Should I be worried??

[hoxtonbabe]

My GP recently put in a referal for my 15 year old DS for an autism Assesment/diagnoses.

I then received a call from CAMHS earlier this week and the "family therapist" said she would like to see me and my son. I expressed my concerns regarding the "support" ( or lack of it) I received from CAMHS the last time we saw them when my son was saying some very disturbing things. I also mentioned that the professionals/her colleagues that she will need to call upon including the school have not been acting in my sons best interest and basically being economical with the truth and obstructive to say the least and I have HPC complaints against the therapist she will need to approach due to her omitting vital information in her report and taking direction from the SEN case worker to help the LEA at the tribunal rather than be honest about what she had observed, etc...

I then have 2 counts of a DDA against my sons school as well as the senco never writing an IEP and neither the school or LEA providing my DS with provision in over 2 years despite the statement being very clear about what he needs.

The family therapist then decided to play devils advocate ( her words) and asked me what difference would having a DX mean now considering he of has a year left at school?!? That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard! The DX is not only about school and provision it's about his ability to cope in the everyday real world, it will allow him to access support into his adulthood, it will give people an understanding as to why he is a certain way, especially his total lack of social communication skills which is going to be challenging for him as he becomes less isolated as he is in school.

She then said " maybe the senco did not do his IEPs as he is doing so well he didn't need it" again...I was shocked to hear her say this, as this is written in his statement and you should not be trying to justify the senco's lazy attitude!

She then started waffling on about how it could be that my son is depressed and she wants to look at the family as a whole and how we are coping?!? As this may be the problem rather than autisim ( the signs have been there since he was a toddler however I just assumed this was all part and parcel of his speech disorder) so unless she is saying he was depressed from age 3 then not sure what she means?!?

What worries me besides her dismissive attitude is that she is in effect the gate keeper to if my son gets to get properly assesed/diagnosed. She collates all the info, then sees me and my son, she will then discuss it with the team and they then decide if he should be referred to GOSH, however she has already said she can't DX for Autism, so will she really know what to looks for?

Thanks

I know very little about most of your situation. Wish you well with whatever you decide to do.
What I do know is that academic achievement - doing well - is absolutely no reason for not doing an IEP and is, as you say, just a lazy SENco.
How is the school going to show areas of improvement if they have no targets? ARs are not enough.

I think being worried is understandable in your situation. I do remember a little bit about your situation, with regard to your ds's school. Have you tried to hold the LA to account by calling early annual reviews? Have you made any progress?

There is so much gate keeping in the system in both schools and the NHS. Lack of resources, arbitrary (financially driven) targets and fragmented systems mean there is more gatekeeping now than ever before. The upshot is that ASD often treated as a diagnosis of exclusion or last resort. At his age it is perfectly possible that he is both On The Spectrum AND Depressed! I think you are within your rights to play devil's advocate yourself and point this out to them! Whatever happens it sounds as though you are going to have to push them all the way to get him assessed. It shouldn't be like this, but it is.

I think you will have to find an ally wherever you can. Can you get a copy of the referral letter from the GP and make sure your contribution closely matches what your GP says? Is there anyone else who is on your side? Speech and Language Therapy (or is this the HCP who colluded with the LA?)? Ed Psych? Can you get a report done by a private SaLT? Will they be sending you any questionnaires you can crack on with? Is there a teacher at ds school who would support you? Hope you can find a way through.

Hi..

sorry for late reply, half term and all.

The whole situation with the school, LEA and appeal has baffled me beyond words, and in the middle of writing a complaint letter about the Judge/panel (but that is another story) but yes you are right, since 2009 the school have not tracked his progress and despite my complaints neither LEA, school or SENDIST Panel see this as a problem because the school are saying he is making progress in his academics (sod it if his social communication and verbal communication is poor!)

I have loads of independent reports that I will be sending them, however I am unsure if that will make a difference, they are all in it together so to speak.

TEACHER at school?!?! Oh please...this is the same school that have fiddled with my sons controlled assessment then tried to deny it!! I have to email the exam board with this information for them to look out for it as well as the ICT techer continually detaining DS fro not understanding the work...bloomin crazy the lot of em!

On a more positive note, DS has just been awarded his DLA (even though he is 15!) ...im well chuffed as I was expecting a fight but didn't get one, so finally something is going in the right direction!