Newly diagnosed autistic toddler

[Lil115]

Hi,

I just was hoping for some advice on how to process the diagnosis. My dd is only 28 months and we had our first private paediatrician appointment recently where the Doctor said she’d seen enough evidence to confirm autism.
I didn’t expect the diagnosis to happen so quickly, assumed we would have to go through a long assessment in future. I was quite aware she was autistic but I think I am for some reason having trouble getting my head around that the diagnosis has happened.
Obviously I am pleased if it helps us get more support for my daughter, I just can’t help feeling a bit overwhelmed by the situation.
Any advice would be great

I think, however much you are expecting it, it still hits hard emotionally to get a diagnosis (of anything). It is a sort of acceptance of knowing this is lifelong, and others have confirmed that. It is really, really normal.

Speak to Listening ear at Contact
or National Autistic Society
or Kids
or Cerebra

Or ask your Paediatrician, or your HV or at your local Children's Centre where you can learn more, or talk with other parents, or get further support. There are lots and lots of local support Groups which aren't national.

Did they give you any support materials? They really should have done.

If not, Google your local authority name and "Local Offer" and you should get a page like this one with information on services and people you can contact. I agree with BackforGood that parent support groups are often really good when you're starting out, just for learning what is available where you live, what the strengths and weaknesses of local support systems are, how to engage with the school system as your DD gets a bit older, etc.
www.hackneylocaloffer.co.uk/kb5/hackney/localoffer/home.page

It is a big shock. DD wasn't diagnosed until she was nearly 4, but I always think of the meeting we had with her paediatrician about a year earlier as "the event" of learning she was autistic (they told us they thought it was very likely, and it was really a shock to me at the time, although it had been raised as a possibility at previous appointments). Unfortunately because it was not a formal diagnosis we got none of these useful support materials, just a really depressing leaflet, which was really not the best way to start out on our journey!

@BackforGood and @LightTripper thanks very much for your responses. Those links are all really helpful for me.
I have got some support materials from the paediatrician with all the links in our area for how to proceed. It’s so much to take in and my particular area seems like a total maze with the early years services.
Nice to know there are other people who have experienced similar feelings to me.

Hi

How did you got about getting a private peadeatrician appointment?

My little one is on a waitlist for a NHS but it's taking ages due to Covid

Thanks

@DodoBaggins you could Google something like ‘private paediatricians specialising in toddler autism and your location name’ and then get some names and look at reviews.
I contacted ours directly and asked if I could speak to her on the phone to discuss what type of appointments she could offer.
We then had a video consultation without my daughter where she took loads of information from us and then gave us pointers in exactly where her gaps were and what areas of intervention she needed.
We then decided to get her to see my daughter in person to check whether she had any markers for genetic conditions and to see how she was getting on.
This is where she said she had sufficient information to diagnosis autism. (We also had a speech assessment and nursery input prior to this.)
My daughter wouldn’t be seeing an NHS paediatrician until almost 4 years old due to long waiting list. It was expensive - £400 per consultation. However for the extent of information we got from this, I’d say it was worth it. But may not be for everyone, especially if you have been successful with accessing early intervention therapies while waiting to see paediatrician which we weren’t getting.