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Referred to CAMHS, what next?

sillysally2087

My son is seven and we've been concerned about him since he was two. Since I am on the spectrum (diagnosed with Aspergers) I am quite aware of the traits of ASD and see a lot of them in my son. The school he attends are amazingly supportive, especially the teacher he has at the moment and the deputy head that has been dealing with his case and having regular TAC meetings with myself and his teachers. Recently the school (who very much believe him to also be on the autistic sprectrum) have decided that he would benefit very much from a diagnosis as he can be very anxious at school and they are worried very much about him moving up to junior level this year. Though he is very settled at the moment and is in a primary so won't be moving into a new school they think the added pressure and the change will unsettle him and his behaviour will eteriorate and he won't cope.

We have been told today that his referral has been accepted by CAMHS and he will have an assessment appointment within 4-6 weeks, though the waiting list after that is likely to be much longer.

Although I have been through the process of diagnosis it was in very different circumstances and I don't remember much about it. I'm unsure about what this initial assessment is for and what happens next. I function much better if I know what to expect and can mentally prepare for the situation, but I've been given very little information about the process, so am hoping those of you who have been through it will be able to help me with an idea of what to expect next.

Thanks,

Sarah

  • Hi, I can only tell you how things were for me getting my son (6) diagnosed through CAMHS. 

    Initially me and my partner attended a meeting with Bobby which was fairly short and informal. Following this we attended a second meeting without Bobby which was about 2 hours long and to gather more information about him, family history and to discuss the things we were having difficulty with. For this meeting we were asked to take in a written assessment that the school had done, sadly this wasn't worth the paper it was written on but going by your post you should find this slightly different - the schools input actually significantly delayed his diagnoses due to their form being so poor. 

    Following this meeting we had Bobbys assessment. He went into a room with his psyciatrist and a psychologist while me and my partner watched via video link with another psychologist. This was his ADOS assessment. We waited a few weeks and then received a large pile of documents which described how he did in the various aspects of the assessment i.e recipicol conversation,, staying on tast, eye contact etc and it ended with his diagnoses of ASD. 

    A month after diagnoses we had a meeting at the school (ADAPT meeting) with the head, his class teacher, the school senco and an ASD specialists, where we discussed his various needs and how best to meet them. We've recently just had the ADAPT review meeting to see how everything is going and that's where we're upto now. 

    Hope this helps.