Son removed from list

[TurnUpTurnip]

My son was referred for autism assessment by his school in year 1, he is now in year 5! And we waited that long for an assessment, however I got a letter saying I missed the assessment date in August so he has been taken off the list now and if I want him to be seen again he will have to be referred again! We was waiting THREE years, he saw the paed in August 2018 after school referred him at the end of year one. I never got a letter or any telephone call nothing. I haven’t had the energy inside me to fight this but I’m so shocked and disappointed after such a long wait, surely a phone call if someone has apparently missed an appointment not just thrown off the list! Is there anything I can do about this or am I just expected to join the list again and wait another 3 years? My sons school aren’t happy with what happened either, but I have no fight in me and I’m not willing to start again at the beginning so if there is nothing I can do about this then I’m going to leave it, can anyone tell me if I have any rights with this?

Please no negative comments I waited 3 years and found it quite difficult being in limbo not willing to go through it again.

I'm not sure you will get the decision overturned. Have you contacted PALS?

Do you mean you didn't have any notification saying you had an appointment in Aug for assessment, but then later you got a letter saying you had missed the appointment and had been removed from the list?

This sounds odd to me. An autism assessment is usually done by a multidisciplinary team. They don't usually assess during August because that's school holidays, and they almost always observe the child at school too as part of the assessment.

So that means not only you but also the school should have been contacted to set up appointments.

Plus, you usually have phone contact with the team before the day of the actual appointment because they gather information from you before the assessment day.

So all in all, this sounds dodgy.

I would write to the lead clinician in the team snd send it via recorded delivery so you have proof it's been received. Set out the situation as you've described it and ask them
To look into it as a matter of urgency and reinstate your son for an immediate assessment. Request that unless they are able to assess him ASAP that they explain in writing how and when they tried to contact you and to provide proof of having done so.

Joibleydoo it is very much area dependant. Not all areas stop assessments in the summer holidays, and not all areas have telephone contact prior to the first appointment. School observations aren't always carried out either, especially since the start of the pandemic.

We had this with camhs. Letters to say we’d been removed from the list for not turning up. As if - I’d been ringing them almost every day for months. The response to my complaint said they had enclosed the appointment letters as proof - they hadn’t

No school referred him from a paediatrician appointment in June or July of 2018 I can’t remember the exact date, he was seen by paed in August 2018 that I know for sure, in the appointment she said she wanted to put him forward for an autism assessment, we never heard anything again until December 2020 when I received a phone call to ask for updated information, they said they would contact the school again to update the records, I didn’t hear anything again until my sons school said they were chasing it as they still have concerns about him but was told they wrote to me for an assessment in August just gone but I didn’t respond so he has been removed from the list, I called the place and they confirmed I missed an appointment in August so they took him off the list and if I still have concerns I need to be referred and start again.