any ideas??

[devientenigma]

well tomorrow we meet ds new psycologist, the last one was supposed to help with ds's anxieties, CBT, any further diagnosis etc. She talked to us on numerous occassions whilst observing ds, then before she went on maternity leave forwarded a letter to the psychiatrist saying ds was too severe for CBT, yes there are other diagnosis' in ds but she didn't have time to unpick so could someone else address him. We have waited almost 9 month? is there anything we should be asking? I do already have thoughts/questions just want to see if anything different comes up. TIA x

Sorry didn't see this in time to suggest any ideas but hope the meeting was successful. Did she explain what she meant last time when she said ds was too severe for cbt? Only wondering because we were put off with all manner of reasons/excuses for not offering ds cbt but when it eventually happened was definitely one of the more successful interventions for his anxieties.

Pink I think it was nature and degree of his severe learning disability. So how did you manage to get it in the end?

Ds had been involved in a social skills group where he was his typical asocial, anxious self and wouldn't join in/ talk willingly to anyone. The psychologist at camhs knew him from this and felt that this anti-social behaviour meant he wouldn't engage with cbt whereas in fact - as we argued - he will engage on a one to one basis with a trusted adult. They did carry out a cognitive assesment first - partly to assess if he was capable of engaging in self-reflection and discussion of feelings, partly in order to tailor it to his preferred way of learning (very visual in ds' case) and other quirks (eg needing movement breaks when he got fidgety). From our own experience, unless your child was non-verbal, it could work even if their understanding was limited, so long as it was tailored to their level. I guess asking for the cognitive assessment (wisc iv) would be the place to start, if this hasn't been done already. hth.