ds been referd to a community paediatrician for possible Aspergers what will they do first time?

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we go on 1st sept what will they do? dont know what ds will do

anyone?

well, they'll have a lengthy chat with you first, about the birth, about his behaviour, any medical conditions and illnesses he has, etc.

it didn't happen at the first visit, but DD1 (dyspraxic) had a blood test to rule out any other genetic causes for her condition.

they'll weigh him and measure him.

then the paed will do some stuff with him - sort of tests disguised as games.

thank you i am dreading it he will refuse point blank to help them!

they're pretty good at making kids believe they're there for a good time.

Hi. We have been going through assessment this year as well for DS aged 5.

For our first assessment there was one developmental paed who did a few tests with DS, puzzles, blocks etc and observed him play with his younger sister who went with us. Then she asked us loads of questions about his birth, reaching his milestones, family history etc. It was all pretty straightforward really. Lasted about two hours.

The second time we went there was a child psychologist there as well and she did loads of play with him to see how he was going to use toys. Eg there was a doll and she told him the baby was hungry in order to see if he would pick up the biscuit to feed the baby. Also little figures that she tried to get DS to make up a story with - Good Luck With That! I thought. She had a bubble machine that she showed him and then asked if he wanted a go but held it out of his reach to see if he would point at it. She was trying to get him to use non verbal gestures I think.

Tbh both sessions were like a big long play session and DS really enjoyed them but was tired at the end. It is very draining and I find some of it quite difficult to watch. I was wanting so much for him to do well. I have done a lot of reading about ASD as well so I pretty much knew what she was doing and what they were looking for and when he was confirming ASD traits I could see that so I had to bite my lip a few times not to cry.

Honestly nothing to worry about though. I felt like I talked too much but I am sure the more information they get the better. We go back for diagnosis in October. First appointment was in May, second in July and diagnosis in October so 6 months from start to finish, which seems like a long time but from reading on here I know it isn't. Sorry this has been so long. How old is your ds?

Well done on getting the referral, and an appointment so soon. There are series of tests to assess various social, motor, verbal and practical skills against an age appropriate scale. These are a combination of tasks, questions and games so shouldn't be too stressful for him. Plus there will be time taken to discuss his development to date, maybe complete a questionnaire,and for you to raise concerns and questions. It may be that it is too much for one appointment depending on his age and how cooperative he is on the day.

we're seeing our comm paed on 2 september.

dd1 goes for assessments every 6 months or so to measure her progress.

her DLA will need reviewed in a couple of years.

Pretty much what expat said.

Mine was bloody useless though, told me there was no way to know about AS until at least 7yrs old with fully developed language, and kept telling me she wasn't autistic as she made eye contact. I KNOW she isn't autistic.

Grr.

sorry - that wasn't very positive! Loads of people have much better stories though!

we were meant to have her 6 months thing last week, but we got pox.

I can see it is more clear now (even though it is still "mild"/just a few traits), but I can't see him seeing it. It is good that she is low down on the spectrum, but harder to get notcied!!!

am not sure ds as Aspergers but i think heas some traits, also the more we red into it so as dh

hes 6 by the way his school as put him all down to shyness, and he gets bullied so they say thats why he gets mad and plays on his own, he very bright reads like us, fab at numbers but hes obbessed with calender and maps

he talks vgood but to much his hand writing is ummm v bad but he can spell v well

The assessment intially will be fairly general as regards his development. They won't assume Aspergers, for example, intially but use the assessment as an indicator of what needs more specific following up and to benchmark where he is in relation to his peers.

thank you all ill keep you all imformed

When we go to see the paed I always let DS take a book to read with him. It is one of his 'safe' activities IYSWIM. It keeps him calm and helps him stay focussed rather than stressing about the appointment. Whilst for the first appointment ot two they will want him to do stuff/interact with them etc there may be some time where you are doing lots of talking and he is doing nothing so if he is a reader then I would let him take a book.

They will ask you loads of questions about your pregnancy with him, his birth, how he developed and his behaviours that are causing concerns. Write stuff down you want to say or you will find you have forgotten things that you feel are important, you may want to think about stuff he did when he was younger too, and any concerns that you and others may have. I find these lists useful because I write them every time for our appointments and keep them so I know which concerns are on going and which are just 'of the moment'.

Hope the meeting is not too traumatic for you and DS finds it ok too. FWIW my DS has AS and demand avoidance too so we were REALLY concerned he wouldn't 'play the game' but they were great at engaging him and not being put off by his reluctance/truculence!

so glad it sounds like they know what they doing! when we took ds to gp she got us and ds stressed out we told her every thing about how he is gave a list, but she kept trying to get him to write him name over and over and after 15min i said he wont do it for you he wouldnt even talk to her, we all got so stressed out over this tbh it did put us of going to peads