Choice appt from CAHMS- What to expect

[missmapp]

Hi,
DS1 (12) has been referred for ASD assessment. We only sent the first questionnaires back a few weeks ago and were told there was an 18mth wait, so was surprised to get a letter through so soon. It is a 'choice' appt with CAHMS and says it will be to 'discuss your worries and see if this is the right service for you'.

Is this part of the assessment, or is it instead of or a reaction from the forms completed? Any ideas or anyone with previous experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

It sounds like a standard initial appointment to me, but if you ring they might tell you more.

I'm a CAMHS practitioner, and Melon is right, it's just a basic initial assessment, info gathering appointment really. It's standard procedure for most CAMHS services and is done with any child coming in to the service.
Make sure you discuss with DS what he is attending for, it's not pleasant for children to suddenly learn in the appointment that it's suspected they may have ASD. (You may well have had these conversations already).

Thank you both

Sealsong, that is really useful. we have spoke to Ds about the up coming assessment and ASD. I was worried though as th appointment letter says ' we will talk to you and your son about your worries'. Ds doesn't really have the same worries. He gets cross if you ask if he is okay and defensive when we talked about our worries about his problems with communication. He certainly isn't 'worried' about anything !
Lovely world he lives in !

Thanks again, really helpful responses