Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone
I am new to this site but wondered if anyone has any helpful information. My 15 yr old son is currently waiting to see the community Paediatrician for diagnosis, we have been waiting since April and have now been told it will be the Autumn when he gets an appointment. In the meantime he has been diagnosed by a CAMHS child psychiatrist with ptsd which symptoms are similar to those of asd. He has also attempted suicide and has been receiving help on a one to one basis with a CAMHS core worker but have now been told that he can only have 2 more sessions unless we insist on him receiving more. School have been an absolute nightmare, retraumatising him and not making reasonable adjustments for his mental health, we have insisted on now applying for an EHC plan which the school have now agreed to and an application for a needs assessment has been done, we are waiting to hear back from the LA. Today in the car we were taking the dogs to the new groomers and because I got lost and one of the dogs wouldn't sit still my son became really agitated and aggressive and started to punch himself in the head which he has done previously but not for a while now. Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to how to speed up the appointment for asd diagnosis, is it worthwhile trying to get a private diagnosis? and tips if we need to appeal the EHC needs assessment?
All help would be very much appreciated from a desperately worried mum xx
NAS24016 said:School have been an absolute nightmare, retraumatising him and not making reasonable adjustments for his mental health
It is often better, in my opinion, to move a child to a different school rather than trying to have him cope with a school that may simply be unable to understand the needs of a child with autism. Some mainstream schools really understand autism, but some are frankly toxic to autistic kids.
PTSD is a mental illness that many people with ASD can suffer from. ASD, itself, is not a mental illness but is a condition that leads people into situations which traumatise and "maladjust" them. PTSD, and some other MH disorders, can be dealt with and resolved given the right therapy but the subject will always be left with the underlying autism which, when all other consequential issues have been resolved, is a fairly invisible condition.
A private diagnosis can be obtained but it won't change the ability of the school to handle him. When I was diagnosed I was told that the environment, that I found myself in, was the key factor in determining how well I could cope. I was in a bad work environment at the time and I was on the verge of a breakdown. I have now changed jobs and am able to cope 1000X better with life than I could before.
Thank you for your reply. Our problem is that we live in a very rural area and my son wants to maintain his friendships at his current school. At the moment he does not go out very often and his only consistent friendships are those he has at school so he doesn't want to change schools. We have tried to put the positives to him about changing to a different school but he doesn't like change and is therefore against this. We are hoping that with an EHC plan we could get him to a different school that would be able to help him to manage his anxiety and stress on a part-time basis so that he could still maintain his friendships at his current school. It is all such a long winded process and he feels under pressure because he is about to start in year 11 and his GCSEs. So pleased to hear that you are now in a happier place in your work environment, gives us hope that my son will eventually find peace and happiness within himself.