Almost 5 year old with rituals and compulsions

[Oneanddone88]

Hi
I believe that my daughter who is almost 5 has autism. School don't want to start process of diagnosis as believe she is too young and it would be a waste of time at the moment as she wouldn't be looked at. They agree about autism though.
She has lots of traits , hand flapping, sensory likes and dislikes , repeats questions a lot and so on.
In the past month or so, she's become fixated on shouting out loud when we're in the car each time we go past something she would consider a 'landmark' in our local town. When we go past the vets she will shout 'its the vets !' loudly , and then will absolutely insist on us saying "yes, it's the vets ". We have to say it 3 or 4 times until she's satisfied. I don't want to indulge it but can see how much anxiety it causes her by not doing it. It feels like every week she adds another land mark on to the list , and her anxiety is ramping up.
If we don't do this , she will cry and become very distressed and then talk about it all day /eve about how we 'forgot to say it '.
Has anyone here dealt with similar before? I'm trying to be very patient and can see she almost can't help it. It reminds me of OCD compulsions a little.
Thanks xx

I don't understand school's thinking here. Surely if they think she may have ASD/OCD it's best to get her assessed as soon as possible.

Have you tried your GP?

If there are suspicions there try get on the waiting list. Chances are you'll have a 2 year wait for assessment and things might be a lot more apparent by the age of 7

School are being ridiculous, she is not too young. Waiting times are 2-3 years. Tell them you want to refer for an assessment now.

Thank you. I took her to the GP yesterday for her eczema and mentioned it to the locum (never met before ) and he just looked at her and said ' oh I'd be very surprised if she had autism ' simply because she was saying hi to him. There is such a lack of understanding.
The rituals she has to perform are getting out of control where it's causing me quite a lot of stress. She asked me the same question over 30 times on a 45 minute journey today and had a meltdown at bedtime because her book was turned the wrong way on her shelf. It's so exhausting.
School are so reluctant,but they have given me details of the school/ county health team so I'm going to have a chat with them and see whether they could help get the ball rolling.

Primary care is such a mixed bag. Don't make my mistake and accept casual dismissal of concerns; 'of course he hasn't got ADHD, I can always tell the ones with ADHD, they can't sit still and he's not wriggling. This child does not need a referral, the information in this letter from school is just them telling me he is naughty!'.

Yeah, right. Fortunately a switched on Headteacher pressed me to change GP practices and 3 years later we have multiple diagnoses including ASD and ADHD. Poor old DC was misunderstood for a LONG time.

Would ask School for a letter and try GP your again, describing issues in home and school settings. PP is right about the horrendous lead times if an assessment is indicated. And if you receive diagnoses it is only the start of trying to understand DC's particular experience of autism. It can take a lot of time, trial and error to find things that make a positive difference at school.

Of course this shouldn't have to wait for a diagnosis, impaired functional capacity should be the starting point for adjustments and additional SEND provision. And if significant anxiety is in the mix, seeking a CAMHS referral for this is another avenue?

If funds permit, consulting a child psychologist with a specialism in neurodisabilities privately, is probably the fastest route to skilled support with ritualised behaviours? Requiring us to follow script as a way of dealing with anxiety is something my autistic child does too.