To think it is disgusting that some CAMHS services discriminate against Autistic Children

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My son who is 12 has ASD and anxiety and depressive disorder that is treated with Sertraline which was prescribed by camhs.

He is unfit to attend any formal schooling at the moment as there is no school that can meet his needs so he has to be 'educated other than at school'.

Today I have received a letter stating, 'CAMHS does not provide ongoing specialist psychological support for children diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder'.

In our area the only 'mental health provision' for autistic children is an outreach service but the child has to be in mainstream school.

Therefore my son has been referred back to GP care with zero chance of ever returning to a formal education setting without specialist mental health care.

I've written to MP again and local commissioning group but I just really want a rant.

This is discrimination , no? Being Autistic is a protected characteristic, am I wrong?

Where I am camhs is similar. As soon as my dd got an autism diagnosis they discharged her and although she often struggles to leave the house at all due to crippling anxiety thy refuse to help as it's 'due to the autism.' It's ridiculous.

It is so awful, MouseUtopia, that is such a sad situation.
I agree there are a lack of trained professionals. The question is why is that?

RE. residential school I would lose both of my kids to it. My DH was sent to boarding school from a young age. He has never got over the feeling of rejection.

We are making a good job of EOTAS and DS is getting a good education and achieving more than he could in a formal setting. Looking at 8/9's in GCSEs. He has OT provided by EHCP but the OT says he also needs clinical psychological support to reenter a 'mainstream' environment.

I am just shocked that there is such a serious lack of services.

It's disgusting. My dc's lives have been transformed with medication. They're 100% better than they were and are doing things I never thought they would.

Denying young people treatment is terrible. It's like they don't want us to be part of society. It's blatant discrimination, I don't know how they get away with it.

MouseUtopia, DS is already on medication prescribed by CAMHS, it helps to a point but he has sensory differences and a real distrusts of adults due to being misunderstood before diagnosis that needs to be untangled if we are ever to get him back into a formal setting.

My son was discharged from Camhs and referred to neuropsychiatric services which were far superior. He’s an adult now so just left to fend for himself though

It's so difficult, isn't it. DD2 has said she'd like to try acting classes, but then realised that you'd have to act in front of people, so... No. She'd like swimming lessons, but won't go if she has to change out of a swimming costume at the swimming pool.... So no. She loves to sing, but only if nobody is listening... So no singing groups.

Yet she'd love to do an extra-curricular activity. It just needs to have no people.

Seems a bit odd. My dd has had a long (recent) stint of being seen by CAMHS and she has ASD. She is also HE.

Same Ind of issue.My dd gets anxious and plan c attacks and basically just cleans up if stressed at school.Self harm and suicidal thoughts.She was 14.
Referred to Camhs,asessed and they decided that she has autism.They discharged her as she is not bad enough to help.Refered to the group in this area for autism.That was September that I filled in their questionnaire but we are still awaiting contact.
My dd is being supported by our GP who sees her regularly (and that dd has learned to trust although still find it hard to talk too).My dd is doing well in school,has been accepted to 6th form but cannot go to the shops to buy anything at the shops,socially interact with people she doesn't know,is completely overwhelmed incrowds or even slightly noisy environments.

I dont understand how they get away with it. Surely it's disability discrimination?

Rant away OP. So sorry to hear your son is not getting help from CAMHS. My DD (14) is ASD, suffers from depression and anxiety. Also awaiting EHCP. Has been under CAMHS for 18 months and they have been brilliant. Arranging medication, occupational health, psychiatrist and CBT. My DS (24) was diagnosed ASD at 8 years old and the same borough said back then that they offer no support for Autism. This type of postcode lottery is totaly unfair. Hoping you get the help and support needed. Hoping your MP can highlight this with you and get the change needed.

And on the basis of disability discrimination. Good luck

I thought there were very few trained professionals in this area and even fewer who want to work for the NHS?
I am in my 50s and when I was training, only the most severely disabled children were diagnosed with autism - often non verbal. There has been a large amount of children in a relatively small amount of time, now diagnosed with autism. The kind of specialist training you are talking about takes a while before it even became available, and then takes a while to undertake and be reasonably experienced enough to do a decent job.
Even 35 years ago, there were a lot of general untrained counsellors about, because nationally recognised accredited training courses were still not common. I mention this to try and explain that things have changed a lot over the last 3-4 decades, and will continue to.
I know this does not help your children now, but just trying to explain the context and why it is not as easy as you may think to provide a specialist service that meets your child's needs.

OMG that is appaulling. Both my children have ASD and we have been paying for them to have therapy privately. Autistic children often have anxieties and depression BECAUSE of their autistic traits. I'm so sorry - that is just nuts. If you started some sort of campaign for change I am sure you would get a lot of support for it.

CAMHS should privide a service tk all young people. Getting them to acknowledge that is the first part of the battle. A second and pot more difficult problem will be recruiting suitably qualified/experienced staff though.

We had the same experience with our autistic son. Contrary to what some other posters are saying, I have been assured by qualified people that there is absolutely no clinical basis for this. It is simply a tactic designed to keep their waiting lists down, and avoids them having to pay fines for breaching targets, but it is clearly unethical and breaches not only NICE guidelines, but also the UN declaration on the rights of persons with disabilities. People with Autism have a much greater likelihood of developing mental-health problems, and so withholding or delaying treatment for this group of children is particularly cruel. We currently have an outstanding formal complaint about this, and it will be interesting to see what they say. I think we need a national campaign to highlight this issue. Does anyone know of a suitable autism charity to approach?

A side-issue here is that the obsession with targets has predictably back-fired, and this approach to management needs a complete rethink, as does the entire service.