DD ramping up the anxiety...

[neverputasockinatoaster]

I am worried about DD. I am keeping a diary and I am going to go to my GP in a bid to get assessments started...

Recently her anxiety levels seem to be ramping up. Mostly they are to do with me leaving her. If I am in the house she must know where I am at all times. Bedtime is the worst. She si fine and happy until we have read her story and then when it is time to clean her teeth and have a wee she becomes really clingy.

Once she's in bed we have a little routine/ritual we do that involves me naming all her cuddlies and then we have a cuddle and say goodnight.

For the past couple fo weeks she has then insisted she must read me a page form her book and then she starts to get all tearful - 'I don't like it when you leave my bedroom mummy'. I reassure that I will not be leaving the house, that I can hear her if she calls. I always give one of her favourite cuddlies and 'special mummy hug' so he can keep hugging her for me.......

Today we had sobs because if I am not there ( I do go away to take part in sporting events about 5 times a year, at the most for 2 nights, mostly just overnight) if she calls Daddy he doesn't hear her and she has to go and find him..... OH is a very sound sleeper.

If you add in the hoarding and magpie tendencies.......

I just feel so helpless - apart from her sensory issues she doesn't seem hugely ASD like apart form flashes every now and then.... When I went to the GP about DS it was so clear cut - I had examples for each part of the triad of impairment but with DD I think I'm just going to get laughed out of the surgery.....

Not a huge point to my ramble....

[Ineedmorepatience]

My Dd3 has suffered from separation anxiety related to me all her life Never, she has Asd and I am pretty sure the 2 are related.

I am the one person who she trusts wholeheartedly, I am the only person who can read her, the only person who remembers all her little ways and likes and dislikes.

She likes order in her life and I am the person who helps her to achieve that.

I dont know how to suggest you get the GP to listen to you but there is info on girls with Asd out there, I would recommend printing off a few articles, highlighting the useful bits and taking it with you. If the GP doesnt take you seriously read a couple of bits out and ask again.

You are entitled to have your child seen by a specialist, GP's are really just that General, they dont need to know about Asd because they refer you on. Be assertive and knowledgeable, that will get your Dd referred.

Good luck

[neverputasockinatoaster]

Our GP was fab when I went about DS. He was impressed I'd gone in with a list and notes and he really listened and then referred us to the people he thought could help.

With DD I just don't know. I know girls with ASD present very differently but I can't pin it down. I am exhausted by it all.

My depression meant I was a very shouty mummy for a while. have I scarred her for life? But then she was a klingon towards me right from birth so maybe not..... DH would be looking after her so I could do bedtime with DS and she would just scream and scream and DH would come into DS's room almost in tears because he couldn't calm her. Then I'd take her and the crying would stop. I had to buy a rear facing pram instead of reusing our travel system because if she was awake and couldn't see me she screamed..........

[Jacksterbear]

Hello. My DS has a dx of sensory processing disorder plus anxiety. He has always had awful separation anxiety and we have to cuddle him to sleep at night. We still havn't got to the bottom of the causes of his anxiety but it does seem that his sensory issues have played a major part. "the out of sync child" explains it as children needing to feel in control as they don't feel in control of themselves.

Obviously I'm not trying to offer a dx for your DD, but the sensory issues and the anxiety could be linked.