The over diagnosis of ADHD and autism is ruining children’s lives.

Parents can ask for anything However teachers can only comment on how the child presents in school ,they are allowed to be factual, they can't just agree with parents if that's not how the child presents in school they can also refuse to write anything
They csnt just sign something because the parent asks for it educate yourself!

I did report this goady as fuck thread yesterday but clearly Mumsnet feels that people rage baiting parents of disabled children IS in the spirit of the site.

Do you know anything at all about the assessment process for autism? Because it doesn't sound like you do. You seem to think parents just ask for it and it's given to them and they unlock the gates to a magical land full of money trees and endless amounts of help and support that neurotypicals don't get.

My son is going through the process now so let me enlighten you to what it takes.

3+ year wait. A 90 minute interview between my son and an assessor. Then I will be having a THREE HOUR interview with a different assessor. Then I'll have to have another 30 minute call after that to summarise and find out the diagnosis. I was asked to fill in about 100 questions, with up to 5000 characters available for some of the questions, to write about all the ways that his neurodivergency negatively affects his life (that was really fucking fun to write, i can tell you). His teachers were asked to complete questionnaires to ensure he shows these signs across at least 2 different settings. I had to upload medical records and occupational and psychological therapists reports, but first i had to go and get those things so that was more time and effort.

Then, those experts get the evidence together and they'll decide whether my child has autism. If they say no, i don't get any support. If they say yes, i don't get any support. Maybe they'll give me a leaflet. Nothing changes.

Why the fuck would anyone put themselves through that if they didn't believe their child needed it?

Also, what financial support can i get if he's diagnosed? Id fucking love to know. Because nobody's offered us any help or support, financial or otherwise at any point in his life, and he's 9. So please, pray tell, i need to know. DLA i suppose, but that's a pittance compared to the actual cost of raising a disabled child. And it's nearly impossible to actually get.

Where? You should be able to provide links.

@67854568G one can only have a debate when the other person is equally informed so maybe if you had published a well respected peer reviewed medical paper then I wouldn't have shut you down and instead entered into a debate. So yes my point still stands. Fuck off posting this shit stirring in aibu

My son’s autism was almost certainly caused by extreme prematurity (born on the cusp of viability). Virtually all of the other young people we know who were born similarly early are also autistic.

I'm in similar Facebook groups I'm also in Unique the charity for rare chromosome disorder, s loads of people with same or similar disorders have autism
However aa we kniw the spectrum is wide and varied and impacts people in very different ways
In my sons case his deletion was De novo.

I'm hoping the 'financial gains' I hear so much about kicking in soon.
My teen lost £50 worth of Loops yesterday. She needs them for school and many other environments but obviously its me that has to replace them.
As far as I can tell there are frequently extra costs associated with ND kids and its generally the parents responsibility to find that money.

9yo dd has been in the system since she was 5, still undiagnosed and on the asd/ adhd assessment pathway. She's just started experiencing hearing a scary voice that tells her to "put it right, or else" which is keeping her awake at night, "petrified" (her words). Because the NHS can't/ won't tell me how close she is to the top of the waiting list, we're again faced with doing our own research (a scary prospect when your child is hearing voices, I can assure you), learning whatever we can about this new phenomenon, and trying different strategies to see what might work. For all we know, she may need medication, but we're firing in the dark and she's suffering as a result. The problem is that her case is not severe enough to be seen any quicker, presumably because she's bright and academically able, and is causing no disruption (to others) at her school.

Quite frankly, you can fuck off with your 'overdiagnosis' theories when 80% of autistic girls remain undiagnosed at 18, and suicide rates compared to their NT peers is through the roof.

100 euro an hour for SLT and OT .
50 euro a month for autism social groups. Same per individual swimming lesson and 60 a month for an autism sports group.
Countless replacement remote controls (iykyk)
DH on reduced hours so she can stay home from school when it's too much .

I'm definitely rolling in it having an autistic child.

@67854568G why do you think the author of this article is qualified to make such an assertion.

This thread is a variation on the typical disability benefits bashing thread.

OP what is your expertise in ND conditions?

It was obvious my son had autism at 2. He didn't need to be fully developed for it to be diagnosed.
He also has a anxiety diagnosis but given his level of understanding I doubt it was the thought of being diagnosed with autism that caused it.

Teachers or even medical professionals don't simply just ''sign off'' DLA forms. They write lengthy evidence about the child's needs and what they need for support. Parents can't force any teacher or medical professional to do it.

A diagnosis is irrelevant because a child doesn't need a diagnosis to receive DLA, not to mention the fact that it can often take years for a child to be officially diagnosed due to waiting lists.

You don't seem to know very much about DLA considering you believe something as serious as parents pushing for a diagnosis (which again, isn't needed) for financial reasons.

YABU

What nonsense

You think we all just walk down the high street and choose which diagnosis shop to pop into on a Saturday afternoon.

Wobble your head. It's a lengthy process involving multiple different disciplinary professionals and many different setting (school, home, clinic) observations over a period of time.

And is very difficult to access via NHS and if private very costly

Stop posting shite.

What are teachers signing on DLA forms? Who is forcing them to do it against their will?

Nonsense
I work in an adult diagnostic service and the vast majority of people we see have a history of anxiety and depression long before their diagnosis.
My daughters anxiety actually reduced somewhat when there was an explanation for her differences.
Explanations matter, both in terms of people understanding themselves and getting others to recognise that they are not just being difficult.

Perhaps the government should sort out 8 year waiting lists and people wouldn't need to self diagnose.

I do think that the current self diagnosis trend (for want of a better word) and by extension the diagnosis of others is a problem.

My child wasn't actually that delayed but learned to speak in a different way (gestalt language processing) and had lots of other little things nursery picked up on. Maybe your child did feel safer at home and started to talk bless them.

I should probably stop taking the bait commenting on posts like this but I find it so frustrating.

DS1’s autism is almost certainly not genetic. I have been informed on MN previously when I mentioned this that I was “talking shit”. It’s remarkable how random people on the internet know more about other people’s conditions and diagnoses than they do.

YABVU.