query about ASD diagnosis in Bucks

[signandsmile]

Hi all, i have a friend in Bucks who was told by the Dr (Pead?) that he ds shows no signs of ASD because he said he had friends, and spoke a little to the Dr with encouragement, and because he looked at the Dr's face.

Dr says "there is no test for ASD," and says the issues my friend has experienced with her son are behavioural due to the difficult couple of years they have had as a family .

I have recommended she keeps a diary of the issues she and school are seeing,

I know they use a multi-disciplinary process and ADOS where I am, does anyone have experience of the process in Bucks? Do they use ADOS? DISCO?

any info / experiences would be useful to pass on to her.

Many thanks

Was this doctor a Registrar? Locum? s/he does not sound very (ahem) informed.... (is this person even a doctor?!). Was your friend's ds discharged or given a 'watch and wait' review appt? If they are trying to discharge this dc and this doc is a Locum or Reg then grounds for disputing the decision will be stronger. Or she could ask to be transferred to a different consultant. As regards what the pathway 'should' be, she could Google the NICE Guideline, write a letter using this as a signpost for justifying on grounds of concern and need for MDT assessment.

I live in Bucks and I think it depends on the age of the child- My Ds is 2 .9 and is looking at a DX of ASD- with Lang disorder and a few other bits and bobs, the process for us was a referral to a developmental pead, then to a Child development team- that assess then give DX. However I believe if a child is over 5, they are seen by a development Pead then through an assessment from CAHMS- for ASD - It may have changed now, but that's what I was told when looking in to it.

thanks guys, i have given her the usual advice (IYSWIM) about diary and evidence,

thanks for the NICE guidlines idea, will def get her to check out. I don't think it was wait and see I think it was more go away this is an issue caused by your parenting. (ARGH!)

When dh and I have spent time with them as a family we have come away saying how similar her ds is to ours, and we have a clear ASD diagnosis...
so if we, un qualified can see it I am not sure how the dr 'saw no signs at all'???

We have just started the process of getting a dx for AS. We are in north bucks.
I spoke to school about my concerns who came back to me agreeing they had concerns too. They told me to see Gp, who referred onto paediatrician. She spent an hour with us as a family, and is now arranging to observe DS in school ( he is 8). Then DH and I will need to see her again without DS and fill out a questionnaire. That is all that has been proposed so far. No mention of DISCO etc.

However, we saw another paed 18 mo ago when we had concerns about dyspraxia and dyslexia, and he was referred onto physio and cognition and learning team then.

Just to add, I wrote an A4 letter with concerns on it which the GP sent to the paed, then gave the paed the 10(!) page full version of it when I saw her, plus videos of worrying behaviour. Also school have promised to back us up.....

Hmmm..thinking about it, perhaps the interview is DISCO....could that be right? I am not sure quite what it is!

I believe DISCO is the assessmen process.. ??

I know when we did ADOS for ds it was assessments from paed, pysch x 2,SLT, reports from HV, portage, SN group, pre-school obs, and then big Multi dis meeting to discuss/ decide.

thanks for your input guys, much appreciated. (i have passed on info to friend and think she will gather evidence and ask to see pead again.).