CAHMS telephone appt - what to expect?

[mondaycando1]

After a long old battle and poor communications with school, we were finally told about Early Help Assessments and single point of access in our LA. It took ds7's school 2 weeks to get the form in and a further 2 weeks to get them to do the same day CAHMS referral the EH team told them to do. Within 2 working days of CAMHS receiving the referral, they have calmed me for a telephone assessment with a clinician. Is this a normal system - I was initially told it would be next term before we heard anything. They are going to be sending me out for some questionnaires prior to fill in before the call too.
Perhaps it helps that his behaviour is so bad at school and he's had 4 days of exclusions since March! I am looking at PDA or some kind of sensory processing, husband is in denial about either despite us both being on the regular receiving end of physical and verbal meltdowns. My only marker these days of a good day is no call from school / called over at pick up and if I can get a glass of wine after bedtime hell and before 9pm, few and far between it feels like it.

I was on the phone for over an hour with a lovely lady who talked me through the issues, what my son liked and didnt like, life history (how was the pregnancy etc). Once done we have waited a year to have anything else whilst things went crazy at school - like you we suspect PDA with SPD and ASC traits. We have finally just this week gone for an ADHD assessment.

Once you are on the list you have to keep bugging them for info and progress and school can do this as well. I was calling every week to log further exclusions and highlight that the need was still there.

It is a long and painful to watch process to get anywhere and they will advise you to go on a parenting course as well as give you help groups to contact for support and books to read.

You will become an armchair expert in things like SPD as teachers are not always aware of it and its triggers which cause not bad behaviour but sensory overload and pure fight or flight meltdowns. There are a couple of great facebook senssory processing support groups as well.