CAMHS assesment

[Queenmummyof2]

Hi, I was hoping to find others who have gone through a similar experience & have advice.

Had a meeting with our child's teacher and SENCO (in year 2 - just turned 7)

They have been monitoring our child's behaviour and feel that certain behaviours should have levelled out as a 7 year old and haven't.

There is impulsivity, constant need to be moving around the classroom, in-ability to sit still, doodling on work and not being able to follow an instruction through. Socially there is no problem as our child has lots of friends and plays well but sometimes the impulsiveness may come out during play.

School are recommending we go down the CAMHS route but my husband and I don't know anything about this and how it could impact records in the future.

We obviously want to help our child to reach the full potential and not to feel they are always not behaving in the correct way but are there other things such as occupational therapist, educational psychologist that we should see before going down this route?

I don't have such a problem with starting the process but my husband has concerns that our child is only just 7 and is still a child and by going to the GP and SENCO writing a report that it will forever be on record.

I just want to make sure we have a happy child and that if there are tools that he could be helped with that they are given.

Oddly, this is different in different parts of the country.
Where I live, CAMHS wouldn't have anything to do with this, however, I have read on many MN posts over the years, that in some areas, any diagnosis of ADHD is done through CAMHS.
If he does have ADHD, then having a diagnosis can sometimes open up routes to help, or if not practical help, at least understanding, and the responsibility of the school (and future schools) to make adjustments for his impulsiveness, his hyperactivity, his limited attention span, so, if it were my child, I would definitely see if it was a condition that he had.
If you have a diagnosis, and everything does settle down, or go well for a while, then there is no issue - nobody would know he had a diagnosis. There is no big arrow over your head, but if / when things aren't going well, then you can say that, as he has {insert diagnosis} he finds it difficult to X, Y, Z, and to work together with the school / future schools to make adjustments to help him.
Getting those adjustments will always be much harder without a diagnosis of anything.

Thank you, that was a really helpful response.