No wonder it takes so long to diagnose.

[Hallybear79]

Well, we finlly had our 1st CAMHS meeting yesterday( for our DS5 suspected ASD dyspraxia & ADHD) & quite frankly it felt completely unproductive & the whole meeting was identical to the one we had with the paediatrician 6 months before, literally the same conversation, questions & responses. After asking all the same questions, the assessor asked if DS has been assessed for dyspraxia??? To which my husband replied 'isn't that why we are all here now"?!
At the end of the hour she said his traits are so wide spread, it'll take years to diagnose as they cover so many issues & was'nt sure what step to take next & she would phone me next week.
Just feel quite annoyed as this is what i had actually told the paediatrican myself! And after reeling off 4 sides of A4 of traits to the paed which she put in a referral letter to CAMHs, i had to go through it again with them. No wonder the whole process takes so long, if they read their notes i'm sure it would knock months off the diagnosis process. And not knowing what road to take next?? Surely they must of come across similar cases. The whole experience so far doesn't give me much faith in the overall outcome.
Sorry to moan, just felt fed up with it all
Oh & also it had to be discussed whilst my DS was present. Surely thats wrong.

my dd was assessed for dyspraxia by OT and SALT, as her dyspraxia also effects her speech. pead ref to OT to carry out assessment which involved the beery vmi test of visual perception and ABC of movement. OT then wrote a report showing percentiles and included her recommendations. This was then sent to pead who made the dx.
If I were you I would be asking pead or gp to refer to OT.

We went through similar with DD3 it took 3.5 years to get her Dx!!

She was seen by 3 paediatricians before we got to CAMHs and they each took a detailed history which of course was exactly the same each time. Why cant they share information??

Actually for us CAMHS were good but it still took a year to get through their teir system.

She got a dx of ASD in the end, I agree about seeing and OT though. Your GP or school SENCO can refer you.

Good luck

Thanks everyone. We've got another paediatrician appointment
at the end ofthe month so i'll ask her about OT. From other stuff i've read on here it seems like you really have to fight to get any kind of help.

Dd3 doesnt actually get any help other than at school. She is in a lovely very inclusive school and she is mostly well supported. We did have to move her though.

I have just asked for her to be followed up by OT as they havent seen her since she was dx'ed 2 years ago.

She was discharged from CAMHs straight after being diagnosed because Asd isnt a mental health issue and her anxiety isnt bad enough to need them. Hey ho, you will have to fight for support but you will because its your child and you have to.

Good luck

ot recomended I applied for a statement for dd for 1:1 support at school, we are currently going through the SA process now. OT also provide therapy for dd, we are currently doing a pindoras box programme and when that finishes will have more OT assessment.

I can't see why they can just dx what they see and understand, then figure out the rest as they unpick it. So if dyspraxia can be seen but they are also other symptoms just diagnose dyspraxia and work on the other symptoms that are outside of that. Or am being to simplistic?

Stencil asked me if I thought ds was autistic - how the hell would I know? Where's my phd? Where's my experience of sen?

Senco asked me I mean