Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I would like my ten yer old daughter ( high functioning ASD) to have a couple of sessions with a clinical psychologist to help identify the ways that ASD affects her and in particular help her with anxiety.
Every time I try to ask her "what is it about X that you finds difficult/anxious ", she says "she does not know but she just is". If I ask her about noise and sensory stuff she looks at me as though I m an idiot.
She does not seem to want to talk about ASD with me but then suddenly gets upset because she is worried about how she will cope with high school and how to manage job etc.
Unless I know, then it is very difficult to come up with strategies to help her.
A friend whose step daughter is ASD thinks that these sessions will not help my daughter as she is too young to put into words what the matter is.
Do you agree - I would very much like to start getting help as I feel I am very fortunate to have got this diagnosis now rather than later.
My son at 14 cannot usually say what is causing his anxiety. He struggles to go to school but mostly doesn't know why.
We can ask questions about things that might happen or have happened and guess but it is not straight forward. We spoke to SENCO before he started secondary school with suggestions. Many suggestions to help are rejected by him. He particularly doesn't want to stand out amongst his peers. He also does not like to tell peers he has ASD so it is just school staff that ate aware.
The support is ongoing with us keeping in touch by email with school as we constantly work with them trying to assist with support.
Regarding help he has spoken to CAMHS doctor who discussed his anxiety with him and encouraged him to take help offered. It was a helpful discussion but did not seem to make much difference with his anxiety of attending school. However he is not high functioning.