CAMHS ref for ADHD?

[AbundantPlanting]

Hi
Not sure if this is the right place to post, but DS is going to be referred to CAMHS for an assessment (once his class teacher is back from being ill and has time to talk to the SENCO).
Any idea how long it will take to be seen, and what the assessment will consist of? DS is 8 if that helps.

Depends where you are, and what their waiting list is.

The general consensus seems to be that is takes far too long.

We have just been referred from Paed to CAMHS for ASD ADOS assessment and were told to expect 6 months wait to get through the system for diagnosis. I don't think that is an unusual length of time from what others have said in he past.

At least 12 months here

Took 12 months from referral to diagnosis for ds1 I'm afraid :(

He was assessed initially at CAMHS then they had an MDT to discuss, then had to observe him in school setting, have an MDT to discuss, then assess him again with psychiatrist for absolute diagnosis.

We are 5 months in and not had an appointment date yet! Hopefully much sooner for you

I have an initial appointment with CAMHS next week for DD. I only saw the GP for a referral on March 21st, so didn'twait too long for this appointment. However, I have no idea what happens at this initial appointment, but it takes an hour and a half, and I have no idea how much closer to a diagnosis we may possibly be.
Is it the wait to see CAMHS that takes such a long time? Or is it the diagnosis after seeing CAMHS that seems to take a long time?

Hmm, it seems to vary then. I am shocked by some of these waiting times .
DS's teacher is STILL off sick, so nothing happening yet anyway .

For those that you who do have a diagnosis, what hasa been the next step? What works - for you obviously, I suspect it may well be different strokes for different folks..

Update - DS's teacher finally returned to school and she and the SENCO have filled in a form to go to CAMHS. So now we wait.

I would love to hear from anyone who can talk to me about strategies or the process, or if their child grew out of ADHD-type behaviours etc though

We are currently going through the assessment phase with dd age 7. I took her to the gp with a list of my concerns. Gp ref us to developmental pead, initial appt took an hour and we discussed my concerns, schools concerns etc. Pead then sent out conners questionnaires to myself and school. Dd has been assessed by OT aswel and her report states that dd was excessively restless, unable to concentrate, easily distracted etc. We have an appt with pead in 4 weeks to find out what happens next, whether that will be a diagnosis or more assements I'm not sure. Although dds case might not be typical, as she has lots of other issues going on aswel. Good luck!

I am seriously shocked to see the delays people are getting. We were referred in September (few years ago, when DS2 was 4yo), saw CAMHS in October, then paed in beginning of November (I remember the dates simply because he was referred at beginning of school year by school nurse, and we were discussing the paed appointment when out for dinner on my birthday in the beginning of November).

I'll admit that we were told by quite a few people that we'd gotten him in for appointments very quickly and were lucky, but it's appalling that people have to wait that long for assessment - all those months that children are struggling, because even though they're supposed to provide support based on need and not diagnosis, many schools (thankfully not ours) wait until there is a diagnosis before even discussing support and certainly before discussing a statement.