neurodevelopmental assessment for ASD

[moodymorgz19]

Hi guys,

I am looking for some advice really. My DS who is now 5, has been referred to community pediatrics for a neurodevelopmental assessment by his school. For the past 10 months his school have been very helpful in gathering all the required information such as APDR, EHA, SALT reports ect., and now we finally have it all together and the forms have been sent off. I just wanted to know:

1. How long it takes to hear back from the community pediatrics?
2. can anybody tell me what is involved in ADOS assessment and if a diagnosis is given there and then or if it is a lot more long winded?

I hope this makes sense as I tend to ramble.

many thanks.

[MrsMartinRohde]

I'm sure it varies across regions but this was my experience: from when the initial screening forms went to CAMHS to getting a letter saying DS was referred for full neurodevelopmental assessment - 3 weeks.

another letter a month or so later gave the waiting list as 17 weeks. DS was assessed 10 months later.

the assessment itself: DS was seen by one clinical psychologist separately for about 90 mins. I was interviewed by another for 2.5 hours, about his development. the two psychologists conferred briefly and they gave me his diagnosis, ASD, right away. I got the written report about 2 months later.

[moodymorgz19]

Thank you so much for your response MrsMartinRohde. I am in Cambridge so I am guessing that there may be a large waiting list. Thank you for clearing up some questions for me .

[BlackeyedGruesome]

dd has received forms to fill in after waiting for two years. there may be a further three months after the forms have been returned.

things vary from area to area.

[BackforGood]

I agree with others, the process varies considerably from one authority to another.

[moodymorgz19]

Thank you everybody. It all seems to be quite long winded, even getting the evidence for the assessment has taken 10 months. I am just thankful that they have started to put helpful measures in place for my DS at school, so he doesn't find it so overwhelming. So ecen if it does take a long time he is getting some kind of support. Thanks again.

[Carpetglasssofa]

Find out the number for paeds and ring them and ask about the waiting list. It's usually good to have a rough idea how long you'll be waiting.

[openupmyeagereyes]

moodymorgz19 we are just outside Cambridge and my ds was seen at the child development centre in Addenbrookes. He was accepted onto the Early Help programme in September 2017 and was seen at a joint assessment clinic in December (having seen SALT in between). He was diagnosed with ASD that day and the report took ages to come out and had to be chased but I was told it should only be a couple of weeks. I had initially taken him to a SALT drop in in June. For us things moved very quickly.

[moodymorgz19]

Thank you Carpetglasssofa I didn't realise that you could do that. Thank you openupmyeagereyes thats reassuring. SALT drop in is how it all started for me too back in Feb.