can i get a diagnosis for asd and dyspraxia for my ds 11

[linbam]

my son is a late diagnosis, very long story and alot of school faliure, but after 2 years of appointment at camhs we went for another meeting hoping this would be the day they could confirm the diagnosis of what we thought would be asd, the nuse then told the dr that she thought he could also have dyspraxia,which i dont know much about this at all.....they said they cant diagnose them both tgether and said hes one or the other so then sent him for a blood test and said they would write to us in 3 weeks with a diagnosis now the dr and lady he saw he had never met the dr and the woman only for about an hour in total 2 appointments after the first nurse who he had for 2 yrs left to a new job........
a little about my son......
he doesnt mix with his peers like to be on his own
only has 1 friend
if he is not at school ds will sit on his own
he doesnt go out to play
doesnt like change
cant stand busy places get frustrated quickly when he doesnt understand things
if routine is changed he goes crazy
he hates school trips and never wants to go as he has not been to the place
he is not academic at all but loves making/buliding things any info would be great as i am very confused atm and dont know what to do next thanks

[CognitiveDissident]

Ask to be referred to a developmental paediatrician; that's your best bet.

ASD and dyspraxia are often co-morbid, i.e. exist together. My son is Autistic, dyspraxic, developmentally delayed, has hypermobile joints and is being assessed for ADHD.

FWIW,my son was seen by GPs, Health visitors, Child Development Workers; all of whom said he was normal. We pushed for referral to Paed when he was 3; she diagnosed ASD during the initial consultation.

Does your son have a Statement of Special Educational needs? Has he been seen by an Educational Psychologist?

[linbam]

yeah hes been on special needs since at nursury and has education plans in place etc school will not do nothing now as he is due to move to comprehensive soon and education psyc been to school and seen josh,i was just very unsettled when they more or less said he shows 75% autisum and 25% dyspraxia and some triats shadow other areas altho the dr was saying this child has asd and the nurse saying well he also shows dyspraxia signs, and now i get no oter appointment and just a letter in the post which should be here next weeek, am worried if it will say no diagnosis or te wrong diagnosis as t me if he shows both why cant they diagnose him with both......am very confused

[CognitiveDissident]

I'm confused about te percentage scores; first time I've heard of those (other then the silly internet tests)

Has your son had an ADOS yet?(Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule)

Is the doctor a Child Developmental Specialist? Paediatrician?

If you are unhappy with the doctor or the diagnosis you can ask to be referred to someone else.

[dolfrog]

linbam
The confusing is in the type of diagnosis, which even some professionals do not seem understand or more likely able to explain properly.
Issues on the autistic spectrum are based on observed behaviours, and there are different categories of behaviour issues which are required for an ASD diagnosis.
The other and more difficult issues to diagnose are the clinical issues or disorders which either individually or combine to cause these types of behaviour, or types of reactions or lack of them to various types of stimulus.

Dyspraxia or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder is a clinical diagnosis of motor co-ordination issues, which like sensory information processing issues etc can be a component of the multiple co-morbid issues that cause the issues on the Autistic Spectrum.
So there are underlying cognitive processing problems which can cause language delay issues such as Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) which is a listening disability, which can cause problems processing sound based communication, problems learning to speak, problems processing what others (parents , teacher, peers) say and makes social interaction difficult.

So really a diagnosis of ASD is only providing a description of the observable reactions to a collection of sometimes unidentified information processing deficits or disorders, which would require some level of specialised Multi Discipline (multi professional) clinical assessment and diagnosis.

[linbam]

the percentages was me tring to discribe what they said to me....and yeah hes a child developmental specialist and yeah they have observed him over 2 years and took references from school and family friends and people who have close contact with him.3 camhs nurses told me josh was asd but the dyspraxia came out of the blue what r the signs of this?

[CognitiveDissident]

Are you getting support from Parent Partnership or National Autistic Society BTW? I know it's a bit overwhelming with all the different professionals and information overload; they can provide useful advice, act as advocates and generally hand-hold.

The best advice I had was (at the start of the process) to keep every letter, diagnosis, outcome in a box file,along with a diary detailing all communications and phonecalls, plus a notebook for questions in meetings.

Try and read up on Autism Spectrum Disorders, ask questions, don't be fobbed off with jargon and push for results. I found that the more clued-up I was, the better the outcome.
Good Luck

[linbam]

the parent partnership was involved at school getting them to put a better work plan in force and i feel as tho they have fobbed me off due to them changing who has taking care though out the assesment i have been trying to trace the old nurse to see if she could give me any advice but it came uo blank..... my son can tie his shoelaces, eat his food, use a knife and fork, can ride a bike, use pencils so where did they get dyspraxia from or am i being nieve and there is a lot more to it than that.... and yeh very confusing and overwhelming

[CognitiveDissident]

Dyspraxia:

Problems with co-ordination,esp.hand-eye. Clumsiness, awkward gait, problems with fine and/or gross motor skills.

Speech and Language delays, indistinct speech,problems with pronunciation.

Fine motor Skills: cannot handle a pencil,knife & fork. Cannot manipulate small objects (lego)

Gross motor skills: Problens with balance,walking, jumping, running. May be clumsy, get tired easily, trip over lots.

Spatial awareness; gets lost easily. Loses things.Needs to watch hands while performing tasks.

Dificulties with ordered sequences, such as getting dressed

That's just off the topof my head,Wiki has more...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_dyspraxia

[dolfrog]

linbam
As CognitiveDissident says it is all find the international research regarding these issues so that you understand the issues yourself, and then take on the incompetents in that work in the UK health and education systems. The real problem is a lack of training, and not keeping up to date with international medical research after qualification.
from the PEDIATRICS medical journal
Identification and Evaluation of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders 2007
from that research paper Table 1
Diagnostic Criteria for 299.00: AD (autism)
and Table 2
Diagnostic Criteria for 299.80: Asperger's Disorder (Referred to as AS in This Report)
This research paper along with many others is included in my online PubMed Autism collection of research papers, which along with my PubMed Dyspraxia - Developmental Co-ordination Disorder collection of research papers is listed on my Invisible Disability research paper collections web page.

Good luck with your research