DS2 has official dx

[Tiggles]

DS2 has just been given his official dx of HFA. After his school assessment the ASD team weren't sure if he was going to need to be reassessed when he was older, or just if he had some very good coping strategies at school. He scored more than double the cut-off point in some parts of the ADOS, and during that he even related off to them the lists of things he has to do in certain situations.
I've always known he has autism since we started looking into AS with his older brother as DS2 was born. He was non-verbal until he was 3, but now at just 6 is working a year ahead at school, so I know they will be surprised when they hear he has a dx.

Wow, sounds like he has great insight into how the HFA affects him, hopefully that will help him over the years. Are you OK over it all, you don't sound particularly surprised, but it can still be a funny feeling, even if you expect the DX? Hope the school are helpful.

That's good that you have the DX he needs. ((((hugs)))) Sorry, obviously, that he needs it. What's your next step? Getting support at school? I'm glad the multi disp team saw through his coping strategies, but it's positive that he is so successful at coping in school, really, even if it makes convincing school harder.

I'm not surprised, but I'm still feeling a bit numb. He has made such big steps over the last couple of years that I was hoping that they were going to say he was just a late developer. Especially when the dx team phoned within an hour of his assessment saying they had a result. I have had many times when I have tried to convince myself he is NT as he presents so completely differently to DS1 in many ways. DS1 is very quiet and shy, DS2 runs up to random strangers to hug them. DS1 would make a train track and it had to use every piece of track but he would never use the track. DS2 would happily push a track around a figure of 8 piece of track for hours and hours, throwing a tantrum if I tried to join in. Most bizarrely DS1 has always really struggled making friends but has been desparate to have a friend. DS2 is exceptionally popular, but he really isn't bothered and will quite happily ignore his many fans and go and do his own thing.
Sorry waffling.
I'm not sure really how to tackle school, the ASD team said they would make a start for me, by going through with the school exactly where his difficulties lie and how he is currently coping, and equally pointing out to them where he isn't coping but they are overlooking, due to him doing well in other areas (if that makes sense). Now I have a dx I will go and talk to them properly about things like lunchtimes as I know he finds the noise hard in the hall for example.