child assessment

[MUM2TJ]

my 4 yr old son has a diagnosis of sli and development delay and attends 3 days ms and 2 days in development centre. the school and his salt has mentioned getting him assessed to see if there is more going on like asd and dyspraxia due to a few difficulties he has. anyone on here know how and who would make this diagnosis as his pead has a wait and see approach to giving a asd diagnosis, his salt has mentioned a child and family unit but i have no idea what that is,, any help would be apprieciated

I've been told that it is either an educational psychologist or a speech and language therapist. Although I am having problems getting an assessment for ASD and Dyspraxia, I'm not sure if you may encounter difficulties.

he has a educational psychologist and a speech therapist and was asked by them if i wanted them to refer him to a child and family unit for an assessment for asd and any other problems like dyspraxia,its just when i googled child and family unit it comes up as camhs which i thought was for a childs mental health(i may be totally wrong there), i was just wanting more info before i went ahead with it

In many areas CAMHS (also called CFAD, child, family, adolscent centre?) dx ASD.

In other areas a paed does.

So it sounds like child, family unit is the place dx is done where you live.

Take them up on the offer. It can be good to have a formal dx.

in a lot of areas camhs do the assessments for asd. in some areas they have a multi-disciplinary assessment centre where all aspects can be addressed over the course of a week. you could discuss this with the paed? particularly if school are suggesting it - assessment is not just dx, and could throw up unexpected areas where more support is needed...

sorry, meant to just highlight that different areas carry out assessments differently/ by different people. sorry if i was confusing!

I am going to because from what i have read from some posts on here is that assessments for asd seem to be like golddust in some areas so i suppose its a good thing that they are offering this rather than me having to ask as seem to have to fight for most things he needs. i think i am just scared of the outcome from the assessment.do you know what they do during the assessment process?

nothing scary. checksheets, chatting, observation, simple tasks. some places video the child so that they can double check for signs they might miss, and in a multi-discip assessment centre there are often play workers who supervise the child when the parent is providing info who also note traits etc. a lot depends on what the process is local to you - it's been different everywhere we've lived tbh. they will want full background and developmental history though.

thanx he has an app with his pead nxt wk so will ask him for info.the assessment isnt the scary bit, its the dx im worried about

he'll be the exact same child after dx as he was before. it won't change him in any way. it might make it easier for you to get the support he needs though.

I know that id love him regardless its just at the min he has a dx of language impairment and develop delay so in my mind he may come on enough in the future to be able to talk and catch up to his peers and not have that dx attached to him anymore, but a dx of asd seems so final. i dont mean that to sound like a bad thing and to offend anyone who has asd, im just thinking ahead to what the future may hold for him.

it's a spectrum. my dd2 has cerebral palsy. you'd be amazed how many people seem to think that means she must be wheelchair bound and drool.

the thing is, just calling him 'x' isn't actually going to limit his potential in any way. he will have the same potential as before - but you might be able to access more help to help him realise it.

dd2 was 'developmental delay' as well.

dx sucks, but at least you know what you're dealing with and can get your ducks in a row.

I did not mean that asd is a ''give up there is no point dx'' at all, that is far from what i think. I think every child should be given the help to reach thier full potential no matter who that child is and my son is already making progress and I know that if he has asd then it will not change that or change who he is. All i said was that i was scared of the outcome from the assessment,which any mother would probably feel scared or anxious not knowing what professionals have to say about there child. I didnt mean anything I said to offend anyone.

I know it's really, really tough to be facing a dx. It feels very 'final' and is a difficult process to go through.

The one thing I would say to you is that now, in this climate, all children are having to fight for resources and support. (Of course, that is totally disgusting, but unfortunately its the reality). I can actually see a time when 'having a dx' will trump 'not having a dx but having difficulties' - I'm sorry to be harsh and I'm very, very cynical at the moment, but having a child who has a dx similar to yours just now, who does not have asd - and watching him being signed off from SALT and OT because 'everything he needs is being delivered through school' has been extremely frustrating.

I don't mean to scare or upset you, but if there's a chance there could be a further dx you should go for it IMO. Otherwise you may find your support is, like ours, limited to a 30 minute 'communication group' with no targets or outcomes, and 20 minutes of theraputty once a week.

Not having a clear diagnosis can make life very, very difficult. I fight a constant battle re the quality of my parenting because DS's diagnosis is not clear. In my case DS was found to have "social communication disorder with autistic traits", which doesn't explain the theory of mind stuff, the auditory processing issues, the anxiety, the ptch sensitivities, the dyspraxic symptoms.

My local CDC refused to allow a tertiary assessment and iinstead will reassess him for ASD when he's 11 - too late to help with secondary school selection for my summer baby. I intend to go private as soon as I can afford it simply because living with the ambiguity has become a proper PITA.

Life without a clear diagnosis that's easily understandable to a new class teacher etc makes life much harder than it needs to be and makes it easier for the authorities to restrict access to services that will help him.

A diagnosis can always be readjusted later on if it's found that it's not needed. For me the long term consequences of NOT having a diagnosis are far more serious than getting one and then finding it's not needed, especially in the current "cuts climate".

I have already said that I have decided I am going to go ahead with getting him assessed just scared of the outcome thats all but I know he needs to go ahead so then we can try to get access to any extra help he may need but thanks everyone for your replies.

Hi MUM2TJ, I hope all goes well at your appt. I do know what you mean by the finality of an ASD DX. Suddenly it's for life, not something he'll grow out of. That was what upset me the most.

I suppose we are all trying to say the same thing, in different ways. If you do get the DX of ASD, although it will be very upsetting, people on here have been through it and will try to support you with positive stories and the possible benefits of having that DX. Then the idea that it hasn't actually changed him will make sense and be comforting.

If your DS doesn't have ASD, we'll still be here to support you through his other difficulties and celebrate this load off your mind with you.