It will be harder to get a DC at school an autism diagnosis?

Cliftontherocks · 05/05/2022 21:55

I have a list of girls criteria and used it for my referral for my daughter. The school filled it in too and we went from there.

OneRingToRuleThemAll · 05/05/2022 22:01

We had the same with my eldest DD. I paid for a private assessment, which is the same place as NHS assessments and she is severely autistic.

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 22:01

Was this your own list or from the paediatrician?

OP posts:

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 22:02

OneRingToRuleThemAll · 05/05/2022 22:01

We had the same with my eldest DD. I paid for a private assessment, which is the same place as NHS assessments and she is severely autistic.

Do you mind me asking how much it cost? Not sure I could afford private.

OP posts:

5zeds · 05/05/2022 22:03

Girls are more easily missed but siblings are more easily identified. Just go ahead.

Harriedgymmum · 05/05/2022 22:06

The school should be able to support your referral. It sounds like she is masking in school, so they aren’t seeing the true picture.
if you go pay privately, ensure the clinicians assess being mindful of a female presentation.
I paid privately for my DD; it was approximately £1500. It consisted of an ADOS and DISCO assessment. Results on the day with a final report a couple of weeks later.

corlan · 05/05/2022 22:13

The Senco's wrong. I've worked as admin on the diagnosis pathway. If the school reported no issues for a child, a speech and language therapist would do an observation on the child in school. It's really common for the school report not to match the parents.
Your daughter is really not at a disadvantage because she's in school.

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 22:18

5zeds · 05/05/2022 22:03

Girls are more easily missed but siblings are more easily identified. Just go ahead.

That's good to hear

OP posts:

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 22:19

corlan · 05/05/2022 22:13

The Senco's wrong. I've worked as admin on the diagnosis pathway. If the school reported no issues for a child, a speech and language therapist would do an observation on the child in school. It's really common for the school report not to match the parents.
Your daughter is really not at a disadvantage because she's in school.

Ok, thank you - good to hear.

OP posts:

The3Ls · 05/05/2022 22:25

Yes similar process in my trust. In fact 90 percent of the time we do a school visits as slts. Girls are more challenging to identify. even for those professionals of us who are aware of this. We are still very tuned to the more typical male presentation of ASC. However we re learning and becoming more aware and the stats reflect this. Even in primary settings report differently to parents. Because guess what kids are different at home even neurotpical ones! Go ahead with the diagnostic process and good luck.

Kite22 · 05/05/2022 22:26

However, the Senco was saying that it would be harder with DD as girls especially show less symptoms at school so the school's report will not match mine and my DD's report. This means she may not meet threshold to be assessed. This seems crazy. I'm looking at self referring to the Early Help's Neurodiversity service and hoping they can support us with the process. Why should my DD not get assessed just because she manages to go to school?

I think you may have misunderstood. I am reading that not as the SENCo indicating she won't get a diagnosis because she manages to go to school, but the SENCO is telling you that she will have to report what they see at school, and, while she is at school, she is masking.
That doesn't mean she won't get a diagnosis. The assessment will look at all sorts of things - including the fact that, statistically, girls tend to mask quite well in many circumstances. They will know that very often children with autism present differently in different circumstances.

Autienotnaughtie · 05/05/2022 22:31

School should only be part of the assessment - salt, paediatrician, Ed psych can all contribute. Specialist will have a better understanding of what masking looks like. The fact there is a diagnosis in family should strengthen need for referral.

Mumteedum · 05/05/2022 22:35

My experience was that school tried to put me off going forward with assessment. You are the best advocate for her. You will do your report and school theirs. Just go for it and some other good advice here to help.

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 22:46

Kite22 · 05/05/2022 22:26

However, the Senco was saying that it would be harder with DD as girls especially show less symptoms at school so the school's report will not match mine and my DD's report. This means she may not meet threshold to be assessed. This seems crazy. I'm looking at self referring to the Early Help's Neurodiversity service and hoping they can support us with the process. Why should my DD not get assessed just because she manages to go to school?

I think you may have misunderstood. I am reading that not as the SENCo indicating she won't get a diagnosis because she manages to go to school, but the SENCO is telling you that she will have to report what they see at school, and, while she is at school, she is masking.
That doesn't mean she won't get a diagnosis. The assessment will look at all sorts of things - including the fact that, statistically, girls tend to mask quite well in many circumstances. They will know that very often children with autism present differently in different circumstances.

She specifically said my DD might not meet threshold to be assessed because of the school's report. Then she quietly said to the teacher 'does she give eye contact, have friends?' So annoying if that is what they are looking at. These things are so much more nuanced! For example often I can give quite good eye contact but if I'm stressed, upset or afraid it all goes out the window!

OP posts:

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 23:04

I don't see why they need a report from school, tbh. My DS obviously didn't have one and they were able to assess him fine.

OP posts:

corlan · 05/05/2022 23:13

The main reason is to get evidence on how your child interacts and communicates socially. Ironically, one of the main reasons a child would get stuck on the waiting list in my NHS trust was that they weren't in school or nursery.

Original poster

UndertheCedartree · 05/05/2022 23:18

corlan · 05/05/2022 23:13

The main reason is to get evidence on how your child interacts and communicates socially. Ironically, one of the main reasons a child would get stuck on the waiting list in my NHS trust was that they weren't in school or nursery.

I was concerned about that initially but it wasn't a problem. All very straightforward and relatively quick. How ironic to be stuck on a waiting list for not being in school when it is the expected
diagnosis that prevents you attending school!!

I'm hoping Early help will help us sort this in the most straightforward way.

OP posts:

Autienotnaughtie · 06/05/2022 12:03

Autistic girls are typically more sociable as they are good at masking. It sounds like she only has a basic knowledge of autism, continue to push for professionals to see your child you need more than one opinion. Also when you fill in any paperwork your self alway describe her worst days not her best it's those that she needs support for.

DD7Superstar · 06/05/2022 12:12

Varies hugely by school and child and hospital.

My DD had no issues receiving her diagnosis at 5.

Hospedia · 06/05/2022 12:18

As a PP said, it's very common for schools report to differ from the parents report. Make sure to include in your side of it that she doesn't have obvious difficulties at school because she masks and/or school are adaptive to her needs but that she is affected by school because <any issues you're having relating to school> (e.g., after school restraint collapse).

When my first DC was assessed school said they had no issues, comes in, sits down, does his work. They tried to suggest it was all in my head. The neurologist doing his assessment sent someone in to observe him at school and she picked up a lot of behaviours and signs that school weren't picking up on either because it was outside their field of knowledge or because - even with the best will in the world - they couldn't pay that close attention to one child in a class of 25. The observation picked up on stress behaviours, sensory seeking behaviours, sensory avoidance behaviours, lack of understanding in various situations, and so on. They also picked up things like DS appearing from the opposite end of the room to be engaged in reciprocal conversation but once you got close enough to listen he was actually having an entirely separate conversation to the rest of his table. The assessors are trained and know what to be aware of when visiting the school.

booboo24 · 06/05/2022 13:17

I've just been through this with my 14 year old daughter. School said she was quiet, well behaved, had lots of friends but was anxious. My daughter's report and ours were a lot more aware. She was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD, and in the follow up appointments we were told she had learned to mask exceptionally well, it didn't get missed, so please don't be put off by your SENco, ours was/is pretty useless unfortunately and every step has been a battle. Even now with the formal diagnosis in place they are dragging their feet in organising support. She's just about to head into the most crucial years of her school life.....Therefore My advice is to push for it now so that you aren't against the clock in her education