Diagnosis letter is full of private information about the health of family members...

[ToffeeWhirl]

... Is this normal? And do I have to show the whole thing to the LEA for the statement application and to a prospective special schools who want to see the diagnosis? I really don't see what business my son's family's medical history has to do with anyone else . The matters referred to concern anxiety and depression, which have nothing to do with my son's diagnosis, but were discussed during the diagnosis process.

Agree with quietly, you only need it to actually say what his Dx is and possibly who diagnosed him and what diagnositic tool they used. Ring them and ask for a brief version.

Thank you. I was never given a summary letter. Damn. This will slow things down .

To be honest I was never given anything except the summary letter!!

Just shows how inconsistent the system is!!

Can you ask the professional who wrote it to alter it explaining the reasons you've given here?

Could you photocopy it and 'redact' the personal information? Otherwise get them to summarise the relevant issues.

My DS's paediatrician report mentioned that I was abused as a child - I'm not sure of the link between that and autism! You could always photocopy and then black it out with a note that it is personal and not relevant to the diagnosis.

JJXM - that's disgraceful!

Apart from the private details revealed about family in the diagnosis letter (going right back to grandparents), the letter also refers to the possibility of 'anxious parenting', which must sow a seed of doubt in every professional who sees that letter. Obviously, the first thing you worry about as a parent is that you are causing your child's distress, so it pains me to read that.

I have long since dismissed that as a possibility, as has the psychiatrist who wrote the letter (my son's issues are clearly neurodevelopmental), but the words still stand on record.

It's not right that professionals assume children's medical issues - if they involve mental health - are caused by the parents. In my case, it delayed my son's diagnosis and treatment by several years, in spite of obviously distressing physical symptoms.

I will write to the psychiatrist asking for a summary letter.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I, too, am an anxious parent and in some ways that is because of my DS's autism. I have to weigh up every situation to see if he will cope and I'm always looking out for the triggers of melt downs. I'm anxious because other people judge me when my child is lying on the floor in a shopping centre growling. I'm anxious because DS is hyposensitive to pain and could hurt himself or he could run into the road as he has no sense of danger.

His autism causes my anxiety but not the other way round. It's a neurological condition which he was always going to develop at some point in his life regardless of parenting. You could be confident and laid back and your DS would still have autism. Good luck

Exactly, JJXM. Why don't the health professionals realise that when they see parents, they are seeing people who are at the end of their tether trying to cope with their child and desperately looking for an answer, so obviously they are going to be a bit anxious!

Actually, I think I'm less anxious now than I was a few years ago. That could be the antidepressants I take to help me cope though .