7 Yr old diagnosed today

Hi

I am new to the community. My 7 Yr old boy had his assessment today and with 0 not being Autistic and 7 being Autistic... He was graded at 13. Not a surprise to us or the school.

Its all around social skills, anxiety, environmental and sensory. 

Any advice on what to do? Is there anything we can apply for in school to help him etc?

Anything we should sign up to etc

Any help would be great 

Thanks 

  • Hi NAS62401,

    You might want to look at our After Diagnosis page here on the site - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/children/recently-diagnosed.aspx - which has information about getting extra help at school, social care, financial benefits if needed, talking to your child about their diagnosis and more, along with links at the bottom to the NAS helpline if you would like to speak to someone directly.

    Hope this is of some help,

    Ross - mod

  • Hi - there's another thread running about a 4-year old - all the answers will be the same for your 7 year old.   

    https://community.autism.org.uk/f/parents-and-carers/15518/4-year-old-girl-with-aspergers-maybe-please-help-advice-pearl-of-wisdom-anything

    The main thing to remember is your child will likely feel enormous anxiety and stress when facing the chaos of the outside world.    They learn to 'mask' so they appear to fit in.  This is exhausting and stressful so he will be wound up tight when he get home from school and will need a serene home environment to be able to wind down.  

    The more stressed he gets, the more he will need to decompress.   This might take the form of playing video games, watching tv, sleeping or venting the aggression that he has to suppress all day - it might be worth getting him into some kind of safe martial art or get him a punchbag in the garage to be able try to 'hurt' it to wind down.   

    You need to be constant and logical in your dealing with him - and find out what his passions are (it may be the obvious trains, planes, cars etc. or something else) so you have a way to reward and de-stress him with something he can lose himself in that doesn't stress him.

  • Hi

    Welcome to the forum, there are several things school can do, social communication report to give recommended adjustments and sensory profile to identify triggers and calming strategies. School could put an iep (individual education plan) in place this is purely based in school with no real weight to it. Or you can apply for an ehcp (education and health care plan) this is assessed by the local authority and is a statement of needs that the school has to comply with

    Speak to your school senco they can help apply for the ehcp, if they refuse you can apply yourself 

    https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs/extra-SEN-help

    Look at the services directory on this site it will show what's available in your area 

    Have you got area at home set up to allow him time and space to wind down after school? There are lots of things you can do at home for him,