So my children’s school have just announced that we are to wait a year of evidence gathering before they complete a SPOA (single point of access - I think) referral. With my oldest 2, as soon as I spoke to them with concerns, the teacher agreed and did the form. My children got referred and after an 18 month - 2 year wait, they got diagnosed with asd. Now, for my youngest child (year 5) the school have said they have to fill in a year of evidence before they even fill in the SPOA referral. Then it is at least a 2 year wait for any appointments. So that’s an extra year of teachers blaming parents and saying we are just bad parents, or attention seeking. (Some teachers at the school are like this). And if the child is in a class where the teacher refuses to accept there are any concerns, and it is just the child being needy, or naughty, or lazy etc, they will have to wait for an extra year before they even get a teacher who is willing to do the year of form filling before doing the SPOA (single point of access). Is this right. My oldest was diagnosed in primary, so it has made it loads better at secondary. But if they were still waiting for their referral, they would have always been in trouble, which is no good for mental health. Is this what happens in all schools? Was I just lucky with my older 2?