What happens after referral for autism assessment.

[nsure]

Saw the community paediatrician today , who believes my ds is showing lots of autistic traits , enough to now refer him for an assessment.

So, what happens now, will they start to gather info from school, cahms etc or do they just wait until they see him?.

Also , what happens at these appointments , do they say at first appointment what they think, or does it take a lot longer?.

Im fully aware that there is every chance that it may turn out my ds is not on the spectrum was just wondering what the whole process is.

[Justgotdiagnosis]

I think it varies from area to area in terms of who is actually at the assessment appointment
For us it was the same community Paed and a specialist SLT with expertise in ASD
They took into account reports of everyone involved and even went to observe him at school; it took awhile as no-one wanted to make the wrong call, but if things are clear cut they can say at first appointment sometimes I think
HTHs

[Handywoman]

How old is he? I think that someone will come and see him interacting with his peers if he is school-age. I think it will depend on how long the waiting list is, did they give you any indication?

[nsure]

Hi, he is 12, already has dyspraxia ans spd diagnosis. The recent dyspraxia assessment flagged up the potential asd traits , however I didnt take it any further, as socially he does pretty well, and also copes really well at school.

The pead yesterday wasn,t happy with the rocking he does . the noises he makes and all the anxiety and obsessions he has and so referred him.

Can you still have asd and be ok socially? , he has some problems in that respect but you would not really notice it.

[crazeelaydee]

There is so much more to being social than just chatting . I always thought that my Ds was really good socially, He was a bright boy who just liked to talk about things some children didn't know about. It wasn't until he was assessed that his social difficulties came to light. Then my Ds was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome because he fell into the triad of impairments, and we really didn't think he struggled with being social until all the information from school etc was collected. It turns out my beautiful boy is a loner he avoids interaction at breaktimes by wondering around picking up rubbish or looking for bugs, he can not read peoples faces unless they are smiling, even their tone of voice can cause him anxiety, he doesn't use small talk at all, Struggles to join in with games because he can't predict what to do or say therefore he has to be in control and should someone try to change something he can not handle it. Interrupts conversations because his responses are mis-timed. Can I just ask? Does your Ds have the same friends knock on for him after school/weekends? Does he have party invitations/sleepovers?

[nsure]

He does have friends now , at secondary school, he has never had a best friend , more just gets on ok with everybody. He doesn't like the children who are perhaps a bit/lot naughty or loud in class. His friends are usually people who he has something in common with.
Thing is , he can converse ok with people, he doesn,t do eye contact close up , but I am pretty sure he is fine socially in school.
He copes realy well in environments where there are rules and routine.

He also seems to be getting worse with age, a few years ago it was mainly just anxiety and rocking, now he seems to develop more and more traits all the time.

He does seem to fit the symptoms for high functioning autism, just without the social difficulties mainly, is this even possible?.