School has concerns about asd

[Redflowergreenbean]

I had a phone call on Friday from my DD’s senior school. She is in yr7 and they wanted to mention that they think she is possibly autistic.

Some of the reasons given were limited eye contact, blunt responses, and a flat voice.

No one has ever suggested this before, she went to a very small primary so I thought that surely it would have been picked up there?

Dd is a wonderful girl, really funny and intelligent. She does struggle with social interactions and didn’t really have friends in primary because she wouldn’t tolerate any nastiness or playground fighting.

Since starting year 7 she’s made the best group of friends, both girls and boys and is gaming with them and going to the park. She’s like a different child. She absolutely loves school and tells me most days how she loves being out of primary school. She does have real issues with letting things go, she’s still moaning about an argument she had in primary school in year 5!

I don’t know anyone with a child who is autistic so I have no one to ask for help and guidance.

I was a bit confused but I said I’m happy to follow whatever they suggest. They said they will monitor her and get back to me once they have discussed it further.

Do you think I should phone her primary school and see what they say?

It is brilliant the school is on the ball. As well as a referral for assessment, what support is the school providing?

Not all schools are on the ball, so it wouldn’t necessarily have been picked up in primary.

No support was mentioned, it was just wait and see. I think she just wanted to know if it had ever been mentioned before.

They didn’t mention a referral, just said they would talk to all teachers and have a meeting.

Is that the next step, a referral? Is that via a GP?

If the school suspect ASD, I would look at a referral. The referral pathway in your area will depend on where you live, but the school or GP will be able to refer. Or you could look at Right to Choose, but some ICBs have put caps on RTC referrals, so it will depend where you live.

It is good the school has suggested a meeting. During this you should ask what support they are going to provide. They shouldn’t wait for a diagnosis. Ask about a SEN Support plan too - these are called different things in different schools/areas, e.g. IEP, ISP, pupil passport, one page profile, My Plan, but it is a school level support plan that sets out DD’s needs and the support she requires and should be reviewed after a while and amended if necessary.

Thank you, I’ll write that all down to ask them.

What was the purpose of the call? To tell you they thought she was autistic or to outline specific concerns?