ASD Diagnosis for a teen....running out of time!

[Bindi123]

It seems that, having been labelled with mild social and communication difficulties at 11yrs old (that didn't "warrant further investigation"), the pressures of senior school, GCSEs and a packed curriculum have bought very clear ASD characteristics to the surface. He's now in year 10 (14 years old) and struggling with the social and academic pressures of school. Trying to weigh up what's on offer in terms of other schools but without a diagnosis and advice on his real needs it's difficult to know if we're making the right decision. Can anyone recommend a good private route?

I have a year 10 Ds who is 14 years old and undergoing ASD assessment at the moment. He coped ok at Primary although we suspected he had autism but secondary school has been difficult.

We approached his school Senco the middle of last year who initially said there were no problems. But after talking to staff it became obvious that there were concerns. He was referred in July last year and after seeing the consultant in December he is awaiting a speech and language assessment.

Our Ds is not overly impressed with being assessed but we felt it was the best way to go. I'm hoping it will all be finished by the time he goes into year 11 September. I did consider moving him to another school last year as we were dealing with his head of year who was completely unhelpful. A few weeks ago we met with the Senco for the first time and things are definitely improving now and more support has been put in place.

I'm sorry I don't have any info on the private route as he is on the NHS pathway but I can definitely understand your situation. Our Ds has found the process difficult and is not always wanting to engage now that there is a little help available. I feel like getting a diagnosis would help him understand himself better as he is very aware of his differences. I can't say it's been an easy few months but I feel that we are doing the right thing.

Good luck and I hope another poster might be able to help with some info on the private route.