diagnosis question

[adrianna1]

Hi everyone

Just a quick question.. when my DS was being assessed for autism. At the end of the day, he was given an autism and a moderate learning disability diagnosis...

I have an issue with the learning disability diagnosis which they gave my son. The person who assessed my son said on his report that he presented with a moderate learning disability. Which is ok. But he did not formally assesses my son.. which he also said in the report.

I think it is unfair to add the moderate learning disability to my son's diagnosis, when he has not been assessed at all! He most probably does have a learning disability, but I would like my son to be tested for it, before he is given a diagnosis of it...

I'm meeting with the doctor soon to discuss this? Am I in the right? Or does this usually happen?

Hazey when dd 2 was diagnosed with autism at two the paed wrote cognitive impairment on a hospital form I re read her diagnosis report and the ep was unable to engage dd 2 in any assessment activities . I wonder if that's why cognitive impairment was mentionef

DD1 had gdd then that moved to MLD when she started school. I think in our area, the skill acquisition determines dx more than IQ testing.

I have had similiar experience to this op and the outcomes of it have been both negative and postive for my dd.

when dd was 6 she was referred to a developmental pead and she was dx straightaway (after 1st 30mins meeting) with mld.
I questioned this as they had not assessed her cognitive ability and the pead stated the dx was given beacause dd had significant difficulties within 3 or more areas of development (eg speech, motor control and behaviour).
I applied for a statement and due to this dx my request was accepted and the LA carried out a statutory assessment (this is the positive implication of the dx).
but when they issued the statement it was vague in terms of provision and even though I had reports stating my dd needed salt and ot the LA refused stating dd had MLD so was progressing to her potential (5 years younger than her age!) and that therapy would not help her.
I have had a huge battle proving that my dd has potential to progress and have had to go private to get her specific learning difficulties dx (dyslexia).
if I could turn back time I would certainly ask for the MLD dx to be removed as the LA have used this against her to deny her provision and write her off

@oramum- I'm sorry you had to go through all of that!! This makes me even more determined to fight for my DS's case.

@hazeyjane... No I don't mind you hijacking .

But just to clarify, I would like my DS to be tested before given any diagnosis and that is why I have an issue with a MLD.

Hi again, by Mickey Mouse I meant a bit ridiculous. I agree with you and I'd ask for it to be removed, if you allow that wording to be Statemented and then realise it's not the case, you might find yourself in the situation of having to fight to get that diagnosis removed - just like I am having to do at the moment via Sendist. Everything needs to be worded accurately and watertight in my view. Start as you mean to go on. Might be worth getting IQ testing done by a clinical psychologist now, a good one would do it over several sessions to get the best results as when young they don't always behave, we got accurate assessments at age 3, showing very high IQ, in complete contrast with the LA EP assessment , good luck

Thanks for the explantation TonyQueensPark I've always heard that Mickey mouse phrase..but didn't know what it implies too .

But thanks for understanding from my point of view, and since you have been through it yourself.

My son has a severe speech delay - half of his lifetime behind but it's not enough to get him a statement. He is the bottom 1% so not sure if you already have a statement but I'm fighting for one and ds has way more going than just a serve speech delay.

That aside - his pead says he has obvious learning difficulties - but in my county nhs will not comment on learning difficulties. That has to be via the lea.

If your not happy he wasn't assessed then I think it needs to clarified. I didn't want a diagnosis - I wanted the right diagnosis. Now I have that I can finally understand him. Parents need to understand there kids better than anyone as we direct their care

This thread is very helpful. Our 4y7m old has a diagnosis of Autism and GDD with severe speech delay. I always assumed that Autism in itself was a learning difficulty because it's a hinderance to learning. This thread helped me understand that LD is actually linked to IQ. I had so far always assumed that mild LD or severe LD meant mild it severe autism. humm....

I have asked to IQ tests many times and been told she won't score accurately :(

As far as ld are concerned as I understand it profound and multiple difficulties mean a maxim developmental age of 18 months , severe learning difficulties mean an age of six years and moderate learning difficulties mean being 2 to 4 years bejind your age .dd 2 functions at the level of a 2 year old and is 4 so I wouldn't be surprised of she had mld