Girls ASD and ADHD assessment help

[MammyandAva]

Help please!!

My DD, aged 8, has always displayed signs one ASD/ADHD from a young age. In lockdown I finally managed to get my GP to refer her to CAMHs.

CAMHs wanted her assessed for ASD and ADHD but passed the care back to her school to arrange.

She’s had play therapy and Elsa and thrive but they’ve all finished now.

She was assessed in school for 40 mins three weeks ago and the assessor has said she doesn’t show enough signs to warrant further testing. The school disagree and want her re assessed but to be honest her behaviour in school is really good and other than her social interaction with kids she does fine.

The school has said she's very good at masking but they can see the traits.

I've looked into private assessments as I'm pretty convinced that her being assessed in a school setting isn't going to get her the support she needs. But unfortunately I've been told that my local authority won't accept any private assessments diagnosis.

Does anyone have any experience or advice please?

I really don't want her to get to comprehensive school without the support in place.

No advice as I'm just at the stage of looking into assessment options. Bumping in case anyone can step in with a more constructive comment!

I've asked similar questions on these threads before and been told time and time again that as long as the private assessment follows the NICE guidelines for diagnosis, then they cannot refuse to accept it. You can take it to a tribunal where ultimately it will be accepted because it is a diagnosis given by someone qualified to do so, using the diagnostic tests set out by NICE guidelines. Many trusts are now outsourcing assessments to private providers to get NHS waiting lists down, so I would go back and challenge your LEA. Hopefully someone who has actually been through this will come along and give advice!! Good luck

Hi, I am in a similar situation with my daughter although she doesn’t present in school. The GP didn’t want to know and sent me back to the school. They did put her on a my plan which has actually reduced the meltdowns somewhat after school.

I have saved up for over a year and a half (ex refuses to help) and we have the assessment on Wednesday!

My NHS are outsourcing asd assessments so not sure if I will come up against someone saying they won’t accept it. However, I feel like I need to know, one way or the other, so I know how best to support her. Especially for secondary school in a few years

@nutty123 would be interested in how you get on, if you don't mind updating! Hope it goes well and you feel better informed to help your daughter afterwards. Sounds like our daughters are similar ages. Secondary school is my driver for assessment also!

Of course I don’t mind! He is coming to the house and will take a couple of hours. That’s all I know at the moment!

Good luck today @nutty123

How did it go @nutty123 x

Hi,
so it went really well. Took two hours and the man was so nice and made my daughter feel very at ease. He also completed an adhd assessment whilst here as he noticed signs.

he rang me tonight after showing the video of the assessment to another Dr.

she has now been diagnosed as asd and adhd. He will write up the report in a week and then book in another appointment.

I was worried that I was overthinking her traits but he saw everything I did. I’m so glad I went for it because now I can start getting more support for her in school

@nutty123 thanks for the update. I'm really glad that you had a positive experience and will now be more equipped to help your daughter. I'd be interested to hear of your daughter's traits as I also worry that I'm overthinking as my daughter is just starting to struggle and difficulties are emerging. I know I'm not imagining it, but I am also not confident that any of it is bad enough to warrant a diagnosis. I have a big dilemma!

Thanks.

and I felt exactly the same way. I have honestly swayed back and forth for months, particularly when everyone said she wasn’t. I was worried about wasting people’s time (and my money!)
but I’m so glad I saved up and did it. I also took great delight telling the ex husband I was right all along!

with regards to her traits, that would be a long list, but some are
never playing with toys, just lining them up,
Sensory issues I.e constantly chewing things, itchy clothes, loud noises, smells
daily meltdowns either screaming or crying
rigid way of doing things
cant cope when plans change
flapping hands when brushing her hair
never sitting still
no eye contact or too much eye contact
etc

the assessor also picked up something with her speech. I can’t remember the long word he used but it was something to do with not being able to make up a story, and she also was echoing his speech.
also, she didn’t pick up facial expressions.

sorry if that bored you! That was a long post

@nutty123 that's really helpful, thank you. You must feel very relieved to have a way forward and explanation for it all.

I think for me, what's missing is someone I could talk to about it all. The GPs wouldn't want to know, (and wouldn't have a clue anyway) and whilst my DDs school have been good, they have admitted they have very little knowledge or experience with girls and potential autism. There are few resources and diagnostic criteria seems very subjective when it comes to girls. When are things bad enough? What is a severe enough impairment? Many people have said that two different assessors may have reached different conclusions when it comes to girls. I don't want to wait for the poo to hit the fan and my girl to suffer more than she currently is before I can get help, but that seems to be the path we're on.

Wish there was someone like an assessor / educational psych etc that you could just have a conversation with before you jump straight in at having to pay thousands for an assessment. I've done lots of research and assessors do claim to offer 'a chat' (not sure if chargeable, probably) to see if it's worth progressing with an assessment, but I've contacted two now asking for this service (even included lots of detail about my DD in the email to save time as I know they're so busy) but neither have replied. Just feel like I'm out here alone and unsure, and every time I ask questions, the answers become more confusing.

Really pleased you're at the other side. Hope I will be too, one day.

I felt the exact same way.

my GP didn’t want to know and just put me on a parenting course for supporting anxiety in children. The school did listen but they didn’t really know what to put in the my plan.

the company I used sent out two forms to fill in, one for me and one for school. They were totally opposite to each other (cue more self doubting) however, I sent them off and he phoned me for about 20 mins for a chat. It was only after this chat did he say he thought she should be assessed. This was free.

@nutty123 which part of the country are you in? I'm in the southwest, but have also contacted an assessor in London, but as of yet, no replies at all. At the moment I'm back to thinking that it's all in my head so have given up on it. (She can have good weeks and bad weeks so it's easy to fall in to this pattern of thinking). We've got another year after this before secondary, so I guess we have time. It's a very lonely place to be, isn't it?

I’ve sent you a pm