Those that have met Daphne keen

[hoxtonbabe]

Hi all,

I have received my letter with a form I'm supposed to give to the school. Those of you that know my issues will be aware this is not an option. It will not be in the schools best interest ( sod my child and all!) and will probably just add to an already difficult situation/relationship with them and the LEA. It certainly will not be in my DS best interest and it will be a totally pointless task asking them ( given the ongoing issues)

My DS is 14 and the paperwork is to give to "a teacher" well he has a few and they wouldn't know ( or admit) to anything even if they saw him getting bullied and set on fire every day! ( one teacher said in writing my DS was lucky to get support?!?...support that is written in his statement by the way!)

Has anyone that has seen her been in a similar situation? I do have lots of paperwork as I tend to request his school records every so often so I have lots of info on his alleged attainments, teacher comments/reports, assessments, etc..

Thanks,

HB

We saw DK.

Different situation, as our son's school were very supportive. They however, saw a completely different child in school to the one we saw at home, and were I think (quietly) sceptical about why we wanted the assessment.

DK seemed very understanding of the fact that the school's view was different to ours, and even seemed to suggest that this is seen so frequently in aspergers, that it is a diagnostic factor. (obviously, in particular contexts).

Can you either ring her secretary, or email before the appointment to raise the issue, and ask what the best thing to do is?

Hi! She diagnosed my two, although the school was very supportive, but more helpfully diagnosed a friend of mine's son even though he didn't show symptoms at school very much - sounds a bit like yours in that he kept it all together at school and came apart at home.

I think it is quite common in children with Aspergers, and I also think that she knows that not all schools are very helpful and takes that in to account.

Mine, luckily, showed all their symptoms at school and were mostly OK at home, so when the school said they would like to refer them for a diagnosis we were really shocked.

We saw her a few years ago. Again, school were v supportive infact DK diagnosed ds with dyspraxia from our meeting with her and added autism based on schools response to q's. So I think she will diagnose on the basis of info you can give and what she sees from your son on the day. She also recommended some private occupational therapy for ds which helped a lot - not sure if your son is too old for that.

DS1 did not show any behaviour (that his teachers could recognise). It doesn't matter. Ds1's questionnaires for ADHD/ASD/APD were all negative according to the school. It just shows their inability to see anything but the bleeding obvious.

DK sees through it.

DK was happy to assess our DD based on all the reports we had got from OTs, SALTS etc as we had previously had issues with the forms school had completed. DD also behaves differently at school to home and in addition is taught in a unit intended for children with learning disabilities which disguises her symptoms somewhat.

However, the forms DK sent to school were different to the ones the NHS used and were more suitable for girls. Consequently the completed forms indicated ADD where previously they hadn't and allowed DK to diagnose ASD also.

I think DK is very used to this situation.

I second emailing her secretary and/or DK and asking for advice.

I think I'd still give the forms to the school. You don't want anyone accusing you of being selective in the information you present for dx.

If the school deny everything and she STILL diagnoses (which she will if it merits it, and is quite used to schools talking bollocks and not recognising their own toes) then it will make the diagnosis all the more stronger and also demonstrate that the school are ignorant at the same time.

We met Daphne Keen two years ago and she diagnosed my now 6 year old. I found her very empathetic and was fantastic in understand our need to be believed about issues that maybe weren't obvious in the meeting.

She seems to see beyond what maybe others, particularly a school sees as they don't always behave the same in any one environment.

She was also keen to point out that we could contact her anytime, with any questions, after the meeting.

Good luck

Thanks folks.

The reason why I do not want to give it to them is because as a bigger picture it could possibly cause more harm than good (i cant go into too much)

I will be providing her with reports they (the school) have written as part of his AR which has each years attainment levels, all his subject teacher comments, his TA report, etc..

I will email her sec and see if there is a mutually agreeable way around this as I think Starlight is correct here in that I don't want anyone saying I have been selective, although it would be hard to as most of the info is from what the school report without them realising it highlights the issues (iyswim) so it kind of works in my favour to provide all the school info, the problem is if they know this is a questionnaire specifically for this, the issues with DS that were highlighted for years, will suddenly vanish.

Can she diagnose ADD??

Yes DK diagnosed DD with ADD recently.