To think Katie Hopkins has officially lost the plot and special needs children do have genuine medical disorders

[Arnie123]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/katie-hopkins/why-must-everything-be-a-medical-condition_b_3751096.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I know she is just a gobby professional troll but this time she has gone way too far. So special needs don't exist and it is just crap parenting? Unbelievable

I appreciate that's not what the original article is about - just trying to back up some of the views put forward

I felt like I had been hit by a brick when we got DS's diagnosis . We knew DS had significant difficulties and there had been lots of assessments and murmurings about social communication issues...the actual diagnosis was a shock though.

Being silly and obnoxious is her career and she probably gets paid well for it - especially with this kind of advertising.

It broke my heart, even though the paed was mentioning autism at two his diagnosis six months later hit me for six. It was a bleak diagnosis and although ds has made huge steps forward he is still very disabled by the autism
Dd was referred for assessment at eighteen months, we got the diagnosis six months later and I took it in my stride, shrugged it off in fact. It wasn't until she fell apart in y1 because of a bitch of a teacher that it hit me.
I love them dearly and they are my pride and joy but for me autism isn't a slight variation on normal it's a disability that impinges on every aspect of their lives and our family's life.

Insanity my son has a diagnosis. For me it was a relief to know I wasn't imagining it.

They told me at nursery that they were going to get a Developmental Paediatrician to take a look at ds. I knew he wasn't the same as other kids his age. She did and when I came to pick him up told me she thought he had a social communication disorder. Autism was not mentioned. I thought "oh ok better google that". Went home googled and page after page of "autism" came up. THAT was my hit by a brick moment. As daft as it sounds I had not had a clue. I knew it was though as soon as I read it. He ticked every box. The diagnosis was just a formality. I do remember during the process though, when being called into school for the 10th time in a week (i used to go in during the day to help calm him) just putting my head down on the desk and crying, crying, crying, the side of my face was in a pool of tears and I just never wanted to have to lift it up again.

Don't. Feed. The. Troll.

My dd has it as well insanity I am actually surprised at how little I felt about it this time. There was none of the grief, it just was how it was. We have a diagnosis for her now and she presents very differently to ds. It was very mechanical or me this time, I knew exactly what needed to be done and that made it much easier. A lot of the problems with ds were not knowing the steps to take to diagnosis and who I should be talking to and what questions I should be asking.

I'm not even really talking about second opinions as that's the system which works. It's people you say no to and then find they have told school a different story or are now onto getting the educational psychologist onside (as if we don't talk to one another).

I once discharged a child to find they had gone back to the gp seeking a new assessment for much the same thing the next week which was also sent to me.

But Munchkin I wouldn't see that as a parent seeking a diagnosis I would see it as a parent with concerns about their child.I would say that rather than the GP referring back to you you should have referred them to a specialist diagnostic service for a second opinion.
I might be biased but CAMHS in our area is a crock of shit tbh. Thankfully I only ever saw the man at the top (because our paed referred direct because even he thought the ones below were a crock of shit too) to support my demand for an independent specialist school. Of course once there ds gets support from their psychologist/ OT and SALT so won't have to contemplate that nonsense thankfully

Munchkinmaster with respect whilst I'm sure what you describe is accurate it isn't strictly relevant. The KH piece attributes the rapid rise in the prescription of medication for ADHD in England and Wales and a rise in the rates of ASD diagnoses in North America to people seeking 'quick' fixes rather than addressing the root causes of the problems facing children. She also claims, without attribution, that most ADHD diagnoses are made in under 7 minutes, suggesting that she thinks it takes one to know one.

I think KH is wrong and that diagnosing developmental disabilities is a rather more considered process than she realises. But even if she were right the problem could not result from parents doctor shopping in the way you describe. It could only happen because parents and professionals were complicit in seeking these so called quick fixes.

I was actually happy when my DS was diagnosed with AS...but that's because of how long it took, he'd by that point been having SLT for 11 years, OT for 7 years and assessed every 6 months or so for 6 years, his school were adamant he was autistic, I was pretty sure he was and every 6 months the specialist said that while he was showing traits and met most of the diagnostic criteria because of his speech, she wasn't willing to diagnose yet.

So all that time, the little autism specific support there is wasn't accessible to us, he struggled more and more through primary school and into secondary school, without a diagnosis of anything secondary school withdrew support until he had a complete meltdown and then they suddenly realized he wasn't coping and had to refer him to the mental health team (they're separate from autism diagnosis in my area), his self esteem was so low that expressing suicidal thoughts wasn't uncommon - because he only deals in absolutes, so you might have autism just wasn't relevant to him.

So to finally get a diagnosis of anything was just fantastic, he could go to a youth club for children with autism, we could actually properly discuss the fact that he wasn't just rubbish at things and unlikeable that it was that he was wired differently and there are other people in the same boat, I finally had something that would make his school take his difficulties seriously and access to things like the autism outreach team in school...

I understand that for someone who has a quick diagnostic process that it will be upsetting to have somebody officially tell you that your child has a disability, but for us the diagnosis wasn't devastating, the period where he was undiagnosed and completely floundering was.

Can't believe so many people get outraged and start threads on her witterings.
She comes out with the most provocative and emotional things she can to get a reaction - and guess what - everyone bites!
Ignore it, it might go away.

Insanity - i take your point about the case. It was much more complicated than you could ever imagine but not appropriate to discuss here - shouldn't have mentioned it really.

I can't bear Katie Hopkins - she is nothing more than a failed reality tv star who, like most other reality tv stars, is just not very nice.

Now, while I certainly don't agree with the idea that parents are purely seeking diagnoses in order to cover up their crap parenting, it does appear that diagnoses are on the increase, and I do think that we as a society need to be questioning why. Because IMO it's about more than just more resources/knowledge being available and children of the past generation having been let down due to lack of knowledge, more and more children are being diagnosed with Sn, and there has to be some reason why that is happening, in the same way that we need to be questioning why it is that allergies are on the increase.

Perhaps if we do start asking those kinds of questions we can prevent more children from needing a diagnosis in the first place iyswim.

There have been studies linking e.g. ADHD with diet and certain additives, there are certainly studies which make links between autism and certain gut issues with many autistic children needing to be gluten free for instance.

ADHD type behaviors certainly weren't prevalent when I was growing up, I certainly knew children with autistic trates so it's possible that was less diagnosed, but there is definitely an increase in these conditions, and if there's a cause for that then it dooes need too be looked and we doo need to start asking the questions not just blindilyaccepting that more children now have sen, we need too start looking at how we can prevent this happening in future generations...

Sparkly I was absolutely fine at dd's diagnosis, I was doing early intervention and was more concerned with getting on with that and getting her a statement (I knew what had worked for ds so just ploughed on) Four years after diagnosis a witch of a teacher caused dd to fall apart and I crumbled because that carefully constructed shell of ability I had built around her shattered and it hit me that I couldn't make her invincible.
Thankfully ds and dd are both in brilliant schools and they are thriving so life is sweet again.

I cycled to primary school in the 1960s, a few miles each way, on some days I walked.

Really, it's not always bad parenting, it's lack of safe outdoor space for DCs.

I know what you mean. Dd is doing fabulously at school, but she is just going into Year 2 and I know the structure and micro managing of Early Years is what is keeping her functioning well, as she moves further up the school I can see there will be problems and I do worry about that. The school is good so hopefully they will be approachable and proactive if and when it happens.

Ds on the other hand is being Home Educated because his schooling up till Year three was worse then anything you can imagine and ended with him being restrained hourly assaulted by a teacher and coming home covered in cuts and bruises from that restraint. I pulled him out and we haven't looked back. I would love to find a school that fits for him but I don't think it will ever happen so I make the best of it.

Agree with wannaBe.

The thing is with Katie Hopkins her views aren't unique and like the daily mail will represent the views of a contingent of people. That's what's so scary. On the other hand to be forewarned is to be forearmed and sometimes it's useful to know what others are thinking.

Dd will be home schooled after next year because I won't watch her fall apart in secondary It will be something I had never planned but we will do our best. If I thought I'd win I'd have fought for independent specialist like ds has but I won't so will save the time and money and pull her out of the system instead.

Severe autism isn't too hard to diagnose
Are you a doctor?
Thought not.

Why are we still giving this woman the oxygen of publicity? I have stopped reading the Huffington Post because they persist in allowing her to peddle her ill-informed, reactionary nonsense.

I think she vocalises things other people are too scared to say imo. And she doesn't give a stuff whether people like her or not, which is admirable.

Katie, is that you?

adhd and 'mild autism' are diagnosed by a paediatricain, I have supported parents who are going through the diagnosis period, many of them have had years of people "tutting" and branding them bad parents. The diagnoses are not 'shoved on'

*laGuardia she says what she is paid to say nothing more she isnt admirable she is mean and nasty and tbh a joke and she needs to get a proper job if she wants to work in media, the snooty bitch routine is wearing thin