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got my date for assessment.

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hi everybody. got a call from cahms today and my ds is to be assessed on the 28th of november. didnt think i would see the day. anybody there tell me what i should expect. i have been told that i will need as much information from pregnancy to birth to present day. they will be also going out to his school next week for observation. i know this sounds bad but i hope he is at his worse so they can see what i see on a daily basis. any tips are advice would be appreciated. i really need to see what is going on

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basically birth to now. was he premmy?, how did you have him? natural etc, at what age did he crawl walk etc. what problems you have now. ours took about an hour and a half :thumbs:

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Try and make some notes about his development and traits to take to the appointment. This way you are less likely to forget things.

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Hi.It is also worth thinking about family members including wider family-Eg Anyone in the family with AS,ASD [or may have but never obtained Dx] ,DCD, OCD,ADHD,Speach delay,depression or anxiety.

In our case there were two psychiatrists and a medical student.As others have said there were lots of questions about development and milestones-take notes with you and think about anything that struck you that was unusual or different from the norm.Also think about whether your DS has been ill with anything requiring hospital visit. Eg head injury,serious ilness or infections. Karen

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i remember them asking about family members at cahms. i said no but i am convinced that my dh definitely has traits. although he wont even acknowledge the fact that ds is quite likely to be on the spectrum. too much alike lol. as far as the birth went. everything was ok 10 days overdue extremely quick induced labour. big 9lb baby. im going to have to get my thinking cap on for all this lol.

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Hi.

 

When Daniel was referred earlier this year to CAMHS from his Child Paediatrician, as she mainly done the assessments for a good few months, all the information was forwarded to CAMHS, as his Child peadiatrician was not in the position to diagnose him officially.

 

Anyway when he had his first appointment for CAMHS we met up with one of the specialists, he was a lovely guy, and as I had also requested from the school for Daniel's records in good time for the appointment I had taken these along with me too, even though they already had the overall information about this, but I thought it was also a good thing to request updated assessments etc to take along with us.

The school done this within days, so it may be worth you asking the school for updated information and a report in good time for the coming appointment.

 

The first appointment was mainly questions about the birth as already mentioned, oh and the pregnancy and family history etc, and if there are anyone else with an Autism spectrum.

 

With me I had a difficult pregnancy & birth on Daniel of where he was distressed, but also have severe autism in both sides of the family too, my brother now 42 is severely autistic and my hubby's first cousin and there are more again maybe distant in the family.

 

 

We were also given a questionaire to bring home and to post back before the next appointment, this was if I remember this was about Daniel's development from born and now, the specialist wanted this back before the following appointment which was just under a month after the first one so that he could check this over beforehand.

The following appointment a diagnosis were given, but these I know can vary.

Daniel is almost 13 now and was diagnosed at 12, yet he was seen by a child pyschologist when he was 4/5, but then they said he was too young then to give any sort of official dx, but then to see how he goes.

 

We do also now have a follow up appointment, this is to see how Daniel is coping at school and his sleeping problems.

This was originally going to be for Jan 08 but CAMHS have now brought this forward by 2 months, so he will be seen on the 26th of Nov (this month).

On this actual appointment Daniel's support key worker is coming along too.

 

Hope all goes well for you hun, my fingers are crossed and I'm sure all will work out.

Let us know how you get on - cheers.

 

Di. :thumbs: xxx

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Hi,

 

We went through assessment with M(age 7) in April this year. They asked all sorts of questions from birth to how he was as a baby, favourite toys he had, sleep patterns, toddler years, pre-school. They ask everything from obsessions to temper tantrums. they observe eye contact, play skills and look at all reports they have. Good idea to take copies of any reports you have as M's consultant asked if she could keep them. They had previously observed him at school and to be honest they went more by our views and what they observed on the day than what the school said. The whole thing took about 2 and a half hours. We went away for half hour and came back to be given the verdict.

 

We too will be going through the assessment process again in a couple of weeks with our youngest child who is 4. He is to be assessed on 21st Nov and his observation in school is 14th Nov. We are starting to prepare ourselves. lots of notes on all the things that worry us and all the strange behaviours he has.

 

Good luck with yours. Will be thinking of you.

 

mum22boys >:D<<'>

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Good luck with the assessment, its painless, though you'll probably find as you talk about things the memories will come flooding back and some of the behaviours will pop up and bite you on the nose as perhaps being a bit quirky. From our first meeting they decided they didn't need to see him at school they could make their dx without a visit, looking back now I guess it was quite clear what he had. What ever happens, be prepared to feel emotionally drained, its a real rollercoaster of emotions and don't forget we are all here for you.

 

>:D<<'> >:D<<'> >:D<<'>

 

Clare x x x

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hi everybody. got a call from cahms today and my ds is to be assessed on the 28th of november. didnt think i would see the day. anybody there tell me what i should expect. i have been told that i will need as much information from pregnancy to birth to present day. they will be also going out to his school next week for observation. i know this sounds bad but i hope he is at his worse so they can see what i see on a daily basis. any tips are advice would be appreciated. i really need to see what is going on

 

Hi just to reasure you that if on the day of assessment of the schools obs dont worry too much if he is much better than at home, our children can display quite normal at school and it is understood that it is mainly because it has routines and order, J wouldnt hit other adults at school the way he does with me because he is unsure how they would react, he knows with me he is safe, and at hometime thats when they release the tensions of the day anyway, for some its like they can contain the emtions until 3 on the dot, then massive meltdowns, I know J isnt as disruptive as he is at home but his disruptions are in the form of attention deficits, and anxieties relating to high sensory difficultie, only a really experienced person with Autism would understand the difference, it would be likely that if he was kicking off it could be interpretated as EBD not totally understanding the signs of what High Anxieties can do to a child with ASDs.

 

Js difficulties are social and communication too, struggles in unstructured times and playtimes as he has to increase his communication, he is verbal but he doesnt get sarcasm, when someone is joking and why someone is upset with him after he has taken something from them without any ideas of how upset that person might be, he comes out with randem words cutting into a conversation and it falls dead so everyone wander off leaving J to his ways.

 

Look at how he interacts, responds to others and how his play is different, remember to add all the positives too, as having children like ours are unique and different, you wont ever find another child quite like yours even if it does turn out that he too has an ASD.

 

Good Luck and you can get more information on school and Autism on the National Autistic Society, they have things like Different behaviours between school and home and I recommend the booklets that look at the classroom and the playground issues a child has with an ASD.

 

JsMum

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hi,

 

we've just had our assessment for our DS only last week over at Harper House hertfordshire, we were there half a day.

They wanted to know everything from birth until present day even asked questions about his bowels!!

They asked if he ever used to put his hands out for a cuddle, did he make believe play with his toys pretend to make tea and tea parties etc. They will literally ask you everything and it is hard to sit there and remember it all especially as i found it all very emotional anyway. They asked us if he met his milestones on time, toilet trained at a reasonable time, how old he was when he first could put a few words together, anything and everything you can think of.

I ended up probably telling them far too much but as dh said better too much than not enough.

The other good thing is that they actually sit there and listen to you, they didn't judge me or make me feel like any of it was my fault. We didn't have an aobs at school so i can't offer anything there sorry.

 

And as clare said it will be a rollercoaster of emotions, even now i still find myself emotional. On very good advice from member bid i got very drunk that evening and then have let it all sink in afterwards. be gentle with yourself. x x

 

I hope this sort of helps you and good luck for the assessment >:D<<'>

Edited by kellyanne

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