3YO DS asd referral

[ag12345]

Hi everyone. I’ve posted a few times so hi if we’ve spoke before.
my beautiful little boy is being referred for a pead appointment after February half term. Nursery are just gathering the evidence of what’s needed.
i know this board is amazing and I was hoping someone might be able to explain the criteria for referral and whether he will even be accepted for one.
He is verbal, 100s of words and uses them functionally. Can use some sentences phrases etc and some up with spontaneous language. I do believe he has some chunks such as ‘Let’s go soft play, let’s go downstairs’ he gets by on the language he has currently. (We are having private SLT weekly at the moment) he isn’t conversational at the moment but the back and forth stuff is slowly coming. He can answer questions such as ‘what colour is this’ ‘what’s your name’ ‘how old are you’ etc.
he can follow instructions if engaged and focused on what you have said.
his attention and listening skills need work but that has got a lot better since starting SLT and is able to take turns and be present for adult led activities. Much better if it’s something he wants to such as playdoh which he will happily play with for 15-20 minutes.
he does have a few tantrums that are always goal oriented, such as being told no. I don’t believe they are meltdowns - just very big emotions and can’t control them. He doesn’t seem to have any sensory issues. Does repeat a few things that he sees on YouTube. His newest one is ‘let’s open it up and see what’s inside’
he’s just been potty trained and picked it up so quickly it’s shocked me. He was a bit late to point, and interaction was minimal when he was 2 but now he’s very interactive and asks you to play. At nursery he is not yet playing with peers but will share a toy. Sleep isn’t great. He can sometimes wake up early hours and struggle to nod off again. He doesn’t cause a fuss just chats to himself. He also hand flaps when excited.
does this sound like anyone else’s child and did they go on to receive a diagnosis. He’s made so much progress in these last 6 months and SLT is pretty confident conversational speech is going to come.
he’s incredible and I’m doing everything I can to help him progress. I just want him to be ok.
thanks :)

Having ASD doesn't mean he won't progress well, or that he won't be able to communicate well. It just means that he is a bit different from the majority of people, and that some of these differences make it measurably harder to live in a world largely designed for nt people, and a diagnosis can help make the people around him change his environment so that he can thrive even better. The threshold for NHS referrals is pretty high, so to get on the waiting list, there must be evidence not only of symptoms but also that the symptoms affect his daily life significantly in the three areas of communication, social relationships and need for routine, plus usually problems with sensory issues. So the chance of wrongly be labeled ASD is very low.

@NellyBarney hi lovely. Thank you for your reply.
i mean he has made heaps of progress in the last 6 months and it’s getting better and better. His language is coming on lovely. Do they have to have sensory differences for diagnosis? X

I don't think so, the official 3 categories are communication, social behaviour and need for routine. In reality, I've never met someone who was diagnosed but had no sensory issues though - but at 3 years, he is very young. It might not be so obvious yet/he isn't able to articulate it yet. Overall, 3 is pretty young. I'm a bit surprised they refer him so early. My autistic dd displayed a lot of typical ASD behaviour at 3 years old but I doubt she would have been diagnosed at that stage. E.g. no meltdowns yet and we weren't aware yet she had severe/extraordinary sensory issues. He sounds like a lovely boy and it's great that he gets SALT, which at this stage seems the most important intervention. There is no therapy for ASD, so apart from helping parents and teachers and ultimately ds himself to better understand needs/personality, an ASD diagnosis doesn't do that much. It's definitely nothing to fear should he be diagnosed with ASD. They might well say he has traits but they can't diagnose it yet but that he should be seen again at a later stage if there are future questions/changes.

@NellyBarney Thank you for the explanation lovely. The sensory issues may not be obvious right now but if anything I would say he’s more of a sensory seeker rather than avoidant. (I do have some knowledge on asd but just not as young as this. I have worked in special schools for 6 years) loves the trampoline, being chucked about and nursery have said when he gets upset he likes being held tight. The reason for the early referral is because it is currently over 2 years for pead appointment so he won’t even be seen until he’s 5 which I do think it will be more clear. He really is a lovely boy, and an asd diagnosis won’t change that :) he’s making so much progress, yesterday I went to a friends and he asked her little boy to ‘race car’ and gave him the car to play with and then they chased each other round the kitchen. He will do that with adults and his brother but he’s not done that with someone his own age so that was pretty amazing. He fits the description of ‘spikey development’ too because when he was younger he could count to 10 before he could ask for some
juice. I also think he’s got a very good memory despite the lack of listening and attention so I do believe he will probably be a visual learner. He’s actually incredible. I think what I find hard is not knowing what the future looks like. But I’m doing everything in my power now to help him. X

If you are worried about long waiting times for assessment you can ask your GP to refer your ds via the Right to Choose Pathway to a private provider of your choice. Where we live, the NHS waiting list is currently 8! years long (there are over 400 children on the list and they assess about 1 patient per week), so even if you are happy to wait for a bit, if you feel you need to speed things up at any point.