Hi, I hope it's ok to post here. I think that my 8 year old might be autistic. I am and was only diagnosed fairly recently at almost 40. My daughter is very bubbly and loves school and has a few friends. She's the oldest in the year but her social skills are more around a 6 or 7 year olds level I would say. She tends to shout at rather than talk when excited with her friends, interrupts them when talking and really struggles to get the flow of a conversation. I've been aware of this for a while but wanted to wait until she got older to see if she grew out of it. I was very similar when her age so I think that's why I'm thinking that there's a chance she might also be neuro diverse. I've noticed that her friends are finding her quite irritating at times which is a bit heartbreaking! I don't really know how to approach things really. My nhs assessment took 3 years and that just seems way too long to wait. She's always been very confident and has brilliant self esteem but I've noticed recently that she's becoming more aware of other childrens responses to her and worry that she might start to lose that confidence. I work with young children so that's made me more aware of where she is in relation to others of her age. I hope that maybe pursuing an assessment might be helpful for her but just don't know where to start. if anyone has had any similar experience I'd be very grateful for any advice on how to start the process.