What is the hope of getting a statement with an ASD diagnosis

[pigletmania]

My dd has seen the Developmental Paedritrician yesterday his diagnosis was basically veered toward dd 4 having ASD, but he did not want to make a formal diagnosis until a multidisciplinary team meeting. What is the hope of getting a statement with a formal diagnosis of ASD?

It should depend only on need and not on DX, but I'd say DX always makes things easier because they can't argue that behaviour etc will miraculously improve overnight. It does still depend on need tho' and if your DD is extremely HF with few anxiety or behavioural issues it still will be difficult.

I'd request statutory assessment sooner rather than later as it would be useful to have it in place for Sept. Either Reception or Y1. Both can be tricky transitions, 1 to full time school, the other to more work and less play. HTH

have a look at indigo's post at the bottom of this thread.

The thread is not about asd, but I think she put it so well I'm thinking about printing it out for future reference!

No its about severe speech and lang and communication delay, with social communication problems which the headteacher of dds future school (her preschool is attatched to the local primary which i hope she is going to)has said will inhibit her progress and learning at school. without help she might fail and fall behind at school, there is already a marked difference between her and her peers already at nursery in terms of speech and lang, and social commuication. DD is a very bright and intelligent girl, and I fear without the help she will not succeed at school.

Yes we are going through the statementing process.

We are just going thru the statement process piglet. DS1 (3.7) was diagnosed with ASC last year. He is mainly non-verbal and although receptive language good and he can follow short/simple instructions he cannot follow a conversation/storytime etc. We applied for statement due to severe speech and lang and communication delay. As EllenJ says, it is based on need so go for it even if you haven't yet got formal diagnosis.

I would definitely apply now to try and get in place by school. Our application has been agreed so it is going to panel - fingers crossed we get a statement and 1:1 support.

Good luck with it and keep posting how you get on.

We are going through the statement process as well, having just turned everything in and waiting on results now. It has all gone relatively quickly for us, having first spoken to the SENCO at DS2's school in September 2010.

DS2 doesn't have an official diagnosis, but the paediatrician was happy to put together a letter outlining the difficulties and what she suspected may be the diagnosis to be turned in with the paperwork for the statement.

if she does well academically then it can be hard, but LAs differ widely and alot depends on their local approach. Ours delegates a huge amount of their budget to schools and then says schools can meet almost all needs through school action plus.
We were turned down for assessment at 2.5, appealed and they backed down at 2.10. Got a draft statement at 3.1 for mainstream 1:1 only (all reports said specialist teaching). Appealed this and got to tribunal at 3.11 (was adjourned once) and got a fulltime 35 hours a week ABA at home and in nursery statement for 48 weeks a year.

We were told throughout he was too able, did not need a statement etc etc but he was failed badly by mainstream 1:1 and autism outreach / SALT who saw him barely termly and gave very very basic generic advice. At no point were the LA interested in meeting his needs there only interest was delaying provision to save money. So you have a good chance, but don't expect any of the professionals involved to tell you that. Also take everything the LA offers as just that a first offer. Stick out for what you want, you may not get it all (although we did) but you will get significantly more than you were initially told you were entitled to.

IPSEA, NAS, ACE and SOSSEN all offer free legal helplines

Having a school on side who agrees that her level of needs are significant is really good. Also early intervention is key and intensive input now will pay dividends later on.

Thank you everyone, I am feeling more optimistic about it, she is quite able academically but has social communication and intereaction difficulties which could inhibit her learning. Saying that her grandma and grandpa came yeterday from Italy, when I opened the door she greeted them with a smile and 'hello' this is the first time this has happened as last time they came a year ago she told them to go away and would cry when they were there.

She then continued to interact with them, answering their questions with her limited speech, and showing off. It was a very proud mummy moment, she does not know them well and it just makes me happier for the future that with help she could succeed. She has only started to learn to ride a bike, and amazed me by picking up a scooter and riding it, she could not before.

When is the multi meeting?

Not sure really, within the next couple of weeks i think