Child Assessment Clinic - what to expect?

[helewele]

Our appointment arrived today for the child assessment clinic after referal from paed. DD will see another paed, OT, physio, SALT and social worker, and I have been told to leave around 2hrs for the appointment. Does anyone know what they are going to do?

DD is 2.2 and we've been waiting for this appointment really since she was about 15 months, but now it's actually here, I feel really anxious and upset about what is going to happen. The possible diagnosis is Autism, and although I know deep down this is what is wrong, and have had to fight hard to get referals and assessment, I don't know if I want to know anymore. To me, she seems normal - just her wee self (a spinning, wheel and fire extinguisher obsessed, nonverbal, and beautiful baby girl) but when she is around other children her age and younger it makes me want to cry because she is so behind. It sounds really selfish, but I'm beginning to wish I'd just burried my head in the sand! I don't really feel like that, I guess I'm just really worried about what is going to happen once the label has been applied.

Sorry for having a bit of a rant, but I'm on my own, and don't have anyone to share these overwhelming feelings with.

Cheers

Denial's a far nicer place to be, but not a helpful one. Been there myself and had a lovely six month holiday while waiting for official diagnosis, but the 'label' does seem to have opened doors for help at school, which will come around all too soon for you (school, I mean, not the help, unfortunately). So I'm glad I know now. But obviously I'd rather there was nothing to know.

Much better than a 14 year old I know, who's just been diagnosed, had been labelled the mad, bad one all through school - v violent, behind with all work, no friends...all a bit late to find out now.

It is all hard, but much better now than too late.

Take care of yourself, and talk to people in RL as well as on here- it's nice not to feel isolated.

I imagine the appointment will be observations - maybe an ADOS which is a test which looks for autism features. Good luck

We're still not at that stage yet - despite 11 months on the waiting list so I can't really give you any practical info. I imagine they will ask you q's about your PG, and her development, and will watch how she plays with things/what she does with toys.

I really think that the "label" tends to be very positive, in terms of accessing the therapies etc that will benefit her.

Ds2 was about the same age when he had his assessment. It was a couple of years ago but from what I can remember the assessment included things like:

OT: inset puzzles to see how ds2 manipulated the pieces and whether he was able to put them in the right places, a toy checkout thing to see how ds2 pushed the buttons and picked out the coins, a visit to the sensory area where they had bubbles, lights etc. The OT also went through a questionnaire about the things ds2 liked or disliked, eg spinning, climbing, difficulties with food textures etc.

Physio: There were small pieces of equipment set up, including little slides, balancing beams on the floor, balls etc. The Physio was looking at gross motor skills and whether ds2 was able to use the equipment. There were questions about ds2's general physical development, eg when did he sit up, walk etc.

SALT: They had things like dolls, teddy bears, tea sets etc and would be asking things like "Can you give teddy a drink?" to assess levels of understanding. They also had books to look at. They were looking at whether ds2 was able to speak but also whether he tried to share the books and toys with anyone else. There were questions about his development.

We didn't see a social worker though so I don't know what they do at an assessment.

Getting a dx turned out to be a positive thing for us. (I have 2 boys with ASD). When it came to things like starting school or pre-school it was much easier to be able to say that ds had autism and show copies of the various reports than to try to explain it all myself. It was also easier to access services, but this seems to vary depending on where you live.

Good luck.

Thanks for your replies

was just feeling a bit sorry for myself last night after a very long day. I know this is the best thing to do for her, and I have had to fight every inch just to get this far, so I am definately not stopping now! At the moment, I am just swinging between the thoughts that they (paeds etc) won't think anything is wrong to thinking things are much worse that I think they are iyswim? I'm not sure which one I'm more terrified of

I had the same thoughts when DS1 was going through the process, last year and now we're about to do it all again with DS2, whoopeedoo! Even though I cry when friends' babies half his age are doing things he can't do yet, a big part of me is still terrified I'll be seen as an impatient, overconcerned mum.

MY ds dounds just,ike your dd.Things are moving really fast for usthough.Weve had our first devlopmental assessment(So far they say social and commication difficulties)i think ASD.We have now got salt a nursery place so things are going well for us.I know just how you feel though,my ds seems so behind his peers and hid sisters at this age,but we will plod on,we love him so much.Good luck and hugs to you and your dd.

MY ds dounds just,ike your dd.Things are moving really fast for usthough.Weve had our first devlopmental assessment(So far they say social and commication difficulties)i think ASD.We have now got salt a nursery place so things are going well for us.I know just how you feel though,my ds seems so behind his peers and hid sisters at this age,but we will plod on,we love him so much.Good luck and hugs to you and your dd.

Its so nice to know what im feeling is normal my ds is 2.3. The prof have been quick to act but as i was expecting them to tell me he was fine, when they didnt I felt like id opened a can of worms and wanted it all to stop. Hes still going through the assessment but everything is pointing to asd, i cant stop crying and feel awful for being so upset about such a lovely son. The more I read the worse it gets, anyone got any helpful tips on any of this?

Ps 2nd thread? iv been on so hope im doing this right?