Psicon autism assessment help

[Movinghousemovinghouse]

Hi. We had the right to choose two part autism assessment for my 6 year old son. At the end of the online developmental history assesment which was part two, the clinician said he concluded autism. We asked what led him to that conclusion and he read out a few things from the ADOS report. My partner and I, without discussing it, both immediately said we don't recognise those descriptions of our son.

Examples include batting and snapping fingers, no imaginative play, bending wrists back on furniture, rubbing the carpet.

Now, we feel our son is likely autistic and he does stim but of course we can't precede with diagnosis when their descriptions sounds like another child.

He was also already familiar with the frog book they use to assess imaginative storytelling.

It also felt like they didn't take into account the fact he has ARFID and how that impacts behaviour.

The clinician shut down any kind of conversation about this and said he wasn't at the ADOS so can't comment. He advised us to get the notes. Now Psicon are pushing back and saying they've never encountered this before and won't let us have the notes. It feels like they're trying to push us towards to conclusion meeting and report write up regardless of our concerns We've had to submit a subject access request for the notes.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

We're deeply concerned they are churning out a medical document that will be with him forever but doesn't reflect him at all or provide any support we may need in the future.

Lots of services don’t disclose such information informally and force parents to submit a SAR. Frustrating as that is.

I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that they are someone else’s notes. Many parents are often surprised at what is picked up during the ADOS.

Thanks for replying. Interesting to hear the SAR is common. We're being made to feel like we're a total outlier and noone has ever raised an issue like this before.

Yes we're definitely not jumping to conclusions. I'm saying 'like another child' mostly to illustrate how much we didn't recognise the descriptions, but also it does feel like a possibility. For example, it says he was clicking his fingers - he phsycially can't do that.

Batting and snapping his fingers (as per your OP) or clicked his fingers (as per your pp). You can do the former without clicking.

On the imaginative side of things, DC can still score even if they appear to be imaginative. For example, sometimes it is how they say sometimes, or they may use unusual wording or the same word an unusual number of times, or they may base the imaginary scene on a real life event/something they have heard before. Now adult DD2 appeared/appears to have a good imagination and did well at creative writing in school. That was until you looked closely &/or weren’t aware of how ASD can present. To someone who knows what they are looking for, she doesn’t.

Thanks for replying. Hugely appreciated.

I'm not sure I know the difference between snapping and clicking fingers? I assumed they were the same. Google hasn't helped me differentiate at least! Batting wise, it kind of sounds like a one handed clap, which I've never seen him do ever. However he does do finger posturing a little recently.

Re. imagination, I will certainly observe closely. But my instinct is he is making up original stuff all the time.