How long does an autism assessment take?

[elliejjtiny]

I appreciate this can really vary depending on the person.

Brief history -
Aged 1 I expressed concerns with paediatrician, health visitor and pre school that I thought he had autism as he kept shaking his head from side to side and repeatedly trying to fling himself backwards in his high chair. Was told that lots of babies do that.

Aged 3 he was struggling with sensory issues but was told he was just grumpy from lack of sleep.

Aged 4 it was recognised he had sensory processing problems but I was told he couldn't have autism because he had friends.

At secondary school we were told he did show signs of autism but couldn't be assessed because our area only assessed younger children to try and keep the waiting lists down.

Aged 12 he took an overdose. Camhs said it was obvious he had autism but couldn't assess or diagnose.

aged 14 the rules changed about older children being assessed for autism and the school put the referral in straight away

2 years and 3 months later he made it to the top of the waiting list. That was in September last year.

We've now had 4 appointments where we have seen 4 different people and been asked endless questions but no diagnosis or support. We have asked a few times about the timeline but we've been told that they don't know. How long is it likely to take?

Have you looked at the Right to Choose pathways for getting him assessed?

https://adhduk.co.uk/right-to-choose/

DS was diagnosed at 11 in only 45 minutes by the NHS. I wrote reams of stuff and he'd been observed at school by someone from SEND. The Dr was an autism specialist and did a few ADOS type things where his black and white thinking was made pretty clear.

There was absolutely no support afterwards though - a poorly photocopied reading list and a two day course that had to be attended with his teacher (not going to happen) that had a 9 month wait.

We went private after waiting as long as you, (it's so frustrating isn't it?)
We initially had an appointment where we explained what was happening 1hr.
Then a second appointment where his developmental history was taken 1hr and a half.
Next appointment he was seen by speech and language therapist 1hr.
Next appointment Occupational therapist 1hr
Final appointment with a clinical psychologist and one other therapist to do the ADOS assessment 1hr.
Then a final feedback session approximately 1hour.
In between the appointments we had to fill in questionnaires about his capabilities and send those in to the therapists.
All those appointments were over the space of about 2 months.

Just as we got his diagnosis the nhs diagnostic service got in touch and said he had reached the top of the list. Typical.

Thank you. It's a bit late for right to choose as we are already 8 months into the assessment. Ds1 has autism and he was diagnosed after 3 appointments but that was the second assessment aged 9, he had already had an assessment aged 3 when the paediatrician said he didn't have autism. Ds5 has autism and he had several appointments over 2 years before being diagnosed but he saw a different locum Dr each time and they kept saying he was too young (aged 4-6 during assessment but showing signs since he was a baby).

I had a feeling that support wasn't going to happen. The support we got for ds1 and ds5 was too little and too late. When I really needed help, when ds1 was 2 and trying to get sensory feedback from anything he could find and ds2 was a baby with failure to thrive and development delay, that's when I needed help and advice. By the time support was offered 9 years later I had found out for myself about now and next boards, visual timetables etc.

Ds1 - had 2 appointments on the asd pathway and got a diagnosis he was also know to other professionals who agreed he had asd.
Ds2 - had 3 appointments on the asd pathway and got a diagnosis. It would have been 2 appointments but they wanted ds to be seen by another deparament before to rule out something else.
Dd1 - well that took years to be honest she was 11 when she finally got her asd diagnosis.

I’ve just been diagnosed as on the ASD spectrum by my NHS psychiatrist at 49, I had to fill in 2 questionnaires and my Dad had to fill in 1. That was it really.

My son had 2 years on the waiting list, then diagnosed at age 11 after 2 online meetings - the first was a 2 hr meeting between me and the psychiatrist and the 2nd an observation session between DS and the psychiatrist. I had to also fill out lengthy questionnaires, as did the school.