Initial appopintment with CAMHS.

[DanceInTheDark]

What happens at the initial appointment with CAMHS? And what am i to expect after it?

The main thing I remember is that they ask you how you think they can help you.

Having an answer lined up would be a good idea.

Saying "I don't think you can possibly help me because we are beyond help" like I did is obviously a very bad idea.

I just want to help DS2 :( My parenting works for DS1 and 3 but DS2 needs something i don't know how to give.

Oh, I know what you mean, DanceInTheDark.

I think they might talk to you all together, then speak to DS2 alone, then speak to you alone. (That's how it was with our apt) They then referred DS2 for anger management we'd gone to CAHMS due to his school refusal, but because he had become violent due to his fear of school that is what we were offered.

they will ask you questions about presenting situation- how long any precipitating factors
take a social and medical history of child
who is in family,who lives at home,who involved.ask about family and current situation (this is v relevant)

There are several professionals that work in camhs team
psychiatrists,
psychologists
mental health nurses,
family therapists, art therapists
social workers
support workers
occupational therapist.
your initial assessment will last about 1 -2 hours, and you will be asked about the situation that prompted your referral eg what you have done so far to try and address the situation, what worked, what didn't, etc. questions about the child's early years and development progress too.

CAMHS also liaise with schools/hv/GPs/ss about referrals and share information

they will discus your referral and your assessment at team meeting and decide whether to proceed further.or refer on to another agency

they will probably suggest some tactics/interventions to you

i suggest write list of your own questions too

dont worry.and good luck

Thank you :)

Without going into long detail we are working thru a list of people rather slowly.

School have already been involved with the Occupational Therapist so am not worried about a liason.

I just want to help him :(

We met with a psychotherapist who didn't say much at all, really. Just asked why we had been referred, how the referral had happened, what support we wanted. CAMHS saw us twice, then referred on to a SALT and for ASD assessment. We ended up being referred back to CAHMS down the line, though, and they proved to be very useful in our case.

We have been thru SALT already and had a cursory ASD assessment. Consultant doesn't want to officially dx anything just in case he grows out of it . I don't know if that means he thinks there is likely to be an ASD or of he is just saying yes there issues which i will look at deeper in the future.

It was our GP that referred us to CAMHS.

How old is your DS, DanceInTheDark?

In my experience, CAMHS can be as useful as a chocolate teapot ...or they can be extremely useful indeed in getting the right support for your child. It depends partly on how good and how supportive the therapist/s you see are, and partly on whether you know what you want from them and how hard you are prepared to push for it.

Do you suspect ASD?

If you want to discuss this in depth, the SN boards are great. I have a 5 yr old DS who was diagnosed earlier this year with Asperger's, and am happy to give any advice or info or just support that I can.

I get too confused by the seperate sections on the SN boards. And tbh i put my foot in it sometimes unintentionally so decided it safer here!

He is 5. I just want them to tell me what to do with him. I don't know if he has an ASD or not but his behaviours are not what is in my experience of normal and so far the people we have seen have agreed with us but they seem reluctant to give us proper help.

His diagnosis is currently Dyspraxia with ASD type tendancies. He also has sensory issues which aren't major but do impact on a "normal" every day life.

I feel for you.

It's incredibly draining and worrying when you know that your child needs some sort of extra support but you aren't sure for what or how to go about getting it. It can also be incredibly frustrating - assessment and diagnosis can take a long time and be confusing and upsetting.

It took two years from GP referral for our DS to get a diagnosis and even now I don't know if it is really accurate or if it is 'just' something behavioural that he will 'grow out of'. All I know is that the situation got so bad for DS and he needed such a high level of support - and diagnosis was the only thing that drew down the support he needed (eventually).

What is your DS's behaviour like?

The Special Needs: Children is the general SN board and gets the most traffic, btw, but I understand it can be daunting if you are at an early stage of assessment and aren't sure what the issues are.

His behaviour is terrible. One on one he is ok, it's easier to change what i am doing or to totally distract him if it's just him and I.

It has got to the stage where i won't go out on my own with all 3 of them. DS1 is 7 so at "that age" and DS3 is 2.5 so at "that stage" and if DS2 is so unpredictable it's not fair on any of them if i just crumple because i just don't know what to do. I don't know how to be the parent that they all need me to be when they all need me to be different things.

In some ways, my 2 year old is further 'ahead' developmentally than my 5 year old.

Oh DanceInTheDark, your situation is frighteningly similar to mine! My 22 mth old has a better social manner than my 5.5 yr old!

I really hope CAMHS can provide you with some support.

Sorry, it all turned a bit mememe then.

Thanks for your help. WIll try and remember to post again after the appt Thursday morning.

Don't be silly! Been there, got the tee shirt. I maundered on on MN for months when our DS was being assessed, don't you worry

Do give us an update. I am expert at playing the system these days so might have a few pointers for you once you meet the CAMHS therapist and get a better idea of what they are offering.

Good luck.

It was fine. The woman we saw was lovely, just gathering a general history of why we were there and getting a picture of the family. Was a bit odd to talk about DS2 while he was still in the room and it always makes me feel really awful having to talk about the negative side of him.

They have put us forward for ASD assessment. We now have what they call a partnership appointment and then AIDOS (is that right?)

I feel like we won the battle but the war is far from over!

bump

danceinthedark.... i wondered if i could ask what made you suspect asd?
we kind of suspect ds1 (he is 5 too) but keep fluttering between yes, definitely something wrong and no, he's just 5!

T's not specifically ASD but i do think it's something. He just wasn't the same as DS1. Lots of little things that niggled - and still do.

He turned away when i was feeding him as a baby - tricky to bf a baby that wants to face the other way
Milestones were late.
He is affectionate but only now and only on his terms.
He has next to no social skills.
He had really rigid routines that have taken us years to turn into something doable as a family. He still has to do some things a particular way.
He bangs his head a lot.
He had speech issues.
He makes odd noises in his throat, particularly when he is in a situation where the noise is too much or too little for him.

He also goes thru phases of stroking clothes in shops and will only wear soft clothes.
He gets very easily frustrated over really little things.
He takes things literally - eg "Lets put DS2 in the recycling" - obviously i wouldn't but he fully believes it even if i have a smile on my face.
He has coordination problems.
His fine motor skills are only just improving.
He can be quite violent too.
He can go from 0-hyper in a matter of seconds. Over and above the normal level of giddyness that DS1 and 3 get to.

If all that happens in one day i am reaching for the vodka lol!

Sorry that is really negative.

I need to add some positives.

His reading is all of a sudden AMAZING. Towards the end of the school year he was reading the books with the repetitive words in "this cat is black" "This cat is brown" etc but he is now on books with real sentances in :)

Also, to give him some credit, despite his ongoing language difficulties, he can communicate as well as other children his age :) sometimes needs a teeny bit longer to get his words out but he can do it now!

oh AND he has not fallen over for 2 days in a row! (big thing for him!)

ahh bless him, he does sound quite similar to my ds1
we're currently doing nothing because GP said to go through school and school say he is fine there so there is no problem

maybe tyhey're right though, i dunno. i just want someone who knows about it to tell me

His teacher this year has said that he probably will work thru it himself but the bad days are really bad and my mental health is shit from fighting the fight alone (DH was a head in the sand man until the Dyspraxia dx)

Sorry clicked send too early.

I just wanted to keep the ball rolling after the SALT because its easier to access the services you need if you are already 'in the system' if that makes sense.

yeah that makes sense. thanks