Possible autism ds (15) please share your experience

[User1053051066]

Hi, our son has suffered from anxiety recently and when I spoke to our dr he said I should consider autism assessment. I'd really appreciate hearing stories from others who had never considered it but perhaps received a late diagnosis around his age. I really dont know what to do.

Do you know what other traits/difficulties made the Doctor suggest autism? Is there anything else that you think he struggles with apart from the anxiety?

My 16 year old Ds was diagnosed last year at the start of year 11. He has difficulties with social communication and interaction, sensory processing, rigid behaviour patterns and executive functioning.

His difficulties were first flagged by his reception teacher when he was four years old but Ds just about managed through primary, so he was pretty much ignored. I think we realised he was on the spectrum around 7 years old, although looking back there was plenty of evidence from when he was very young but we just didn't realise.

He struggled to cope with the transition to secondary and we pushed the school to refer him for assessment in year 9. Years 7- 11 were pretty awful, he was bullied and his needs were not met. Due to the late diagnosis Ds has significant mental health difficulties, has anxiety and depression and is now being supported by Camhs.

I guess our situation is slightly different to yours in that we did consider it earlier but only pursued assessment in the teenage years.

Have you had a chat with the Senco at school?