Asd assessments...

[janmumto5]

Do camhs etc do asd assessments even if the initial first interviewer/assessor feels there is no signs of asd?

Ie interviewer feels asd is a definate no no on the child? Just wondering as i know it can take lot of time and money to do full process so now im paranoid after my ds's first appointment on whether they doing everything to shut me up or because she did pick up signs and she also did say she wants to take Lewis's case on herself below is quick outlined from our first appointment..c&p from another thread i posted on lol..

I just had my ds's first appointment with camhs i sat down couple of nights before and wrote a list it became a 3 a4 page both sides filled in list of things that we had noticed different about Lewis i handed that over to the assessor at start of the meeting ours lasted about a hr..

During the meeting she asked me questions and observed Lewis she tryed telling him a box of tissues was a aeroplane he said no it isnt it a box of tissues in the end she managed to get him to do a aeroplane motion with the tissues but it was very quick and ended fast , she also tryed to get him to make her a sandwich imaginary he did it with bits of paper but when she said lovely sandwich he said it just paper you know LOL!!

She the proceeded to tell me everything we are noticing about Lewis his lack of social skills, etc could be down to global devolpmental delay but she wants to take him on under her team and asked for permission to read his brain scan reports (he has brain damage) paedatric reports from birth, ed phyc reports, statement,send somebody into school to observe him there and to do ados on him next appointment with her is april!!

I felt bit frustrated but know they have to be sure before saying what they think she knows my old paed was the one who put autistic traits on his medical notes and she knows i feel he is somewhere on the spectrum it long waiting game tho xx

Forgot to add so far Lewis d/x's are..

Global devolpmental delay
Autistic Traits,
Abnormalities of the brain (his brain is under devoloped basically same as brain damage but he was born like that)
Lax joints and ligament,
Paraylisis of the vocal chords-resulting in speech and language problems,
growth hormone defiency,

If she's doing an ADOS, she must suspect ASD. Is it her who has said a no to ASD? I'm confused!Was this a psych nurse, psychiatrist or psychologist? CAMHS here do ASD assessments and only put those who they think will get a dx on the ADOS waiting list.

No-one has said no i think they are finding it difficult to decide if it thro his gdd he has such bad social skills.. he wont interact with peers,plays alongside them, cant handle large groups, needs adult support even in small group settings, doesnt let us know he knows somebody from school when he see's them in fact he acts like he has never seen them in his life if they say hi,he plays alongside peers never with them including his twin at school, he is statemented and in a special needs unit ..

We have moved from altrincham trafford to stockport down the road cos altrincham wont d/x asd till child is over 8 plus stockport healthcare is better service for my dd who has complex health needs..

It was first ever camhs appointment with anybody about Lewis but my paedatrician in altrincham has always said he shows lot of asd traits the interviewer from camhs didnt say no asd but did try to say it could be his gdd affecting everything he does regards social skills etc but then she went on to say she was taking him on as a case herself and ran thro everything she wanted to do including a ados it left me very confused. x

agree with givememoresleep, she definitely wouldn't be doing all this if she didn't suspect possible ASD.

What is her job, jan?

She one of the camhs phychologists here in stockport you have a initial first interview with one phychologist then they decide who and where to send your child to or if they can help she is familar with my family recently referring my ds1 to the adhd clinic and now taking Lewis on herself to assess..

I still waiting for a camhs first appointment for Lewis's twin who i suspect has oppositionaL defiance disorder and possible adhd am starting to get tired now but need answers so i can help them more iykwim x

My son was refered for longer assessments after he passed the ADOS test as they said something wasnt quite right but they didnt think he had ASD.
He was diagnosed with autism last september,and we were told it wasnt picked up because his speech was good.

It's usually a tiered process, so to get through to the next level, they have to thing there is something going on

Lewis's speech isnt great he has the vocabulary but it doesnt come out perfect but he will always be like that as well as sounding hoarse because he has a vocal chord problem that is permanant xx

Jan, I also live in Stockport. We are going through a similar process to yourself so I thought I would respond.

I don't know whether they will do an ADOS if there are limited signs of ASD. But the staff at CAMHS must think there is a reasonable chance of ASD if the staff member said she wanted to take the case on herself. Oddly enough that is what my daughter's case manager said to me on our first visit. My daughter was referred to CAMHS at Stepping Hill Hospital in March 2009. She had her ADOS last week. (We had three visits to the Case Manager from March to November 2009).

I don't know when we will hear the results so I plan to call CAMHS today to find out. Her assessments were very difficult as her main problems are social/communication and she has not yet spoken to the case manager. Whether she spoke to the people carrying out the ADOS I don't know.