Aspergers??

[MrsDiggens]

Hi,

I'm a mummy of 4 children, 1 has SPD, Speech, lang, Comm disporder, Dyslexia and possible Dyspraxia.

Our eldest we have always thought had Aspergers, and recently his school have noticed some similar issues and agreed the same as us so wrote to the dr for us. He is 7, will be 8 in Oct. We have been referred to a paediatrician in April, but i was wondering how long it took for anyone to get the Aspergers Diagnosis and help?

Also he recently become really difficult at home with his behaviour and out and about is that something anyone else has experienced? He seems to be good at school.

It depends on the system where you live. We first saw the paed in May 2011 and they have just now March 2012 discussed him at the panel having done all of their assessments. Still need to wait for an appt to come through for the paed to get told whether they are going to give a dx.

Hello MrsDiggens,

I'm afraid the waiting list is dependent on both postcode lottery and how prepared you are to make a nuisance of yourself.

In terms of getting help, the dx is a bit like an entrance ticket to a labyrinth and not much is forthcoming without hurdles.

In terms of a dx you might like to think about what wil be most useful. Almost universally a dx of Aspergers will put you out of the criteria for many referrals. A dx of ASD (of which Aspergers is one) is a bit more flexible and open to interpretation. Additionally, Aspergers is being got rid of as a dx in favour of ASD so you might get a dx that will shortly be out of date.

Having said that, people who have yet to meet your child I.e clubs, private schools etc. can be less prejudiced against a dx of Aspergers. It is really a matter of weighing up what is most useful.

When DS1 was dxed with AS the waiting list was quite short about 4 months, and it only took a couple of months til he got the dx, but he was quite a clear cut case.
DS2 has been on the waiting list since July last year (they decided to wait and put him on the waiting list for the school age team as soon as he was about to start school as it has shorter lists than the pre-school team). He still hasn't been seen, and last time I contacted the team he was nowhere near the top of the list - they have had lots of 'restructuring' which I guess means redundancies, so they have no idea how long it will be :(.

In terms of help, it took over a year of banging on to DS1s school to get him on the SEN register after he had an official dx. The dx team made it very clear that all they did was dx there was no nhs help once dx had been made.

DS is generally well behaved in school - he is very rule bound. At home he can explode generally due to massive amounts of anxiety.