ASD diagnosis

[catchyjem]

My 11 year old son has just been formally diagnosed with ASD. I don't know what to think. I think I'm in shock. He is "high functioning " . About to start high school in September.

I'm sure people that have been through this will be along to give you support, but there's some good information from the National Autistic Society here:- www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/post-diagnosis-support/parents-and-carers

Thanks, that's a useful link. I haven't even stood my son yet, I don't know how to bring it up. He has no idea what all the assessments were about. I thought it best not to mention it in case it came to nothing.

It's perfectly normal - and understandable - to be floored by the diagnosis when it comes. My DS was diagnosed with autism when he was 9 but we knew from around 18 months. My DH still cried when the consultant told us our DS had 'more than' met the threshold for a diagnosis.
It's not the life we were expecting.

You have done absolutely the right thing in perusing a diagnosis though. My DS is about to start secondary in Sept too. You should speak to your DS's new school as soon as possible to let them know and to discuss any 'reasonable adjustments' you feel the school needs to make.
I'm not sure where you are but where I live there's an Autism Outreach team who will get involved once a diagnosis is made. They can offer a course for parents (some courses are better than others) and will visit a child at school to talk to their teachers etc.

You sound very surprised that he's got a diagnosis but I'm assuming there were reasons that lead you to suspecting he may be on the spectrum? I would imagine that your DS may also have felt there was 'something' going on for some time.

My DS is very aware that he's 'different'. For him, having a diagnosis is a bittersweet thing. It does help him to understand why he finds some things so difficult. We use terms like 'neuro diverse' at home to re-enforce the idea that having autism is nothing to be ashamed of.

I can imagine it's hard but maybe try and broach it with him before he starts school so he has a bit of time to process things?
I started talking to my DS about how some brains work 'differently' with strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. My DS is also really into natural history so I talked about Chris Packham. I think it helped him to see someone he admires who has autism being able to achieve his goals - if you see what I mean.

Thanks for your reply. I am surprised I suppose because it's not something we have thought about until it was suggested when he was about 9. I have continually badgered his school for help since reception class , but more because I felt he was not doing well academically. He really struggled to read and write and I managed to get a private dyslexia diagnosis when he was around 8. I was always fobbed off by school that he was fine. I think as he is a very quiet, compliant, polite and well behaved child , he didn't cause them any trouble so they just let him drift along. School reluctantly referred him to speech and language for an assessment at the end of year 4. It was then that ASD was first mentioned. I didn't give it much more thought as the waiting list for assessment was long anyway. I really haven't been the driving force behind getting this diagnosis as I seem to see a lot of parents are. I haven't resisted it either. I've just gone with the flow and thought what will be will be. It's just really shocked me somehow that this is the result. I don't think my son is aware that he is different at all. He also functions very well usually, so it's not like it would be very obvious to others either most of the time. I'm just not sure how to bring this up with him at all. I will need to though.