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being diagnosed

hazelmarie

Hi im new to this site but i would like to hear from any other parents with young daughters with autism.My daughter is nearly 3 and we have known for quite a while that she was different to other children her age,then my best friend pointed out she was showing signs of autism she noticed as she is a mum of a child with aspergers.I mentioned my concerns to my health visitor and she started the ball rolling,my daughter doesnt speak at all but has been through speech therapy which did nothing for her.We saw the consultant peaditrician at our local child development centre and he mentioned autism straightaway after asking us alot of questions.Hes now referring us to CAMHS and the clinical pyhschologist who are the ppl that diagnose autism,so were just waiting for an appointment for that.Im just wondering what the process is for the actual diagnosis/how long it takes? how old does your child have to be to claim DLA/carers and disabled child tax i got told your child had to be 5 to get any benefit help which i think is daft.

  • Hello Hazelmarie,

    When my son was initially assessed for Autism because he was under 5, we were invited to a playgroup based at our local CDC. The duration was 5 mornings for 2 weeks. Assessment included home visit, discussion with Paediatrician, monitoring play, speech & language therapy, hearing test, eye test,physiotherapy games, individual advice from Social Workers. In addition my son was monitored in his playground environment by an independent member of staff based at the CDC. At the end of the time scale my husband and I were invited to a meeting to discuss the outcome of the various assessments.

    As my son was able to talk, but not link sentences and appeared gifted for his age he was not diagnosed with Autism but our parenting skills were questioned.

    Nathan was diagnosed with Aspergers when he was 8, and has since been diuagnosed with ADHD.

  • Hello hazelmarie,

    Me again! Our son is 5 and we get DLA for him, so they certainly don't have to be 5.

    We attended three sessions at the local child development unit and pretty soon after that got the diagnosis of autism and the statement. The sessions we quite relaxed, there was another little boy there and several health professionals. They observed Alex and asked us some questions, it was quite a relief to me personally as we had known things were not quite right for some time and there were now people paying attention who seemed to be very professional and taking a good serious look at him. We too had been down the speech therapy route which simply didn't do anything for him.

    It can be a little upsetting I guess, but providing you get the diagnosis (which from my complete layman's perspective I think you will) it then opens up a lot of help and opportunities for your daughter so she can start to fulfil her potential.