Hi All,
I'm totally new to this discussion board. I don't even know where to begin....so my 7 year old has shown traits of ASD since he was 2 - he was late to talk, had delay in language and speech development, has always been needing support in school and since he started Nursery I raised concerns and asked for their support to seek a referral to Neuro for ASD/ADHD assessment. I was told by numerous staff "you don't want to label him", "he's too young to diagnose" and this has been an ongoing battle for 4 years now. He has been under the ALNCO for the whole of his foundation phase and is due to go to Juniors in September. He has progressively gotten worse and I feel the school have lacked support of a referral due to the long CAMHs waiting list and said it's a 'hefty' process to go through and that all of the things I told him he does at home he does not do in school. I told them he can 'mask' but they just keep saying they don't see it. The school said I can seek a referral myself via my GP but the school were not eager to do from their side. My son is now under CAMHs early years and is doing the 'Fun Friends' programme (that he is already meant to be doing in school). He is having 8 weeks of therapy sessions with a trainee psychologist and I have just done a self referral to Neuro myself and asked the school to support - they are not forthcoming in letting me see their input and when I've spoken to CAMHs they insist the school do not see what I do. My whole family see his quirks and behaviours. It is not about labelling him. It's about getting him (and us as a family) the support he needs and we need. His behaviour is worsening and it's causing a huge rift in the family as his older sibling has no patience and gets very upset and worked up when my son is going through really bad phases. He has OCD and anxiety behaviours and will repeat, flap toys (as a form of stimming) and will have sensory issues to foods and clothes and these occur on a daily basis. He has no awareness of inappropriate/appropriate and I have real concerns and just feel very upset and angry that the school are not supporting us as a family. He is told off for his behaviour in school but I know there are underlying concerns that are affecting him. I am sure he must mask a lot of behaviours and feel shocked that the school cannot see this as it's very common in ASD. Can anyone shed any light on what to do or experiences they've had with schools and diagnosis? The referral has gone over today and the school will not show me their input as they said they will send direct and also they said it will have to wait until September now as they have no staff in to do this. On the referral form it specifically says 'if no input from schools, the referral will be rejected'. I feel so drained by all of this and don't know where to turn. TIA, Tracey
