Got an appointment with the psychiatrist, but school's going down the pan

[streakybacon]

Finally got a date through - 27th October. That'll be six weeks after we asked for an emergency referral following ds's increased aggression and exclusion .

Things are getting worse in school, he's having 'incidents' several times a day but school aren't telling me about them, I'm getting them from the horse's mouth. I don't actually think they know. Other kids are taunting him as well - one who borrowed a dvd from ds a few months back says he won't let him have it and anyway he's scratched it so it's broken. It's obsession-based so ds is extremely upset about it, even though the kid is probably just winding him up.

I'm very disillusioned by this school, as it's supposed to be the best mainstream school for AS children in the borough but they do seem to be failing him. Doesn't seem to be much proactivity, just fire-fighting when things get out of hand.

Bless him, he's still working so hard at home to try and stay calm, then it all falls to bits again when he goes into school .

Don't tell my dh but I'm considering home ed. He'll freak when I tell him.
x

Sorry things are difficult - at least the 'emergency' referral has come through!! I don't think I can help but didnt want to ignore you! At least your ds is talking to you- which presumably gives you a chance to help him even if just by offloading.

I rang up to chase ours yesterday streaky and found out that it still hadn't been sent to CAMHS 2 1/2 weeks after i requested it They've had a sickness problem in the admin team but in the meantime ds has had 2 more agressive incidents. Thankfully ds's school do at least keep me informed. Even if this school has the best rep if your ds isn't coping there it still may be better if he moved somehwere else - somewhere where he can have a new start.

So sorry you and your ds are going through this {{{hugs}}}

CAMHS are a bit rubbish generally, aren't they dusty?! Sorry you're still waiting and that your ds is having trouble too. Hope he's OK.

TBH don't want to move ds again - he's only been at this school again and if this school, with it's reputation, isn't prepared to support proactively I can't see the point in changing again and starting over with the same old crap. If he doesn't stay here I'll definitely HE.

Just got a letter through from CAMHS, because of new NICE guidelines and ds not having ADHD dx, they can't prescribe until they've done a full assessment so it could be months before he gets a meds trial. Seriously worried that somebody will be badly hurt before long - it's happened in the past and there's every chance it'll happen again

Fair enough streaky. I don't think i could face HE DS so I wish you luck if you decide to go down that route. I just mentioned moving him as my ds first school had a good rep for SN but they were really crap with him and the strategies they used actually made things worse. In the end we had to take him out of there and he started again at another school where he did really well and they were absolutely FAB. He did have a statement in place by the time he went to the second school but they would have been better than his first school anyway. My ds started meds without an offical dx of ADHD - in fact he started on equasym last oct and then changed to fluoxetine in nov and then finally in march this year he started taking atomoxetine (straterra) alongside the fluoxetine. He only got his dx of AS and ADHD a few weeks ago.

Ahh I have just reread your post and its because of the new NICE guidelines. What a PITA!

I know! Why didn't I make the referral months ago!!!

sorry things are continuing to go badly this week. hope that school buck their ideas up.

I doubt if I would have survived HE either- (ds has ADHD alongside the ASD/LD). I did consider part time school/HE (mornings in ms - because he was coming home to lunch anyway) but managed to get a special school placement.
If ADHD is to be considered by Camhs, could they send you the forms to fill in (home and school) in advance (eg the Connors Rating scales) that may cut out one delay. It is an urgent situation afterall. ((hugs))