Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
Just looking for some input from your own experiences. My son who's 6 and in year one in school was referred to the ASD Pathway in August 2017 by our GP. We got a letter in October 2017 to say the waiting list is 12-18 months long with an attached leaflet to help us in the meanwhile. I work with children with Autism so I can deal with my son very well and don't feel like I struggle with him, however I do worry about him. He is high functioning and incredibly intelligent and speaks very well, if anything he speaks more like an adult, however he does stand out from his peers and he is starting to realise himself that he is different. He is overly friendly and will happily tell a perfect stranger exactly where he lives. By the time he is on the pathway he'll probably be close to going into juniors and then by the time he gets a diagnosis he'll be close to secondary school age which is a massive worry for me as he'll more than likely need support with this transition.From what I hear at work, I feel like children are being diagnosed left, right and centre pretty quickly and I feel like I'm sitting in no man's land waiting for an appointment. Has anyone else experienced this? I think I just need someone to tell me I'm not alone in this long journey to diagnosis.
Than you in advance.
I believe it's where you are in the country which determines how long you are assessed. So for argument sake London would be quite long due to its population. I live in the Midlands and from when I saw my GP and when I got my appointment date it was about 15 months. I went back and forth for about 9 months and finally got my diagnosis 3 months later. This was with Northamptonshire Trust who can I say was fantastic from start to finish.