Awaiting _____ diagnosis

[Bozzul]

I work in a school and we obviously have pupils with SEND, who have certain strategies we use with them and a number of others to monitor and trial things to include them.

All of them have attached documents to let staff know what's needed, but there's currently a trend for adding a sentence to say huge numbers of pupils are awaiting a diagnosis - awaiting dyslexia diagnosis, awaiting ADHD diagnosis etc.

They're not. They're still awaiting being assessed, and often because someone unqualified to judge has decided it's possible or suits them. But it might not be the case that a diagnosis is made (I'm thinking that the chances our school have such numbers compared to national data aren't high)

I'm all for doing what works for each child, and if they have tendencies that are normally addressed in a certain way, then of course these things can be used to help them too, but I don't think it's helpful to staff or pupils to imply issues which haven't been diagnosed.

Edited, helpful TO either staff or pupils

OP You are a TA, I honestly think your post is above your pay grade. Let the Send and the teachers decide. If I were you I would just do my job.

But its not a requirement to check that exactky the uk average of extra time in exams happens.
It maybe your school spends a lot of money on assessments that show slower processing or whatever.
Its obviuosly in a schools interest to get extra time for any student that coukd raise performance at all. Tbh a confict of interest in that the people doing the paperwork do benefit from it so could be done fraudulently.
However imo extra time if not needed at gcse could be detrimental if a child needs a break to study for the next exams but are stuck in the morning exam.
I do think using a computer could be a huge advantage for many srudents especially if you had poor short term memory so can rearrange your work.

I was surprised about how many kids were getting extra time on sats given that dd couldnt finish the papers and wasnt allowed any.and actual severe children didnt sit the sats.

Current y 10 would have missed
Half y5 and 8 weeks y6 and didnt sit SATs.
So perhaps missed a lot of writing practise so are slower and slower readers.

It is true social media is bringing to attention how parents can push for adjustments to improve child performance.
But it really shouldnt be about pushy parents.

Why has my dd state secondary not realised she never finishes work?

Probably similar to the primary where with 0 extra effort from them she was going to pass and so they have no idea how she would do at the top of her performance.

I guess i conclude schools realise exams concessions are the easiest way to improve performance. Realistically you cant make a child study..

Agreed.

I see this often in my line of work where a parent or a member of staff has decided the DC is 'definitely ADHD/ASC/mental health' even though phrases like that are often meaningless in themselves; and then the narrative becomes almost like they've been diagnosed when often, the DC wouldn't meet criteria for assessment let alone diagnosis.

People run with their uneducated opinions based on their experience of what they think a certain condition or diagnosis may present as. Same as many MN posters do. Mention a few possible traits that may be associated with ADHD/ASC or a MH condition but are also extremely common traits or behaviours anyway and usually the first few posts on MN will have someone say "sounds like ADHD/ASC/MH get them assessed"

It's one of the reasons specialised services have been so completely overwhelmed by referrals. Because many of them are inappropriate.

I think you'll find services carrying out specialist assessments have robust triage arrangements that stop less plausible referrals progressing.

One of the positives of neurodevelopmental conditions now being better understood and less stigmatised in wider society is that more neurodivergent individuals are able to be assessed and gain an understanding of themselves. Research suggests this is beneficial.

And I think you'll find that dealing with inappropriate referrals still takes up huge amounts of admin time.

And that it is difficult at the point of referral to differentiate between a valid referral and a referral where parents and school staff have looked up criteria on line and claimed the child meets those criteria when they don't.

And that is why many specialised services have had -because of that, reduced their criteria to the most in need DC and the most at risk who can actually demonstrate a disability.

Like this : ‘Children put at risk’ as NHS autism assessments are cut back | Autism | The Guardian

The massive increase in referrals cannot be entirely attributable to increased awareness resulting in increased diagnoses.

And then if you want to say increased diagnoses means all these DC and adults were all always ASC or ADHD but not diagnosed.

It's not as simple as that.

It's that the DSM criteria for ASC was widened to include many people who would not have previously been considered to be Autistic. And most practitioners use ICD-11 criteria which is more vague and including even more.

And due to the overwhelm of NHS services, private practitioners who perform legally adequate but not clinically adequate assessments of ASC and ADHD are part of a multi-million industry diagnosing people with complex ND on what someone says they have experienced or feel like, and the agenda of those practitioners (it is a business) takes hold.

Many, many people want a diagnosis of ASC or ADHD for themselves of their children. It's not like 20-30 years ago when it was undesired, people want it know and if practitioners say no, people will argue to the hilt about it.

Which is why you have celebs like Lee Ryan from Blue, Mel Sykes the 90s model. Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd getting ASC diagnoses and multiple celebs coming out with an ADHD diagnosis, usually because they've done something bad in the eyes of the public or because they have a book or film to sell.

As soon as I see XXX celeb reveals shock diagnosis I know it'll be ADHD. It's become a commodity.

This is essentially bigotry. Your celebrity smear gives you away - a cheap shot and completely lacking in compassion for people who have struggled for many years.

We investigate much more suspected cancer these days but you are not whingeing about that.

Both DSM V and ICD 11 require evidence of significant impairment of functioning in important areas of life.

Take any metric you like and people with global neurodevelopmental conditions face very significant challenges. Only 10% of autistic people work full time, only 30% at all, see also life expectancy, and risk of victimisation and abuse.

And you've demonstrated the residual stigma attached to these conditions very well yourself with your sneery comments about people's diagnoses.

Do you actually know this? And are you aware that actually the number of send is rising due to older parents and the sheer number of people who used to not get diagnosed (think little Freddie who used to get beaten and left school at 15). It makes my heart weep to think of what would have happened to my little boy back in the 90s. And yes we now have a diagnosis, having gone private. I don’t know anyone who wants. Send kid. It’s painful. Your post reeks of judgement as is very hurtful to parents like me who would do anything to not have to label my kid like that.

Bigotry?

i assume you know what that means since you just claimed I was an example of it?

Please explain what you think is bigotry in my post?

I'm not sure you understand what it is let alone be able to accuse someone of it.

You're proving my point that words and phrases have meaning that are often thrown around by people who don't understand them.

If you're throwing around bigotry without understanding what that word means. I don't think you understand complex clinical diagnoses or this discussion either.

Your first line of argument was celebrity slur, your second line of argument is and ad hominem attack on me. Not serious.

1. noun: the attitude, state of mind, or behaviour characteristic of a bigot; intolerance.

they never accept all referrals. our local camhs is triaging all referrals and a big chunk are rejected. We will still have to wait 6 years to get assessed. My child is so unwell, it isn't even in school anymore and recently tried to take their life. It's not just those who are a little bit 'quirky' who are on waiting lists but many are like our family in crisis.

My eldest is 'awaiting an ASD assessment'. He has been 'awaiting' for 4 years. In the meantime he is attending CAMHS for depression because, ya know, he very likely does have autism and is finding the teenage years exceptionally challenging. As if being a teenager isn't hard enough without throwing ASD into the mix. So, if someone is 'awaiting' anything, it's very likely that multiple issues have been flagged up and that, even if they don't get a diagnosis, something detrimental to how they function in the world is going on. So probably best to have some empathy and not just assume that parents are seeking 'labels.'

Not an attack on you or celebrities.

An assessment of the 'system' and the public perception and fact that ASC and ADHD in particular are 'trending' on social media and have become a modern phenomenon.

Which goes beyond previous lack of diagnosis and has become a social phenomenon where Keir Starmer today has released statistics where the people claiming benefits for ADHD, adult or chid has exploded 41k % in ten years.

Is he, as the leader of the government a bigot based on nothing other than questioning that like you accused me of being a bigot?

Or is it based on reality and people working within those systems saying what is actually happening and the government supporting that and you should get a grip of yourself and stop making false offensive claims when people tell you what is happening?

If you think i'm bigoted then so is our government. And people said the previous government were bigoted to.

I voted Green but you need to get a grip hun and stop accusing people that disagree with you based on evidence, as bigots.

1. No idea why you think you are the only one 'working within those systems'. And 2) we now have much more evidence as to the efficacy of ADHD medication, so it is hardly surprising it is prescribed more.

If you want to smear people getting diagnosed with neurodevelopmental conditions as having done something bad or because they have a book or film to sell, then don't be surprised when you are challenged. It is offensive and makes lives harder for neurodivergent people.

Before referral i wanted the gp to look at it with me/do differential etc. But no just agreed it would be asd and referred for that. I wasnt sure i still think pandas/pans or even lyme disease. Almost all the kids i know have had at least one tick bite (compared to when i was a child). And dc went from healthy to very unwell but never any bullseye.
Also there are a few risks or causes of asd that we fit - pcos, slightly older parents (33), icsi.

I do wonder though how getting diagnosis of asd or adhd seems relatively positive it may well flip. Re driving or some jobs, or choosing to have dc (though knowledge is useful), confidence to go travelling or off to far away uni.

😂😂 what a surprise - person in unusual career choice with unusual lifestyle has ADHD

Yeah sounds like they’re just making it up. No way a creative person who lives on the road, has late nights, trouble with addiction or impulsivity behaviours would have ADHD.

they’re obviously making it up for attention or atonement!

I'm looking for a source so I can get some context for this Keir Starmer quote and all I can find is Daily Mail and GB News and they all just say "Official sources".

The thing is that yes it sounds very impressive and shocking and explosive if you say something has increased by 41,000% or start throwing around figures with hundreds and billions in them - but you have to understand what you're actually looking at. ADHD has a prevalence of something like 3-5%, but the number of people in the UK with a diagnosis in 2013 was 12 in 10,000, or 0.12%. So just for a start if you're getting anywhere close to actual estimated prevalence then you're looking at an increase of 3000%. But also because of increased awareness there is a backlog, so it's not like 0.12% got dianosed in 2013 but then by today we're just catching up the new ones. You get people realising that they were never diagnosed in childhood but actually still struggle.

Source please!

You do sound very bigoted and anti ND diagnosis. Dismissing how debilitating but is for those unfortunate to have NDs.