Behavioural officer says it is more than likely AD/HD

[Cosmo74]

Had a review with behavioural officer through school and she says that although she cannot give DX it is looking like ADHD - also found out today that we have eventually got a appointment with community paed. next Thursday - I do not know how I feel very confused as even if her gets dx he is not automatically entitled to help at school. His classroom assistant can stay until Xmas but what happens after that - she told us that it is very hard to get a statement even with a ADHD dx so where do we go from here. What will I tell community paed. will he take the behavioural officer report into consideration or will we have to start again with all the methods that she had done before he will dx.

Any advice on what I say to community paed. and what I should be asking for.

I think you should not be put off applying for a statement even if it is hard to get. Sorry I can't be of more use but I don't yet really know how things work with a child already at school. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will be along soon.

Cosmo,

I would ask your LEA to assess your son with a view to getting a statement. IPSEA are very good in this regard and can help parents. Their web address is www.ipsea.org.uk and there are model letters for the LEA you can use too.

Would not let spurious talk from a classroom assistant put you off applying for a statement. She has no clue!. The onus is on you as the parent to apply for the statement though - do not rely on school to do it.

I agree with Meerkatsunite - definately contact the LEA regarding a statement yourself. My ds doesn't have a diagnosis either but he still got a statement. When he was referred the school thought it was ADHD but I was convinced that it wasn't. The paed agreed with me but as he still needed the extra help he got the statement.

Since then we have watched ds more closely and the paed now says he thinks it might be AS but we have to wait until he is 7 for an assessment and diagnosis.

I find it hard to remember everything I want to say in an appointment so I make a list before I go. For our last paed appointment I made a list of all the behaviours that I had concerns about and also tried to put some examples in of when they had happened. I also wrote down what we were doing to manage the behaviour - what was working, what doesn't work etc.

Good luck for thursday.