Referral to social communication clinic...

[WeCameToDance]

My son has just been referred to the social communication clinic after me and his nursery teacher filled in a social communications questionaire. He is 3. This is hardly a surprise as we had been waiting on a follow up appointment but the pediatrician decided on reffering on to here instead.
Can anyone tell me what this appointment is and what it entails? How long it might be and basically any information at all? This process was started when he turned 2. It has been a year and a half and I just want answers. Every time I go to an appointment (speech and language/dietician/pre nursery for children with disabilities) I'm told the same thing. Only a doctor can answer my questions but it takes so long to see a doctor and in the mean time I'm left in the lurch with no idea of whats going on.
Sorry that turned into a bit of a rant. Anyway any help would be appreciated!

The difficulty with you getting a straight answer is that it is different in different parts of the country.
I can tell you about where I live, but it might not be the same as other parts of the country. Where I am, once the Paediatrician has referred to the Social Communication Assessment, you then sit on a waiting list for somewhere between 18months and two years, and then you (your child) is seen either at Nursery, or at home, or - if home and Nursery are saying different things - sometimes both. Then, if it is really clear from those members of the teams professional judgement, there is the option for them to report back to the Paediatrician who gives the diagnosis. If it is more complex / less obvious then you are called in to a couple of sessions of Nursery type play, and the multi-discliplinary team interact with the child and then meet afterwards to decide on the diagnosis. I have to say here, you would be unlikely to have been waiting 18months before referral to the Soc / Comm assessment though, so hopefully where you are, the longer wait comes first and not afterwards as it does here.

Thank you so much for replying. The fact it's different for different areas explains why it's so hard to get an answer.
I think it must be different here as I have been told that the appointment will be around September time (I hope they meant this year!). I was also told that it will most likely be a mixed medical panel however I'm uncertain on what that actually means. I'm just frightened that they are going to turn around and say there is no mediacal concern with him. Obviously in an ideal world thats what I would want but I know that it wouldn't actually be true. His speech is so unclear that nobody who does not see him regularly can understand him! I just want him to be able to access any help thats available to him.

In our multi-disciplinary team there is a SaLT (Speech and Language Therapist), a specialist Nursery Nurse, and a specialist teacher. They do assessments as their full time job, and are superb. They know so much more than some of the Paediatricians. Some of the Paeds are great but others are on 6 months rotations and not so much.
In an ideal world there would be an OT too, but they are like hen's teeth in our authority.
They then sit down together with the Paediatrician who officially gives the diagnosis (or says their isn't one)