Could my friend have munchausens?

[Anonnymouse124]

I have a friend with two children and they have both been diagnosed with autism. A mutual friend is convinced she’s manipulating the system to get attention and benefits as she had paid for private doctor appointments. I thought this was the most disgusting accusation so am trying to work out what I am missing. Is it even possible for this to happen?

A private autism diagnosis costs £3K,to avoid that most would go through right to choose and providers under RtoC have to follow NICE guidelines which include gathering info from schools.

I’ve not come across diagnoses where a child just rocks up with no input from school where I work.Providers typically ask teachers to fill out standardised developmental and behavioural questionnaires (like a school-specific observation form).

Children often mask at school so autism can be less obvious and seen in a school setting particularly in busy classes of 30 other children.

I’m in Wales and we do not have RtoC so parents either have children sitting on the NHS waiting list for up to 3 years (current timescales) or they go private if they can afford it.

My role involves going into schools for advice and strategies and we unfortunately do have pupils diagnosed with no school input. It absolutely does happen here.

Ironically those pupils at school very likely to gave ASD have parents who don’t want to know. Yet a small number of parents see issues at home which aren’t seen at school so school becomes the enemy as staff can only report on what they see in school.

Complete rubbish. The Age of Diagnosis has been hugely criticised not least because the author has no autism or cancer expertise.

The numbers are going to be small as not many people can afford the ££££ that private diagnosis costs.

And yes I see far more parents pushing against the diagnosis road as they don’t want a diagnosis on their children’s records or the stigma that comes with it.

Probably. It's particularly popular with the single mums on the council estate where I work. It's like a club.

She's got research experience and has researched well. Her points about the expansion of the DSM are very valid and point to a potential future where the majority can be diagnosed with autism. The difficulties faced by the severe non verbal autistic community are dismissed by those on the borderline of diagnosis and able to function. A diagnosis doesn't come without possible consequences later on either. For some it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

The numbers are increasing, without any knowledge of where I am or my working experience you have no idea about the numbers I see.

I’m not saying we disagree with the diagnosis in most cases but the lack of input from schools is alarming.

She has no cancer or autism expertise! And no the majority can in no way be diagnosed with autism.🙄Not least because our 1% diagnosis rate (a more accurate estimation is 3%) illustrates how it is under diagnosed in his country.

Im sorry but it absolutely is possible to pay for the diagnosis you want. My friend went through 3 providers before one (the most expensive) gave her DC an autism diagnosis. The first 3 said no....

Where you are in Wales does not speak for the as a whole and it differs to data across the UK where it is recognised that autism and adhd are under diagnosed.

The answer and what is being looked at is to ease the huge NHS wait lists. Then parents( mostly mothers), women and girls won’t have their diagnoses pulled apart.

We don't have a 1% diagnosis rate.

Not many people have 3x £3k spare to do that and there’s zero incentive to do so.

I live in a well off area where people can afford it. As a result 7 children in my dc class of 28 (that im aware of. There may be more!) have autism or adhd diagnoses or both.

What happened in my eldest dc class was a parent found a provider who would diagnose anyone, and recommended them to lots of other parents.

The expansion of the definition of ASD means that a lot more people can be diagnosed. However diagnosis itself doesn't tend to help much, mainstream schools are not equipped to support ASD kids.
However as ASD presents in such different ways and everyone has a different personality and different home circumstances just being autistic didn't prevent a lot of students doing well in the mainstream secondary school where I worked as Sendco until this year.
Also I worked with some awesome mainstream teachers who really understood ASD but what they could do in a classroom with 25 or even 30 kids is very limited. Especially in a school which was not completely on top of every detail. Changes to the timetable and lines ups and staff absence were out of my control and impossible for many Send students to deal with on some days.
Lots of people refused to believe that schools cant support all send children but the ask is simply impossible.

Of course it doesn’t speak for the whole of the Uk, I am aware of that.

I’m responding to posters who say schools etc are always contacted even for a private diagnosis when in my experience that isn’t the case. This is not about diagnosis rates but about who evidence is collected from.

Actually friends of ours paid for a private assessment and they were asked whether they would like an autism diagnosis. They were shocked. So this definitely does happen.

Official health estimates and the National Autistic Society estimate that at least 1 in 100 people (around 700,000+ individuals) are autistic in the UK, but primary care database studies suggest diagnosed rates are rising closer to 1.2 million or more.Diagnoses are much more common in younger age groups. Studies show that roughly 1.8% to 2.9% of children and teenagers (such as 2.94% of 10- to 14-year-olds) carry a formal diagnosis.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism#How%20many%20autistic%20people%20are%20there?

The terms used are factitious disorder imposed on self, factitious disorder imposed on another.

Discredited in the sense that most examples of it are not a mental health condition and so it's discussed as 'fabricated illness' and an example of child abuse, rather than as a condition that the parent has. Like how beating a child is child abuse and not 'child beating disorder'.
The abuse being the result of a psychological condition of a parent that they cannot control is possible but extremely rare.

It’s not all done online if you pay, and the child needs at least a 90 mins interview with the assessor, so they’re not ‘barely spoken to’ 🙄

Could it be the child also had autistic traits/ autism?

I've taught children who say they and their parents have done it all online.

The waiting list here for CAHMS to even start the diagnosis process is 5yrs. We don’t have right to choose (Wales). Getting a diagnosis doesn’t get you any money or support. You still need to pursue an EHCP to get educational support. DLA is awarded based on a child’s needs and requires no formal diagnosis and a formal diagnosis doesn’t get you DLA - it’s about need. I see no advantage in getting an ASD diagnosis if you don’t have ASD.