How was the written ASD DX for your child presented?

[amberflower]

We have just received the written report following DS's assessment. After the feedback reports from the OT and SALT, plus the written account of the interviews we attended with the paed and family support worker, the conclusion simply states 'At the moment DS fulfils the criteria for a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder with an Asperger's Syndrome type presentation'.

No explanation of said criteria or why or to what extent he fulfils it. Is this normal, or comparable with what others have received?
Do they just assume we will do our own research and find out what the criteria are?

Obviously with the benefit of my own independent research I can read the report and interpret the relevant comments as being 'markers' to ASD/Aspergers...but had I not done that research I'd have been utterly baffled. For example in the SALT section she comments 'His sentences can sound a little formal and stilted, but DS is able to use language flexibly, and also used plenty of language that did not sound so formal' - now having researched it I know that formal/stilted language can be a sign of Aspergers, but had I not done that research I'd have had no idea why that might be significant. Similarly she talks about DS showing 'some difficulties interpreting facial expressions....could correctly identify 'happy' but muddled 'sad' and 'angry'. Again, this is an ASD trait, but the report doesn't tell me that.

I would be really interested to hear what kind of written feedback others have received.

ours just said (after discussing with us at meeting previously)
Diagnosis: Autism

straight to the point!!

HOws you anyway Amber? hope youre well xx

Very similar to yours amberflower by the sounds of it
The reports from the various visits (school salt visit/ O.T report/consultant child psychiatrist..the report from the ados test. etc..and then a summery that says..
'A diagnosis of HFA/Aspergers syndrome is appropriate to describe Troutboys difficulties' ...and ' Troutboy has features in keeping with Austistic spectrum disorder.The term Asperger's syndrome is more appropriate in Troutboys case as he is an able boy with well developed language'

that's it really

Ours was very detailed, and basically listed the current ICD-10 criteria for autism, with descriptions of how DS's behaviour fitted these added in italics under each point.
It then concluded that DS met the criteria for diagnosis of autism.

It was compiled at a multidisciplinary meeting, and each point was discussed by paed, EP, SALT, SENCO, Early Years and me.

Attached were the reports from the EP, SALT, Early Years and paed.

Sounds pretty comprehemsive compared to others experience!

We never had one overall report. There was a very detailed description of all the autismy traits after the interview thing (ASQ?)and then the very detailed ADOS report which spelled out how he met criteria for autism on every section and then, from then on, every psych report had the words: diagnosis: ADHD, autism on it.

I don't think it's unusual to have a report like you describe. For any professionals reading it, the comments are obvious markers, and the report-writer should have verbally explained them to you as parents rather than needing to spell it out in writing.

Thank you for the responses...it is interesting to see that there is quite a variety!

The paed's verbal feedback was quite woolly, to be honest, hence perhaps why I was expecting something a litle more detailed in the report. She also phrased the verbal feedback summary along the lines of 'DS has always been neurotypical in the home environment, starting school has tipped him over the line onto the autistic spectrum though in my opinion he will move back to neurotypical as he gets older' which was quite confusing. The report simply states ASD.

Anyway we are going to be challenging the diagnosis and seeking a second opinion - following the verbal feedback we felt very much as if they were trying to shoehorn him into a diagnosis based on a few traits which are only evident in the school environment, and the written report confirms that suspicion to be honest. But it is interesting to hear about others' experiences with the written reports. I guess at the end of the day they are only written with the LEA and education support in mind and are probably not supposed to be informative in any way for the parents.