Published on 12, July, 2020
I went through the private route to have my 6 year old son assessed and he masks. He is awaiting nhs assessment too. The assessment has come back saying there is definite issues but because nothing was picked up at school and he was observed to be ok/ school report said was fine a diagnosis was not able to be made. They said he needs to display these issues in 2 different settings. At home and even in public settings his behaviour is challenging and life is very difficult. Wondering if anyone else had any experience? Feeling frustrated. Thanks
Oh yes I am hearing the same thing from a number of parents in the village I live in who suspect their children are autistic. The village primary school wants nothing to do with autism assessments and has denied that any of the children exhibit characteristics. It's abundantly clear just from watching them play outside my house which ones need assessing.
Basically they are still only assessing the children who have extremely difficult lives. if you can get by they aren't interested. My mate is about to demand assessment for her son from the GP because school are being so unreasonable.
I just had a thought actually, as folk have said it about their parents, they said they asked their assessors to skip or take what their parents say with a pinch of salt as they believe their parents harbour ableist biases and wouldn't be trustworthy witnesses to their behaviour. I think if I had this issue (I didn't but I'm imagining) I'd warn the assessor I felt the school was hostile and dismissive.
In a way I was lucky by the time I managed to convince anybody that I needed assessing my parents were no longer in a position to give any evidence. My younger sister claims to have no knowledge of my childhood. I got through it by doing my research first. When I was diagnosed the assessors said on both occasions that's based on my report my parents were also likely neurodiverse.
The trouble is even if you tell the assessor that you think the school is hostile it is still down to one person's view. Not everybody conducting assessments believes that autism should be diagnosed in those who can 'get by'. My own GP wrote in my medical records that he thought I was bipolar and he was only sending the referral for autism assessment because I insisted.
TBH same (I'm glad the letters put it right), also I think a lot of us fall into those diagnosis, especially the CPTSD one because it's really traumatic trying to be something you're not for great swathes of our lives.
I particularly liked that the letters stated I did not have bipolar or any other similar condition. Just autism, ADHD and complex PTSD.
Already done. I just waited until I got diagnosed so he had to see it lol
Wow. Sounds like you need to swap GP not gonna lie.