Initial doctors appointment for ASD

[idontknow54789]

I've made an appointment with my doctor to talk about getting my son referred for an ASD assessment- his school recommended I take this route. The receptionist at the GP practice said I need to take my son with me for this appointment- is this correct? I don't feel overly comfortable talking in front of him about his 'issues', he's not aware there's anything wrong and it doesn't seem right. Can anyone let me know if this is correct or not? The receptionist was pretty adamant he needs to be there.

I would take him and just say that school have asked you to get him referred for ASD. Then leave the doctor to ask any questions or talk to ds. You could also write down his issues so if the Dr does then ask you don't have to list them in front of ds.

Thanks, I've written it all down so can pass that onto the doctor. My son absolutely would not talk to a doctor and if I'm just passing on my notes it'll be a very silent appointment! He also has a lot of anxiety about going to the doctors and will have a lot of questions about the reason for the appointment and what the notes say so I'm not sure how to approach it.

Many GPs want to see the child before referral. Some parents book an initial appointment to go to on their own first before having an appointment with their child. You could ask for this to happen either F2F or via the telephone. Or you take a second adult who can take DS out of the consultation room for some of the appointment. If none of the above are possible, writing anything down you don’t feel able to say in front of DS is a good idea.

One tip I saw recently which I liked was take a screen and headphones for the child so they are less likely to hear what you are saying. Not ideal, but the diagnosis process can be a bit brutal.

When I did this with DS I didn't take the headphones but rather than say he does this, he does that, he has problems with XYZ, I said he struggles in X situation, he struggles with Y, to make it clear to the doctor what the issue was, but not make it sound like I was saying he is the problem if that makes sense.