Advice needed diagnosis

My daughter was referred to a pediatrian September 2019, due to concerns on behaviour and speech. November that year we were seen by the pediatrian and she had said although she had delayed speech they didn't see anything concerning so would review six months on. With covid they couldn't do it face to face but she did call me, I told her I was even more concerned with her behaviour especially in terms of her not answering when I call, getting really frustrated for unknown reasons and having outburst of crying and hitting herself, she started nursery in January but did not like it when there were other children crying she would go into a corner and sit down holding her ears and shutting her eyes. If I leave she wouldn't let anyone comfort her she would have flap her hands and arms. She wouldn't let any kids socialise with her she would leave if they had come up to her. We had made some progress but we couldn't stay in the nursery for any longer than an hour before she would shut down and cry and cry. We had only made a little progress then nursery had to close down due to the virsus. I received a letter about her next appointment but won't be seen for another year she will be nearly 4 years old. But from September this year I will have to start looking for part time work while on universal credit thats a must. I will not be able to get a job as I have no family that she will settle with she won't be settled for nursery I just don't know what to do. Should I have a face to face appointment sooner than a year. I'm a very anxious single parent no idea how this all works I just want to get the help for my daughter that she needs and deserves help.

Parents
  • Hi NAS68098,

    I'm sorry it sounds like you're in a very difficult situation with such a long wait between appointments. There are some resources here on the site that might be helpful to you in the meantime. The Diagnosis page - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/children.aspx - contains general information about the diagnosis process, both on the NHS and privately, as well as what support you may be entitled to, such as community care, benefits and carer's allowance. You do not necessarily have to have a diagnosis for your child to access these - 'Getting benefits and support is supposed to be based on what a person appears to need, not what diagnosis they have. So you can apply for benefits and support for your child whether or not they have an autism diagnosis' - so that might be worth looking at.

    NAS also provides Family Support services, including our parent-to-parent support line, which you can find here - https://www.autism.org.uk/services/community/family-support.aspx as well as our Autism Helpline which you can find the details of here - https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main.aspx - if you want more help or advice, or just to talk things over with someone.

    Hope this is of some help,
    Ross - mod

Reply
  • Hi NAS68098,

    I'm sorry it sounds like you're in a very difficult situation with such a long wait between appointments. There are some resources here on the site that might be helpful to you in the meantime. The Diagnosis page - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis/children.aspx - contains general information about the diagnosis process, both on the NHS and privately, as well as what support you may be entitled to, such as community care, benefits and carer's allowance. You do not necessarily have to have a diagnosis for your child to access these - 'Getting benefits and support is supposed to be based on what a person appears to need, not what diagnosis they have. So you can apply for benefits and support for your child whether or not they have an autism diagnosis' - so that might be worth looking at.

    NAS also provides Family Support services, including our parent-to-parent support line, which you can find here - https://www.autism.org.uk/services/community/family-support.aspx as well as our Autism Helpline which you can find the details of here - https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main.aspx - if you want more help or advice, or just to talk things over with someone.

    Hope this is of some help,
    Ross - mod

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