Hello

Hi, I thought I would just say hello and tell you a little about myself and my DS.

My DS is 5, he started school September 09 and we de registered him at the October half term.
He doesn't actually have an assessment of aspergers but he had an assessment done (well an EP watched him for 10 minutes if you can call that an assessment) about 18 months ago because the nursery had some concerns. It was a very god nursery that take referred SEN kids as well as mainstream so they know what they're talking about.
The EP said that speaking to the nursery staff it was clear he was 'gifted' (I'm really uncomfortable with that term) but as for aspergers he was too young for an accurate assessment.

We had already considered HE because he is so far ahead of his peers in some areas and we were concerned that if he got bored at school he could either switch off or become disruptive. but we wanted to give school a go. When he started school they tried hard to accommodate his abilities and even borrowed books from the juniors next door but overall the work very boring for him and unfortunately they ignored the things he finds difficult.He was desperately miserable and as my dad put it it was 'as if the life had been sucked out of him'. So we decided to go for it and start HE and we haven't looked back.

We have been to our GP with a big ol' list of concerns ( I won't list them here because I'm sure you have heard them all before) and his response was that 'there are alot of aspergersy things going on with him' and he has been referred to CAMHS and we have someone coming to see us tomorrow.
I hope we get somewhere tomorrow although I suspect we will just be referred to someone else, then someone else and so on.

Anyway that's enough from me, I hope it's ok me joining the forum without a diagnosis but I am struggling with some things and really wanted to find some other people a bit like me.
F.

Welcome to the forum.



I know the feeling. The same thing happened with my son during KS1.



Many psychologists are reluctant to perform an official diagnosis of AS on children younger than 6 or 7 years old.

Hi jencam,

We had a nurse from CAMHS come round yesterday. She is referring my DS to a panel for a full assessment for AS but as you said she told us his age may prevent a diagnosis. She said he is the youngest child she has ever referred but equally his speech and language assessment, reports from his nursery, the GP, her and us all think he has AS.

I guess we will just have to wait and see. For now I think we are going to work with him as if he does have aspergers as everything seems to point to that and those things seem to work for him. She has given us some book prescriptions so I am off to the library in a bit to get those and hopefully learn more about it all.

Florence.

An official diagnosis of AS is more useful whilst inside the school system than out. If you plan on HE for the foreseeable future then there is no rush to obtain an official diagnosis as the benefits of having one will probably be quite small. I have encountered several HE children with suspected AS who do not have an official diagnosis for various reasons, and most of them have no plans for an official diagnosis.

The best advice is to assume your son has AS and study as much as you can about the subject, then consider having an official diagnosis when he is around the age of 8 or 9.

Hi, we do plan to HE for a while but we would really like to keep our sons options open. I doubt that he will ever return to state school but we would like to be able to consider private school as he gets older. If it's not right for him that's fine but we would like him to have the choice.

So that's part of the reason for wanting a diagnosis but also we have some family members who think we are being ridiculous. My parents agree with us completely (my brother is autistic) whereas my mother in law is a nightmare and she only spends about half an hour a week with him!

I told her what was said yesterday and she thinks we should wait for a full and proper diagnosis before we start treating him as if he is special (her words not mine!). I think a diagnosis might keep her and her three daughters off our backs a bit.

And I guess it would be nice to know I'm not a mad overprotective nightmare mother as that's how some people make me feel.
Sorry, bit of a rant there.
F.

Attitudes towards AS at private schools vary tremendously between different institutions. At one end of the spectrum are schools that dislike, and will not offer any support or services towards, students with any form of SEN or learning difficulties. At the opposite end of the spectrum are AS specific schools - most of which will only admit students with an official diagnosis of AS. There are many shades in between. Some private schools are not AS specific but have staff who are knowledgeable of the condition and are willing to offer services and support. An official diagnosis of AS is likely to be useful in this instance.



That's a valid reason for going for an official diagnosis. Having papers to prove something is very effective at making a difference with some people...

I some respects you are lucky that you have relatives that could be convinced about the AS. There are still plenty of people out there who do not believe that AS is for real and consider it to be a bogus coverup for bad behaviour and low standards.