School nurse and camhs think daughter autistic

[Theirmumxx]

Hi, my daughter is 8 years old.

the school nurse and camhs have recently written to her school to request they put her on an autism diagnosis pathway.

my daughter is very bright and high functioning and regularly gets upset saying she doesn’t want to go to appointments or tell anyone how she feels because she is worried she is attention seeking. She voiced this to the school nurse who reassured her that she isn’t and we believe her and I also reassure her when she mentions this (several times a day.) Has anyone else experienced this?

it’s heartbreaking she says “my brain tells me that all the time and it won’t stop, sometimes I think it’s real but I promise I’m not attention seeking” 😭

She also says some days feel worse than others and I have noticed it can sort of bubble in the background for maybe a few days/weeks and then all of a sudden “blow up” … is this typical of autism?

sorry I’m completely new to all of this and just want to help my child the best way I can.

Poor little love. Have you applied for an ECHP yet? It's based on need rather than diagnosis. It sounds as though she's not coping at school

This is the board for neurodivergent adults. You may have meant to post on the board for parents of SEND children.

is this typical of autism?

Autistic girls often mask until they can no longer and then become overwhelmed. However, there may be other reasons for this behaviour. We cannot diagnose your daughter.

she doesn’t want to go to appointments or tell anyone how she feels because she is worried she is attention seeking

It's possible that someone somewhere has accused her of being manipulative or attention-seeking and she's frightened of being unfairly labelled as that again. You are already reassuring her that you believe her. She needs to know that what she experiences matters and she doesn't have to minimise it.