I am fuming after stupid paed meeting.

[staryeyed]

Was actually looking forward to it before. stupid stupid me!

Still done no assessments given the most brief diagnsis. Given us no more information. Suggested thet we were strange for giving our son enzymes even after I told her that since taking then his food restriction was much better. Told me that anyone can be a nutritionist after reading a book- ie suggesting that we are gullible. Daren't tell
her about he other supplements he is on.

Said LEAs are being BULLIED yes BULLIED into paying for ABA when children only need simple changes at home and a couple of hours a week of interaction. That ABA is about just keeping things simple and repeating and we dont need to pay professionals for that.

Questioned why we wanted ds to do horse riding--err why not?

Apparently my son 2.3 is too young to really worry about all this intervention. Huh?? What happened to early intervention is best?

If I didnt know better I would have thought this woman is not even a doctor just a local government official sent to tell parents that nothing works so they can save money!I would question her qualifications over the nutritionist who has given much more helpful practical advice than she has.

Im really p**D off because I know she will be next to useless about the DLA application and anything else we need her support with.

Sorry you had a crap appointment. I remember our last appointment with ds1 a few months ago. You build yourself up for this great enlightening appointment which you expect to be given loads of advice and have indepth talks on how your child is doing, and also for you to relate to the paid about progress etc., when all they do is flick over notes (while you are there obviously not having read them before!) and talk about things that weren't at the top of your priority lists. I remember coming away feeling like he just 'couldn't be arsed'. You just have to keep pushing for things don'y you, but why should you??!! Bloody people.

"children only need simple changes at home and a couple of hours a week of interaction."

She hasn't got a clue! And I'm speechless at the ABA comments.

I don't suppose there's any chance of seeing a different Paed?

I wish coppertop. The funny thing is last time I met her I thought she was fine -I actually quite liked her. But then, last time we saw her I was a mum with a mission and had all my stuff ready and facts right and was not taking no for an answer. I thought she would do his assessments and observe him, instead we got all this opinionated c**p

oh dear. If you have the energy you could write and complain and include a video of ABA. Most professionals shut up when shown it. I remember our NHS SALT telling me that ABA would turn our son into a robot- this was the person who told us that she couldn't work with him 'as he isn't interesting in anything'. I lent her a 10 minute video of some early sessions and she came back saying 'wow'.

As for LEA's being bullied? Riiighhht.

The food stuff crap is standard for paediatricians, I'm always pleasantly surprised to find one that is interested and open minded about it. They're always suspicious of nutritionists and instead send you to dieticians. I saw one when ds1 was 2, pre-diagnosis and she told me that I was imagining his developmental problems and he couldn't be autistic (because he picked up some toys when I told him too). Hmm aged 8 not talking, clearly I had MSBP She was next to useless and told me that "Paul Shattock says you need to keep challening him with gluten once a month". I aksed PS if he had said that and he replied "I've said some pretty stupid things in my time but I've never said that".

You don't need the paed for DLA stuff though, I've never used one, in the early days I used nursery, HV etc, now I use school. On the positive front we've never seen the paed again since dx 5 years ago, we see his underling who is far better (and writes down the names of nutritionists to pass onto interested parents).

Thanks Gess, ds doesn't go to nursery though and HV is pretty clueless about autism. Should I get him a detailed assessment from someone?

The politics of SEN is ridiculous and really drives me up the wall. The number of times professionals have said to me "there's a long waiting list" or we "haven't got enough therapists" or "you'll have to go private for that".

Each time I get this I turn to them and say. "Well that's not my problem." You sort it out and get my child what he or she needs.

It's the dichotomy of having well-meaning social services medical therapist types swimming about in a system that doesn't support the children, but then turning to you and saying it's more than my jobsworth to do anything about it. They can sort it out for our kids. We can't. It's their job to find the resources, NOT our job.

Sorry for rant. I was tempted to write this in FULL CAPITALS ALL THE WAY THROUGH.