To think 'needs based approach' is a fallacy

[sunshine244]

I'm not sure about England, but here in scotland we are supposed to have a needs based system of support for children with additional support needs i.e. support is supposed to be based upon a child's needs not diagnosis.

In theory it sounds great but in practise it just doesn't seem to work. I have two children - one diagnosed with various ND conditions and a younger one as yet undiagnosed. No right to choose here and a 3+ year waiting list.

Both are eligible for support at school, but autism masking makes it hard for the undiagnosed one to get any support. Our autism outreach team won't get involved until diagnosed.

Disability social services won't do assessments until a diagnosis is in place.

Most disability sports / services won't accept someone onto their (very long) waiting list until diagnosed.

Child disability payment needs professional input which is hard when sitting on waiting lists for years.

Aibu to think the needs based model just isn't implemented correctly and so needs rethought? I'd be interested to know whether undiagnosed children are eligible for services in other areas.

We are in Wales and I also have both diagnosed and undiagnosed dc. There hasn’t been much difference in what they can access. The undiagnosed child is on a higher rate of dla than the diagnosed one.

There’s not a lot of support available to either really though.

In terms of school, it does seem to be needs based. But again, support is lacking for both. We haven’t come across services needing a diagnosis but then there aren’t really any services for children with a diagnosis, where we are.