Do private ASD Assessment anyway or cancel?

[Titsywoo]

Basically DS is in year 4 and we have been trying to get assessments for him for years. We got a private OT assessment which pointed heavily to dypraxia. With this and a referral from the SALT (who saw verbal dyspraxia) we finally got him seen by an Ed Psych last June who agreed with dyspraxia but also picked up on many autistic traits (I have thought he has aspergers for a long time). He was referred to CAMHS but they said 2 year wait.

My sons issues have been causing difficulty in his relationship with his Dad (who I also suspect to have aspergers) and we decided to go private for an ASD assessment. Luckily my husbands work have offered to pay all but £100 of this if we do it by mid October. So we found a lady who is based in a different area but is a senior clinical pyschologist for CAMHS in that area so often her assessments are accepted by LEAs. We did the initial meeting this weekend and she said DS shows many ASD traits so she is doing the ADOS next Monday.

Typically I then get a call from CAMHS this morning saying they are doing a waiting list initiative and DS will be seen in Nov/Dec! Questionnaires are being sent out soon and they will see him for a whole day and give a diagnosis at the end of the day.

So after all that my question is shall we keep the ADOS appt next week? It won't be a big deal financially. But will it help or hurt our case with CAMHS to have gone private?

I think I'd go ahead with it if I were you - otherwise it may be January before you hear anything from CAMHS. Ask the psychologist to put recommendations in her report about how your child can be supported both in and out of school.

No it won't hurt, my dd had a private assessment followed by nhs 13 months later.

It took CAMHS a yr to diagnose my daughter!! I would go with the private one and ask the clinical psych about CAMHS!

Good luck

Yes do both if it's that cheap! Just don't tell camhs.

Keep your camhs app. They don't need to know. They might yet cancel on you or string it all out anyway.

My dd was top of the physio list back in Aug, but I have yet to get a appointment letter

My son has his ados assesment with a private clinical psychologist. Her report was really comprehensive, we wouldn't have such a thorough report on the nhs so was worth paying for.

My sons nhs appointment was still over a year away so he was taken off the waiting list and his NHS Paed accepted the private diagnosis.

Definitely keep the private one! Can count on one hand the number of good things I've herd about CAMHS!!