DD almost 6, EP report. What next? long, sorry

[rhetorician]

OK, ongoing worries and niggles about DD (who will be 6 in January), eventually saw EP last week. Her report doesn't diagnose anything at this stage, but does give indications - e.g. ADD and ASD. The latter appears to require further investigation because of the difference between our questionnaires and the teacher's questionnaire. I think this is because DD is mostly quite passive at school, manages/copes by keeping quiet, but is clearly struggling socially etc. However, that might be due to ADD issues too. We are just getting our heads around it all, as the report was rather more negative than our view of DD1 (e.g. her issues and problems appear worse than we thought). There were some slightly odd things - the EP was quite emphatic that DD1 needed to be able to name letters (she can't, but this is because she has done phonics at school) and that this indicates language and literacy issues. She can read fairly well. Her writing is illegible, but that's another set of questions. I suppose what I want to know is - further evaluation by CAMHS team is recommended (although I don't hold out much hope of this actually happening), plus play therapy - is there any point in putting her through all of this? will any of these things help her to make friends with the girls in her class who have decided she is weird and won't play with her? The EP says her performance is very patchy due to the attention issues (this kind of testing scenario would make DD anxious, so she saw her at her very worst), but that her intelligence is average. I don't really know what I'm asking - just wanted to see how other people have proceeded after the initial assessment. Thanks for reading my incoherent ramble

Hi, is your dd under peadiatrics? What's the history re how did the ep get called in?

Yes always work with people and follow up taking these recommendations. Camhs might be able to instantly fix your dd social problems but they could recommend social skills help like buddy groups for the school to implement. Your dd could get a nice buddy who in turn could teach your dd some social skills.

If some of the help from the ep seems useless, still take it as like kissing a frog, you need to meet a few idiots before you meet someone who will just get your dd and makes things click into place.

Help is hard to come by so take what you can get

Sorry meant camhs might NOT be able to instantly fix....
Personally we haven't ever seen them but my ds has social skills recommendations (all ignored by school of course...) as my school ep saw nothing wrong at all. ( he is my frog / idiot)

Dd3 was already diagnosed with Asd when we took her to an independent EP, she masks at school and I also think copies off other children.

Some of her scores were spectacularly low and I felt terrible that no one, including myself had realised how bad her skills were.

The EP that saw you Dd will have assessed hundreds of children and will have performed standardised assessments, if He/She feels there is an issue and wants to request further assessments, I would go with it.

CAMHS will not diagnose your Dd with Asd or Add unless she has it. Again they have standarised assessments and usually years of experience to draw on. They will also take your thoughts very seriously.

Remember what ever happens your lovely Dd will always be your lovely Dd and if she does end up with a diagnosis, hopefully that will signpost teachers and other professionals to the best support for her.

Good luck

I would be now asking your GP to refer your DD to a developmental paediatrician as well as having CAMHS involvement. CAMHS can be either really good or spectacularly inept; it very much depends on the staff. CAMHS certainly have their place but ASD is not always their main area of expertise. They are also overworked and underfunded.

www.ipsea.org.uk is a helpful website re special educational needs and EHCPs.

I would also now apply for a EHCP from your LEA to get her more support at school particularly as you now have EP involvement. Do not leave that until she gets into Junior school as such places can be really unforgiving for those who have unmet additional needs. It really does sound like her additional needs there are not being met so thus manages her situation by masking her frustrations of the school day.

thanks for all of these; I'm not in the UK so system slightly different, but GP did initially say that paediatrics might become involved at some stage. As to route - we talked to GP, GP referred us on (actually recommendation came from someone else). All private here, no EP available in my area through public system. I suspect that a lot of her issues are anxiety related - in environments where she is settled and calm and knows what to expect you probably wouldn't notice anything unusual about her. But if she is anxious/over stimulated, you definitely would. I hope I am not being a twat about any of this - it's all a bit new to me (not the idea, but the prospect of it being a real thing in our lives IYSWIM, even though she is just the same now as she was before the assessment, so that makes no sense), so I apologise. I think I need to do some reading...

My SIL is a special needs teacher ( for secondary schools) and looked at the report and said the same things as all of you. Plus the fact that she doesn't seem like she needs support at school now, but probably will as the work becomes more demanding and the social stuff more complex.