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School advised daughter likely autistic but should not get her tested

Swimswim

Hi,

I'm hoping to hear other people's advice and personal experiences please. My daughter is 7 and is showing more and more autistic traits. She struggles socially at school,  preferring to spend time on her own. She cannot cope with changes in routine, and it results in massive meltdowns if there are the the tiniest changes. There's more, but I'll keep the post brief.

At a school SENCO meeting about her sibling the SENCO mentioned that my daughter could be Autistic, but advised that getting a diagnosis may be harmful for her. She is incredibly intelligent, working at roughly the level of an 8-9 year old despite only bring 7, and the school SENCO was concerned that a diagnosis would only hold her back in the future if she were to face stigma because of it. She explained that my daughter clearly does not need any academic support due to her autism, and she did not feel that she would get any benefit from a diagnosis with her emotional and social needs.

I would love to hear other people's advice and experiences please, as parents or people with Autism. Thank you

Parents

  • So I’m from the States, so some of what I say might not apply or might be different in your case.

    My daughter is 7 and was diagnosed at around 4. C has PDA Autism, so she struggles with rigidity and gets extremely overwhelmed when she’s in trouble or feeling a sensation she does not like. For first grade we had a go at trying to keep her in a normal public school classroom with a few adjustments made for her, but it was a horrible experience for both her and the teacher. The class size was too big, the schedule was too rigid, and she had few opportunities to express herself. The teacher was great (though inexperienced in dealing with Autism), but the principal saw C as just being another poorly behaved child who was not disciplined enough at home.

    Using her Autism/ADHD diagnosis we were able to secure a spot in a classroom made for students with social/emotional impairments. This meant that C‘s coursework would still challenge her, but she would benefit from less rigidity, half the class size (from around 23ish down to around 12ish), and plenty of time to do what she really wants to do: Make art. She’s done MUCH better because of it.

    I don’t know if you have social/emotional classrooms like that in the UK, but if they do, that would be a benefit of getting an Autism diagnosis.

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  • So I’m from the States, so some of what I say might not apply or might be different in your case.

    My daughter is 7 and was diagnosed at around 4. C has PDA Autism, so she struggles with rigidity and gets extremely overwhelmed when she’s in trouble or feeling a sensation she does not like. For first grade we had a go at trying to keep her in a normal public school classroom with a few adjustments made for her, but it was a horrible experience for both her and the teacher. The class size was too big, the schedule was too rigid, and she had few opportunities to express herself. The teacher was great (though inexperienced in dealing with Autism), but the principal saw C as just being another poorly behaved child who was not disciplined enough at home.

    Using her Autism/ADHD diagnosis we were able to secure a spot in a classroom made for students with social/emotional impairments. This meant that C‘s coursework would still challenge her, but she would benefit from less rigidity, half the class size (from around 23ish down to around 12ish), and plenty of time to do what she really wants to do: Make art. She’s done MUCH better because of it.

    I don’t know if you have social/emotional classrooms like that in the UK, but if they do, that would be a benefit of getting an Autism diagnosis.

Children
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