Could i ask, becuase i am a bit confused..and ignorant tbh.

[oflip]

Friends of ours (15 years) have a son, aged 10. My Gorgeous Godson

Friend has always commented that she thinks that her son "is different from other kids".
I just thought he was spirited, funny, individual, smart, obsessional, and at times easily excitable. He is also argumentative and its very difficult to disuade him from his train of thought & opinions. He craves routine, and has irrational terrors about things like dogs.

So started and struggled at school. Labelled "the naughty boy" with teachers & kids alike.
Friend went through shit & high waters, but eventually got him moved to another school where he is thriving and within a week, they brought her in and told her they suspected ADHD and poss Aspie.

So he had formal assessment in November (following months of 1:1 with a phsychologist)
Results given ths week says that he does not have ADHD. He prob isnt aspie.
But has major social interaction & communication issues. But should recieve support.

What does this mean? What support will he get? If he does not have any of these things, what does he have? Apparently he doesnt tick all of the boxes.

It is a daily standing exhausting fight to deal with her boy, the authorities and the fact that he needs help. She is wits end and desperate.
She is a fantastic, patient and adoring mum. A teacher herself, she has worked in some really rough schools with kids with severe issues, she says that her boy isnt like any of them in the way he behaves, but can see his behaviour in the many sn kids she has had in her classes over the years.

Where do you think she should go from here on in?
Its all so upsetting for every one concerned
Any advice or reassuring words would be so very gratefully recieved, thankyou all.

well, what do school say about the results? what support does the psych suggest?
what does the paed think?

ds1 now does have an adhd dx, but also has some social and communication needs, but isn't aspie (this was also suggested for him, but is in theory ruled out now).

what support will he be getting? what has the psych suggested?

in reality, a lot of children do not have specific dx, but have known sn requiring support, which they get. the difficulty only occurs when someone says there can be no support without a dx.

as the report suggests he needs support and details his sn, there should be no particular problem. the psych has probably outlined some support ideas and some coping strategiesfor him?

Can't help a great deal tbh, but if you find he does need a dx for support, like our area, try for PDD NOS. This link gives you info about it. www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/pdd-nos. I hope everything turns out for the best.

As outofbody said, in theory it shouldn't matter whether or not he has a diagnosis. If the psych says he has social and communication issues, then the school should be able to put relevant support in place, guided by the psych's recommendations. You don't need a diagnosis to be placed on the SEN register or to get a statement, you just require an identified 'need', iyswim.

That said, you are likely to come across a lot of naysayers and people who will tell you that a diagnosis is necessary and 'you'll never get a statement' etc. My best advice would be to completely ignore anyone who tries it and go ahead and push for a statement or more support anyway. I was fed that line so many times and the local authority are currently carrying out a statutory assessment of my son's needs on our first application.

Just a thought, really just a gut response to your op. My 9 year old ds got a diagnosis of Aspergers almost exactly a year ago, but it was touch and go as to whether the diagnosis should be NLD/NVLD (Non Verbal Learning Disorder) rather than Aspergers for a while. In the end the Aspergers dx was decided following the ADOS assessment. It might be worth having a read of NLD on the Web and seeing if it rings any bells.

UK professionals are slowly starting to consider this for cases where there is significant social and communication impairment, but the full triad of impairments isn't present and the psych that did ds1's ADOS told us that up until the ADOS assessment they were thinking along those lines for ds. In fact my GP's daughter has an NLD diagnosis, so it is possible to get the dx, even though its a relatively new thing in the UK.

Oh yes, creatovator is right PDD-NOS or Pervasive Development Delay - Not Otherwise Specified, is another possible/alternative diagnosis. I didn't think of that one, sorry.

If she thinks he has AS traits then she needs to keep fighting, IMO.

I would recommend that she gets Tony Attwods " Complete Guide to Asperger Syndrome". It is a really good book and which we went through underlining and marking pages which referred to the types of issues that Dd3 was having.

We kept a diary of her quirks/behaviours and how we dealt with them[to show consisitency].

In september when she ws 9 she was eventually Dxed with Atypical Autism, although the psychiatrist decided to put ASD on the final paperwork because hardly anyone knows about Atypical Autism so they wouldn't know how to help her.

I for one am glad I fought for a Dx because it has taken some of the preassure off me to try to make her be something that she is not.
Now that she has a label/signpost she can access support at school and I can learn how to help her.

Good luck to your Godson and his mum, they are lucky to have a good friend like you.