AIBU to wonder if some pursue diagnoses hoping for benefits?

Professionals don’t tend to use depression. My dc’s were classed as low mood. Now it’s anxiety depressive disorder 🙄

Reasonably easy to get a diagnosis if you go private.

Yep my daughter’s diagnoses were all
missed by school.Her send were too. She has an EHCP now, the ignorance was astounding.

I do wonder why so many kids get diagnosed with anxiety and not depression-you never hear a parent say their kid is depressed. Is it about stigma or is anxiety just far more common? I'm pretty sure I was depressed as a kid but never suffered with anxiety (until recently) I wonder if it has anything to do with anxiety getting you all sorts of accommodations that aren't really there with depression.

My child also struggled with clothes that they just couldn’t cope with, airbrushing was particularly distressing and was self harming. Claiming DLA wasn’t going to change any of the though so why do it?

Great. I’m a tax payer and have never been on benefits unfortunately my daughter needs benefits because her autism impacts her in ways that mean she needs a lot of support.

😆It’s not a mental health disorder, end of.

Yes, some kids mask, especially girls. The quiet girl that gets good marks and sits at the back of the class being quiet... no bother. Perfect pupil. It can all go opposite once she gets home.

My child had a questionnaire from the school, one that we completed, one that they completed and 2 chats with an OT. It was a fairly quick, clearcut diagnosis. And no we don’t claim any money. Why would we? Our child isn’t a free ticket to extra cash. The need special clothes and a set diet, but I have to cloth and feed my other children too. It’s part of being a parent.

Given that the teacher was involved in 1 total meeting - and during that one her opinion that my son was “just fine” was totally ignored, I’d say the teachers have very little clue about it. The particular teacher I have mentioned continually brags about her two “autistic children” so she “completely understands” but she has never had her child say they want to kill themselves, or that clothes are “too much” or that their brain isn’t working.

Why on earth are people so twitchy about the labels given to asd people these days? My child is autistic, but is far better described as Asperger’s. They are highly intelligent but struggle socially and have very black and white thinking. It’s a nonsense to label them the same as those who are unable to speak, or feed themselves, or use the loo. So why do it? What’s wrong with ‘Asperger’s?’. And yes we always refer to it as a mental health disorder. What does it matter? Are we supposed to be ashamed of mental health disorders?

An autism diagnoses involves lots of paperwork( including from school) and developmental history, more than one session which are lengthy,and an ADOS test.

You would also have to successfully get a diagnosis. And mum's word wont be enough. Kids getting assessed get observed etc.
I know people with kids that have autism, ADHD, or both. They see their kids struggle day in and day out. I know one mum who has had her 9 year old tell her he wants to kill himself. Another has a small boy who said his "head is too loud" and he can't sleep. They would swap all the money in the world to have a kid that was not thinking about suicide, or not being able to sleep. Not being bullied at school, not wondering why other kids don't want to be their friend.
The mum of the boy with the "loud head"... it took her ages to fill in the DLA forms for him. She spends a lot of time telling him how amazing he is (and he is a bright kid), and there is nothing wrong with him... then she has to do the opposite on the forms... basically run him down.

You mean the school where my DD masked everything she was feeling and dealing with so they thought she was "fine when she's here"
Because they didn't see the extreme effort it took to get there, nor the after school meltdowns. So "obviously" it was a parenting issue.
Because she was "fine"
Until she started affecting their attendance stats...

@Chigreenen . It takes more than one meeting with one medical professional to get an autism diagnosis. it usually involves many meetings and tests with a few medical professionals with a range of specialisms to decide on a diagnosis.

It still isn’t a mental health diagnosis and neither is adhd. I’m surprised that having autism you don’t know that.

But they’ll know if a child struggles socially, struggles with their mobility, have intellectual disabilities etc, can dress and feed themselves, can take themselves to the loo. whereas whenever my child goes to the doctor they could be non-verbal for all the doctor knows as they say precisely nothing.

Hi. I'm autistic - diagnosed by the NHS, by a psychiatrist. I have no problem in saying that it's a mental health diagnosis. I have other diagnoses that go with this, like hypermobility, and that's a physical health diagnosis. To be honest, I'm a bit fed up of people trying to insinuate that mental health is a 'problem'.

They don’t and are going to be disappointed.

Many teachers are really ignorant re autism and adhd. Shockingly so.

Are you insane? Do you know how hard it s to claim benefits?
I have an autistic son, I claim nothing for him because his needs are not “sufficient” and we have grandparents helping us. I would love to get a bit of help with the constant buying of new school uniform because it gets chewed, new fidgets to replace his old, a laptop for him to use at school.
I am pursuing a diagnosis of ADD for my younger son, so we can understand what’s going on in his brain. Likely he will not be deemed “problematic” enough either.

So no, it’s not “for the money” it’s to allow us into their world, to let me find out what’s going on in their brains and try to help them as much as possible - as is my job as their mum.

I have a relative whose child was flagged for possible autism diagnosis.
They visited recently and said their child had in fact been diagnosed. Then talked about how much money they would get, what they would use it for if they get it.
They are both fully employed and doing well financially.
I wonder why money follows diagnoses?
Their daughter is doing well in school, so why do they automatically get paid out monthly for it?
I understand this is not the case for every autism diagnosis, some are desperately severe and do need additional financial help. But my relative's child does not.

Not really. I’m not sending my DD’s diagnosis reports to her review. They don’t list the difficulties that warrant the PIP. There is far better documentation such as discharge notes, team meeting letters etc.

Hmm. Who might better be able to tell if a child struggles with day to day life? A teacher that sees them every day, in all situations, when they are interacting with others, when they are at ease etc etc, or a medical professional who sees them one in a situation which is naturally strained?

Judging from a couple of comments here it seems a few teachers think they know more than the medical professionals.