Refusal of an ADHD assessment

[Ilovepugs2017]

My son is 12 - always had an inclination that he was different to other children growing up but as he was my first born I didn’t really have anything to compare his behaviour to.

As he’s grown older it’s become more prevelant so I went to see the mental health nurse at my local GP to see about an ADHD referral. She gave me some forms to fill in and some for his school to fill in. Whilst we were there she noticed he exhibited some of the traits of ADHD - lack of focus, fidgeting etc when she was trying to speak to him.

Got the forms filled out and fast forward a couple of months later I’ve heard nothing. Spoke to the ND team today and they say unfortunately he’s not being put on the waiting list for an assessment as the schools rating isn’t high enough to warrant a referral for ADHD.

I genuinely can’t see how it’s being missed in school? Is it possible because he’s not that disruptive that he’s falling under the radar and they are not noticing his difficulties.

I have contacted the school further about this and awaiting a return phone call but a bit lost as to what to do from here. Anyone been in a similar situation? Am I being unreasonable for wanting to challenge the school on this?

I don't have experience of adhd but when my son was having his autism assessment his school said the same thing. A combination of masking and teachers being too busy to notice/other hildren are "worse".

I went back through dc school reports, picked out all supporting evidence and submitted that myself which was enough. Can you do something similar?

I agree with previous poster, go back through school reports/any correspondence with school and see if you can find any evidence there to submit yourself.

The problem with school is that a) he could be masking or b) if it’s a class of 30 pupils it’s very possible that it is just being missed. Unless he is actively disrupting the lesson, acting up, making a scene, in a busy class a teacher may simply not notice things like fidgetting & lack of focus and even if they do notice those are things which wouldn’t necessarily raise any kind of alarm as they could just as easily be the actions of a child who is bored, disinterested, has finished the work etc. It’s really easy to slip through the cracks.