Help getting adhd referral

[Anxiousparent101]

My 5.5yo has many adhd traits and his behaviour is concerning. School have concerns over his behaviour and gp thinks an adhd assessment is a good idea though has said nhs waiting times in our area is 3-4 years. He suggested right to choose but I’ve only found a few providers in the country and none will accept referrals less than 6 years. Their wait times have also increased with some providers no longer accepting referrals so I worry that in 6 months time, we won’t be able to use those either. Anyone with a child under 6 with adhd? How did you get assessed so quickly? Which private providers are recognised by nhs?

My county won't accept referrals for those under 6 either, that seems to be the general cut off for ADHD

I got the ball rolling when my son was 5, this was through the community paediatrician, referred by GP, it took a good six months to be seen by them, who agreed assessment would be appropriate based on the meetings we had and the symptoms my son presented/presents with, by the time the paediatrician contacted my sons school, assessed the case, the paediatrician said “it will be another few months until we can get an assessment appointment through us and your son will turn six before the appointment so your only option now is to start again and go through CHAMS”

I was furious as we had waited so long yet had to start again, the school has now put a referral in to CHAMS and I haven’t heard a dickie back yet. I’d wait and go through CHAMS unless you can afford to go private.

However in the mean time, I have had my son placed on the school SEN register, he has access to weekly counselling for emotional regulation support, and he does have support in place within the classroom, so not having a diagnosis yet doesn’t mean he can’t have this support in place as either way the “issues” are still there. You can have a meeting with your school SENCO leader and discuss support options while referral is in progress, you can also claim DLA for your child while referral is in progress. Hope this somewhat helps, it’s a really frustrating waiting game.

Thank you. How did you go about getting support from school? His teachers have been quite dismissive so far as he is not very disruptive at school (gets into trouble a lot for minor things but they just think he’s a naughty boy who doesn’t listen). It’s his behaviour at home that’s more of a concern (I think mostly because he keeps it all in at school and all hell breaks loose once he gets home).

I expressed my concerns early on, and they were also dismissive at first, I think this was because my son was masking at first behaviour wise, however he soon got comfortable and the cracks started forming, by the second parents evening at school they had concerns with my sons ability to process information as he wasn’t able to remember the phonics and he would be easily distracted, the teacher said she was concerned with dyslexia and so I explained these can also be signs of adhd and she said she will “keep an eye on it”.

soon after( a few weeks later) teacher pulled me aside and said that she agrees that the symptoms are presenting. This was in reception and my son is now in year 1 so the things that got school on board was just simply time, once my son got comfortable and familiar with the school and teachers he no longer held it all in, his behaviour became challenging, he constantly has a first aid slip as he falls over a lot from being hyperactive, his learning ability suffers as he is constantly distracted, he has struggles with friendships and can get aggressive and violent etc, I had already got the ball rolling because I knew it would be a matter of time before I would be getting complaints about him, however the first term of year 1 the teacher referred him to CHAMS on their behalf aswell which honestly I was relieved because then I knew they were finally on board! Xx