Undiagnosed ASD and ADHD

[Sunshinejoll]

My son is not officially diagnosed but I know has ASD. I was reading up on having ASD as well as ADHD. My son is 5 and is verbal but still very behind on speaking. He has learned to read and write. He can sing and follow instructions and has learned a lot at school. He is very noisy though and is constantly running. I’m going crazy worrying about his future. He is in mainstream with full time 1:1. Is anyone else in this situation? Can anyone give me a glimmer of hope? I have no one to talk to about my fears. Is medication the only way with ADHD? Can it improve on its own as the child gets older?

Hi op. I'm a year ahead of you. DS is 6, autistic with 1to1 in mainstream school. He amazes me everyday. He has overcome so much and has really calmed down since starting school. I'm actually now looking forward to next year as he will start having proper lessons then and I think when the classroom gets quieter and all the children are sitting down then he will enjoy school even more. I felt the same as you last year and could not stop worrying about the future. I still worry now, I think all parents do, but I try not to let it consume me as it once did.

Medication definitely isn’t the only way, ADHD has existed forever and meds only for recent history so people had strategies etc. If you don’t want that path for your son there is a lot of therapy etc you can do. Will.I.Am and Jamie Oliver I believe both have spoken publicly about strategies their parents used to divert their hyperactivity.

My son does take medicine and what drove us to that was me speaking with a lot of adults who were diagnosed later in life. I’d say all of them as adults had made the decision to start taking meds, and all (seriously 100%) said they’d wished they could have started as kids. They spoke about being able to see clearly for the first time, being able to focus without all the ‘noise’. I guess the parallel would be a diabetic taking insulin - just a bit of something in the body that’s missing and with it, everything works better.

Not advocating medication at all as every child is different but equally it’s not a disaster if you do go down that path.

Thanks for the replies. It is so difficult that he is going through this. How can I make things improve? He has one side that has been able to learn so much but there are days that are continuous where he is just non stop running and making noise all day. Are there any distraction techniques anyone can suggest if that would possibly help?

Has DS got an EHCP and does it include SALT and OT provision in it? Both will help DS.

He does have an EHCP but SLT was only 4 hours a year. I have tried private SLT’s but for one reason or another they couldn’t keep him on. I have another private SLT starting end of April. No one mentioned OT…..

You could have asked for an OT assessment as part of the EHCNA.

You don’t need to pay for private SALT. The EHCP needs updating to include more SALT (if it is specified and quantified in F and the NHS can’t or won’t provide it the LA must commission independent provision) and OT.