Ds11 has had behaviour issues from a young age. Very impulsive (aggressive at times) very smart boy, great sense of humour popular at school but could misunderstand social situations . His understanding of feelings/rules are clear but sometimes he struggles to apply it hence he used to have outbursts towards peers (usually brake times at school). He has 3 other brothers at home and this very intense behaviour has got him into trouble at home too. Very strangely the issues usually start around September and almost disappear as spring comes. School suggested an adhd assessment which we got rejected on almost every ground. His teacher also suggested he might have something called a gifted child traits causing him to be very defiant and almost needs to be broken in for him to accept his place. Anyhow this year I definitely noticed him being very low and lose interest in most of his activities by the end of first term which is understandable as they are getting tired but the tiredness that takes over him as in he is almost in pain when he gets back from school makes me worried and started thinking about bipolar or manic depression signs which unfortunately runs in our family.
the psychiatrist wants to do an autism assessment to rule out after the adhd was rejected but I honestly feel he has no autism traits and it’s just a waste of BUPA and it would make him feel awful going through the whole assessment process.
What he does love and always help him is talking to the school’s support worker.
My question is is it worth requesting therapy/counselling sessions to talk to someone about how he feels and perhaps they can figure out where he needs help rather than trying to diagnose him and put a label on. My gut feeling is that this is a start of mental health issues which will get worse with hormones but I’m determined to see him through his struggles. Unfortunately not everyone in my family got the help they needed hence it ended with tragedy and I’m petrified history may repeat itself