Waiting for an assessment or going private?

My 11 year old son has been seen by a school Dr, which was instigated by parents and school head. The school Dr said she thinks he is somewhere on the spectrum and he will need to go to a multidisciplinary assessment for an official diagnosis. What we can’t find out is how long this process can take. Our county is Derbyshire. 

One of our concerns is, he is starting high school in September. He is already struggling with the transition and past experience suggests this may be a difficult time for him.

being new to all this we are finding some information or decision making difficult. Would anyone on here know what the average waiting time might be or an 11 year old ( we have been told 18months for adults in our county).

There might be an option of a private assessment in August. The clinic have said their assessment team are recognised by NHS authorities, LEA’s etcetera. But we have not been able to confirm this by the relevant departments. The cost is quite high, for us, so we are at a bit of a loss of what to do. I am sure this forum must get these questions all the time but I could not find specific answers relating to us.

Parents
  • We went with a privet Dr. and had our son assessment & diagnosis within 2 months.  We had been told the school would help us with this but after almost a year, we could not longer wait as we were moving school. Our son is 6 years old, not as old as your son.  I recommend if you can, find a privet psychiatrist in your area. It sounds like time is of the essence here with him moving up in school.  Best of luck 

  • Thanks you both for the replies. Have either of you experienced issues of private assessments or diagnosis not being recognised by health authorities or LEA’s?

  • I got my assessment via the NHS but I've never heard of anybody having a problem with their private diagnosis with regards to the NHS or LEA's - if anything, you're doing them a favour by taking away some of their work load. But I have no idea if anybody has had a problem. I would direct my question to the NAS helpline as well as they might have more information. 

Reply
  • I got my assessment via the NHS but I've never heard of anybody having a problem with their private diagnosis with regards to the NHS or LEA's - if anything, you're doing them a favour by taking away some of their work load. But I have no idea if anybody has had a problem. I would direct my question to the NAS helpline as well as they might have more information. 

Children
No Data