After waiting 7 months from December 2016, today we finally went to see the Specialist CAMHS worker for our 'Choices' appointment, to see if specialist CAMHS should deal with her or if we should be redirected to other services, and whether we should follow an ASC (Autistic Spectrum Condition) pathway or anxiety, etc., route.
Miraculously (or it seems so to me, given how long I've been fobbed off and told that DD2 is perfectly fine), the man decided that my referral form had enough information to skip the initial steps and he should screen immediately for ASC.
He asked all the questions, we answered some, and DD2 answered some. DD2's answers were awesome. Like 'what would you say if a child came up to you in the park and asked you to play?' 'Sorry, no thanks.' It really made him laugh - he said he was going to quote it and add 'polite but very firm refusal.' She treated him to her elephant and chicken imitations, but no eye contact, which was a perfect combination of DD2ness.
At the end he said that he was taking her paperwork to panel for her to have formal ASC assessment, and we should hear from them in the next few weeks.
I said 'so do you think she could have ASD then?' and he laughed and said that she had scored 'really very highly' on the screening and he was in no doubt. The question is just where on the spectrum she is. He said she's very high functioning, but from the screening and her interaction in the room he's very sure she'll be positive for ASD/ASC.
It finally feels like someone saw DD2 for her. He didn't place any demands on her, he didn't try to 'coax her out of her shell', he pointed out that she was looking diagonally across from him when he talked to her instead of at him, but said that he'd been taught that eye contact isn't the be all and end all - she'd responded, so move on, don't force it. What was important to him, was that he'd noted it.
Afterwards I told her that she'd passed with flying colours, and she said 'Really? I didn't know I was covered with a rainbow?!', which just about sums her up!