ASSESSMENT

[deeeja]

HI,
I am new to this board, and have a question which might just put me in the dumbo group for good, but here goes.....
My ds who is around 2 and a half, was assessed by a salt. Everything seemed to go fine and the salt was making alot of good comments. Then later she rang me up and told me that she would be puting my son for a referral, and is that ok with me?
I was a little flustered at the time, and did not think to ask her what she meant, would anyone know?
I have another appointment on Tuesday to see two pediatricians, I suppose that is all part of the process. She also seemed surprised that I will be going to the toddler group for 'delayed' children, rather than autistic.
I feel a little confused by everything now, and am wondering if my son is autistic. He makes eye contact, and is starting to speak, I was beginning that he is not autistic, all this has thrown me.
Maybe he is autistic....it is so confusing, I don't want to end up with the wrong type of help/ treatment. It is such a minefield, I thuoght now that I had finally got to assessment, thing would be less confusing, instead itis worse.
This is so awful, I wish I knew what was going on.
How did you all cope with the process?
You must have nerves of steel.

So does no-one know the procedure?
Surely some-one does.......

I'm waiting for DS to be assessed, so I only have a vague idea of the procedure. DS is meant to be seen at a "joint clinic" early next year, to be asssessed by a SALT, paediatrician and educational psychologist (I assume for ASD). I am sorry that the SALT hasn't explained things to you any better. I would phone up the paediatrician's secretary to try and find out more about the procedure (as things vary slightly from area to area).

There are different levels of functioning amongst children on the autistic spectrum - so some children do speak (with aspergers syndrome they may not even have had any language delay). I really wouldn't worry too much about your child getting the wrong type of help - I really don't think that any treatment would be harmful if your child was speech delayed rather than autistic, I imagine a lot of the focus would be on improving his speech anyway. I think that the problem would be more likely to be the reverse - of a child not getting a diagnosis and help.

Deeeja, the SALT can't make a diagnosis of AS she can only assess his speech.

The usual way to go is to get a referral from your GP to see a paediatrician who then refers you to a SALT, OT and psychologist. In our area it is called a patch team referral but I think other areas call it different things. They all got together at the end to make a formal dx.

I would say that the SALT in your case had concerns about your DS which went beyond what she is qualified to deal with (ie. his speech) which is why she has referred you to your local equivalent of the patch team and how you are seeing the paeds this week.

I would say, that 2.5 is too young for diagnosis. Certainly, when my DS1, who has AS, was referred various people said he was too young to diagnose at 4 although the procedure took so long he was 5.5 by the time he got a dx. Your DS may have mild AS rather than being autistic which I don't think is as bad as being autistic (some may disagree I am sure - I am no expert)

Try not to worry - it will sort itself out in the end. To be honest, the process drags on so long that it just gets tedious and in the end it kind feels like you have known forever what they are going to say so it isn't a shock to get a dx.

I hope that makes things clearer for you on Tuesday. It helps to write down all the things that concern you and all your questions before you go in so that you don't forget or get the chance to get flustered.

I hope it goes well for you. Good luck

It might be that she was talking about making a referral for actual therapy. Here, a child goes on a waiting list for an assessment with the SALT. If SLT is needed then you are put on to a separate waiting list for it. Alternatively, as others have said, she may have meant a referral to see the Paed etc.