ADHD Assessment

[Stellaris22]

I have rung up to chase a referral from July last year and been told it's going to be two months before DD even gets a telephone assessment.

School have been great and she regularly does extra sessions arranged by SENCO like swimming and lego club (she is 7 and in Y2). School have had ADHD specialists observe and work with her, advising she is showing typical ADHD symptoms, all of which was included in the referral letter.

I've looked at private assessments but there's no way we can afford it.

How long will it take from a telephone assessment to get a formal diagnosis? It's horrible because her behaviour is getting worse and I really worry she is falling behind.

I think it depends on your area. We are in Barnet and our timeline has planned out as follows:

*Initial referral made - followed by meeting with CAMHS nurse and questionnaire filling within a few weeks by home and school
*Then year long wait

• 6 bi- monthly sessions with a CAMHS family therapist plus multiple questionnaires filled by home and school 1 month wait Then told we didn’t meet criteria for ADHD assessment. If we have I think there would have been a further wait if about 6 months.

We are in Norfolk. Specialists brought in by school have observed her and put their observations in the letter that school gave us for the GP, so it's all been passed on.

Thank you for the reply, it's useful to know timelines even if it's still unpredictable.

We're in a different part of the country, but for us 4 months from referral to initial assessment with school doctor, which prompted a Connor questionnaire, a letter saying he was in the adhd pathway and invite to 123 magic course, but ultimately a further nine months until assessment with adhd specialist.

We looked into private assessment as fortunate to have health insurance through work, but were advised by school to hold out for NHS diagnosis as more helpful in the long term to be "in the system" and school have in any case triggered all the support he is likely to require in school through the stand SEN process. So our involvement with the ADHD team now boils down to a discussion about whether to go down the medication route or not.

From 1st appointment to medication took a year,been on medication a week