To go back to the GP

[Cakefordinner]

Ds (7) is struggling with Christmas this year (and every year tbh). He is very excited but is very anxious and over the top with it all. He is finding it hard to sleep as he says he is scared but doesn’t know what about. He is having tummy aches, out bursts at his siblings, is tearful and upset. He doesn’t want to be apart from me at all and was beside himself sobbing and shaking when I needed to pop out by myself to do some Christmas shopping. He gets particularly stressed around Christmas but he is prone to these issues all the time (he usually doesn’t like me going anywhere without him but can cope, he really can’t at the moment).
He was referred when he was about 3 by the Health Visitor and GP as the suspected that he was possibly on the spectrum or had something going on (long list of issues at that point) but the person we were referred to was very dismissive and thought there was no need for concern. I left with the impression they thought I was over reacting. We home ed and so there is no school involved, useful because we set things up to work for him, but it means we don’t have any teacher to support us in knowing if we should be concerned about it.
He is doing well academically, has friends and copes well with smaller, predictable home ed groups. He makes ok eye contact and although he can find it very hard to calm down when upset, he doesn’t have tantrums in the way that he did when he was younger. He is very good at sport and is very active. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time or make a fuss about nothing but this level of anxiety really concerns me. Would I be unreasonable to ask for another referral? Is this normal behaviour?

[Cakefordinner]

Thanks! I will look for those courses. He currently is upset that he can’t get to sleep because he’s worried he won’t sleep on Xmas eve. It’s exhausting for him and me.

[Rosspoldarkssaddle]

See if your local camhs does the cool kids courses for anxiety. They are excellent for both adults and kids and the camhs team gets to work closely with them and can raise any concerns or suspicion with you, referring them if needs be. You attend with him and you break into separate groups, kids in one and adults in the other. I highly recommend this course.

[meredithgrey1]

No I don't think you'd be unreasonable at all.
The eye contact thing is a red herring and not as closely associated with autism as people think. But aside from that, the anxiety must be very upsetting for him so even if there are absolutely no other issues it's definitely worth trying to get him help for that.

[Cakefordinner]

Thanks, he can get anxious about small changes too, I’m just not sure if I’m being over dramatic about it all.

[TheDarkPassenger]

My very very high functioning asd child can make eye contact act and use imagination but also suffers with anxieties similar, he’s fine wth Christmas (I think the excitement overtakes it) but otherwise is nervous and anxious around other minor changes. He also hated me going out but is mostly okay now. He also has major major food anxiety (eating disorder) so yeah I would absolutely ask for another referral, I’m not saying he is asd or anything but he does sound like my son!