Advice needed for next dip on the rollercoaster please [confused]

[Hallybear79]

Well finally got a date through for my son to see the paediatrician about suspected ASD/ADHD. It's not for another 4 weeks but starting to feel anxious about it. I'm not sure what to expect. Do i need to take notes made by teachers or myself? What will the next step be? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

They will ask you your sons life story (from birth until now) so write down any behaviours and traits that you have noticed since he was born, any mile stones you feel he hasn't reached or was late reaching and anything else that you think they should know, you could also get his teacher to write down a few behaviours they have noticed at school or problems he has had.

If school / you still aren't sure what the dr may need to know, have a look at these.

sdq, CAST
Australian scale for Asperger's
adhd symptoms

The first is incredibly common in the NHS already. The others are sometimes used. There are some better tested scales, but they're not free on the Internet; the consultant may give you copies of the paid-for ones to fill in and to take to school.

Do they normally assess/ interact with your child on the 1st appointment or all just talking to parents. I feel quite concerned discussing everything in front of him.

Yes, it will be mainly talking and then they might interact with him for a little while. If you can take some one else with you so they can sit in the waiting room with Ds when you are talking.

We had two paediatrician appointments - the second six months after the first. Diagnosis was only made after the second appointment (and two and a half hours of questions, plus reports from SALT/OT/nursery/sight and hearing tests).

DS was present for both appointments, and climbed on every stick of furniture, tried to leave, played with taps, threw toys etc. Talking was a bit of challenge! Having someone extra there to sit with DS is a good idea. I wasn't worried about my DS understanding, but basically one of us could talk/listen, and the other had to concentrate fully on him.

At the end of the first appointment (in which the paediatrician had talked to us and asked some questions, and also observed DS and tried to do some simple tests, eg with blocks), the paediatrician asked us what we thought. DH and I said that we thought it could be ASD, and the paediatrician said, 'yes, we are looking at something in that general area'. This was what we had to keep us going for the next six months - nothing more specific than that. The first time anyone said the word autism was when DS actually got the diagnosis.

I don't know what the policy is in your area, but be aware that a diagnosis may still be months away.