is important.
I hope you get your answers soon, and things improve for your daughter.