DS possible ASD - any advice on getting diagnosis

[AnnaAsh]

Hi, I haven't posted on here before but was hoping to get some advice if anyone can help. My DS is 2.5 and we have suspected for a few months now he is on the autism spectrum. The HV team and SLT are monitoring him at the moment and I have met with them on various occasions since the beginning of the year. They definitely understand my concerns but I feel there is some reluctance to refer him to a pediatrician for their assessment with a view to getting a diagnosis. Has anyone with a child with ASD come up against this? How long between you raising concerns and seeing a pediatrician? Did you have to push hard for this? Did the HV or GP refer? Any other thoughts welcome. I just feel a bit lost at the moment and although I don't want to rush things keep reading that in some cases an early diagnosis and support can be helpful. Sorry for the ramble!

I think, if I suspected autism, I would ask them out right. Tell them that is something I would like investigated further and tell them I wanted him to be referred to the paediatrician.
IME, if the HV is fairly confident it will be an autism diagnosis then they refer in once they've met the child. IME (here - might not be the same all over the country) SaLTs seem less keen to refer in, even though their skills and knowledge are really helpful in the diagnosis.

Does he go to Nursery / Playgroup / Pre-school ? If so, what does their SENCo think ? They can refer in too.

Thanks for your reply. I am definitely feeling a sense of reluctance to refer from the SaLT and last night my OH suggested I was becoming fixated on getting DS seen by a pediatrician. I just want to make sure he gets the support he needs and this has to be the first step, right? He's just started doing a couple of mornings at preschool so I will have a chat with their SENCo person soon. They know I am concerned about his lack of speech but I have not been very specific yet about my other concerns eg lack of interaction, eye contact, other quirks. I was wondering if anyone had found their GP more proactive in referring.

Hello

I wanted to reply as our situations sound similar, albeit my son is now 3.5 years.

Basically my son always felt incredibly 'full on', from the moment he could move/crawl, in comparison to his sisters (now 8 and 6) but I always put it down to him being a boy...because that's what everybody 'told me'!

It was only when I was tearing my hair out in regards my son's very high maintenance behaviour at just over 2 years (and seeing the hv in regards this) PLUS worrying about his speech delay and strange pronunciation (and seeing the SALT for that,) that i started to look at a bigger picture...and asking could my son be on the autistic spectrum?

Fast forward and with my son being diagnosed and recieving outreach support (to home/preschool) for a speech and language delay/disorder i also CONSTANTLY kept mentioning to the SALT team how hard work and how quirky I had found my son since he was small...though still the SALT ream did not refer (and at this point I felt crazy.)

Through talking to a friend though, I took my son to the doctors and broke down, explaining the situation and my son was referred to an amazing community paediatrician. (6 months between GP to hospital appointment.)

The paediatrician took all of our concerns on board and although originally wanted a watch and wait approach, after 4 months and (at that point through constantly telling SALT about my sons 'individuality' outside of language assessments,) BOTH referred to the Autism Assessment team.

In a nutshell...we are now 4.5 months into an average 9 month wait for Autism Assessment here and who knows what the outcome will be...(watch and wait/ NOT ENOUGH traits/ all down to language disorderdisorder?) but again our circumstances are similar...at one point I felt like I was on my own and my husband questioned me (though now we are very united) and even my son's preschool STILL CAN'T SEE because he holds it together there (routine/ free play etc)...but hey ho...we keep going!

Xxx