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

'people are sometimes too quick to shove a diagnosis of ADHD or mild autism on a child who isn't doing what he or she is supposed to do in terms of behaviour or development'

What people?

What should they do instead?

How dare they diagnose a developmental disorder! LOL

Thrush I wish the utter boswellox statements you made where true...I could learn to be a better parent and all our troubles would vanish.

Here in the real world its just not so simple ans I remain a bruised mum with holes in the walls and neighbours who probably judge the hell out of me

Would still rather have my life than yours as mine, though challenging, is also filled with love and laughter

YouCanRingMyBell',

'He could end up with a devastating diagnosis and there is nothing wrong with him!'

How? You said yourself that the HV, Paed, and other professionals have refused a diagnosis.

They really aren't given out like sweets. Quite the opposite.

However I can confirm that in our case we had to push to get a diagnosis. Not that anyone was denying that our son had classic autism, but because any diagnosis under 5 requires health to fund any intervention. It is cheaper to insist that a 'wait and see' approach is taken until they reach 5 and become the budgetary responsibility of 'Education'.

I have a relative with aspergers who is in his thirties and was only diagnosed a few years ago.

He had a terrible time at school. Self medicated with drink and drugs.

Now he has a diagnosis, help and proper meds and is much happier.

Like Amber says there is so much research- heck I am doing some of it (into empathy).

Too many muggles just assume.

They can assume my arse.

'I wonder also whether there is an element of guilt involved - no-one wants to know that an environmental factor may have led to a child of theirs being born, or predisposed to a disability, when in actual fact it's not about blame - it's merely about future prevention - if possible - or at the very least about understanding. '

Hmm, I kinda get what you mean. We lived alongside the A38 and just by the M5 for years, different houses but always on that stretch. Perhaps that didn't help, it didn't cause a wider family issue but it may be why my boys are the ones who tipped into real disability.

There's no guilt there- it's where I was born and raised, and I left a decade ago. Likewise I craved tune when expecting ds3 and ate cans a day, before there were any concerns about mercury. Not my fault, but a possible factor in his severity.

I used to be feel guilt for the boy's needs, I now feel pride for how well they have come on.

I don't know how much has changed but I remember sitting in on a ADHD case... The assessor had a tick list and watched how the child reacted to things and also watched how they reacted while supposed to be sitting nicely while parent and assessor talked...

Child was then taken for height and weight measurements to keep a log as some ADHD medicine can affect growth..

Which also entitled said parent to dla payments at the time due to said child being diagnosed...

I don't think its easy to get a diagnosis at all, in fact Id say it was like climbing a bloody great mountain, seeing the top but getting pushed back to the bottom again before having a chance to get there.

I started vocalising concerns when ds1 was about 18months, started seeing paed when ds was 3 and have seen many including ed psych, camhs and various others over the last few years. the hospital saw him from 3, but refused to do anything till he was 7.

the only real "test" for sn he has had was a conners scale (what a piece of useless crap!) and the hospital took bloods, said he had a insignificant abnormality on his X chromosome, were going to test me and ds dad to see if we carried the abnormal one or wether it started in ds1.....those blood tests never happened so now at 10 we are still very much where we were 6 yrs ago.

Ive given up trying to get help tbh, blatently Im seen as a crap parent(ignoring the fact my other dcs are perfectly normal, happy compliant children with no ishoos whatsoever!) I just cant continue the fight with the professionals, I found it exhausting.
It doesn't bother me too much as I get a lot of respite during hols etc which is funded from his school, but If he ever did anything so serious it put my other children at risk though, he would be taking a swift trip to SS office and I will be leaving him there for them to deal with- Ive spent years trying to get him help with no avail so if it gets too bad, someone else will have to take on the fight because I wont.

I don't believe many parents actually have a diagnosis of things like adhd- a lot of the time I think its parents saying that's what there child has without any formal diagnosis, why someone would want to give their child a false made up diagnosis is beyond me, but Im guessing its a bit like Munchausen by proxy.

but Thrush isn't likely to be around at this time ... she's probably out in the bushes shagging someone's husband.....again.

Holds out big sign saying 'Read Myth One in thr Mumsnet Campaign"

Who in their right mind thinks that diagnoses are given out like jelly babies? Think logically for just a minute, when ds was diagnosed at three the paediatrician was basically signing him up for a lifetime of services because it's not going to go away is it? So he had SALT and OT and psychologist involvement. He had specialist teachers and full time TA support, he had a place in a unit and now he is at an independent specialist school. He has cost health and education a significant sum and will continue to do so as he is going to need services for life.
Do you really believe that diagnoses are given out when not needed or aren't appropriate by paeditricians etc who know full well how much the support needed is going to cost.

Because 'those children' where in special schools ...you where in mainstream ...more sen kids now go to mainstream schools

I wish diagnosis was as simple and easy to obtain as so many people seem to think

So chatty is that a nice little dig at "said" parents getting DLA? They get a false diagnosis of ADHD to get money?

Have you seen the forms you have to fill in?

www.mumsnet.com/campaigns/this-is-my-child-myth-1-behavioural-disorders-are-just-bad-behaviour

Chatty..read the other myths too before posting such nonsense on a thread about the campaign

Posted too soon, the DLA form is pages and pages long and requires EVIDENCE from professionals.

Oh I really am banging my head against a brick wall aren't I?

"Appointment is 6 months away but they say he is autistic"

Yes..your child suddenly becomes autistic only on day of the diagnosis appointment

Oops thankfully this is not the campaign thread..but hie thee to it forthwith chatty

fwiw, I understand what you're saying chatty! for others that have misunderstood what shes trying to say, read the last paragraph of my last post!

Fanjo

My point was they where already saying the child was 100% autistic when their appointment was 6months away!

As said before my experience of an ADHD appointment was a long time ago and that I did not know if it had changed but from what I saw at the time it was basically a tick sheet..

And yes most dla claims are genuine, however there are parents who do exploit the system via their children! My brothers fiances mum is one of those women! Her only child with no issues is the eldest of whom she cannot claim for, she was going too till she learnt the child would get the money not her! Then she kicked the oldest out of the house!

Most people on benefits/dla are honesta people but there are some who are not, I grew up in a family of exploiters I've seen it first hand so yes that maybe does cloud my view sometimes, I think anyone who exploits the system/their children for more money is disgusting but that does my mean it does not happen!

Also just wanted to add, the job centre may be partly to blame, when I had my back to work focussed interview I was told to apply for DLA despite not having any kind of formal diagnosis, I argued that I knew people with children with severe SN who had to fight to get it, but she was insistent I apply. I didn't, but can imagen some DLA has been paid where not strictly necessary in similar circumstances.

Oh jeeze now the benefits bashing starts.

Read the campaign then if you disagree with it come back and we can talk.

Till then.

MNHQ are you still watching this thread?

What hope is there for debunking myths elsewhere when those same myths are still held and presented here?

My point was they where already saying the child was 100% autistic when their appointment was 6months away!

So? do you think a child with autism only starts displaying symptoms on the day of diagnosis?

Me and all professionals involved were saying autism long before we got the piece of paper that made it official.

Her only child with no issues is the eldest of whom she cannot claim for, she was going too till she learnt the child would get the money not her! Then she kicked the oldest out of the house!

If he had no issues then her claim would have been unsuccessful.

You obviously think claiming DLA is easy.