Finally plucked up courage to join, just saying hello

[daniels-mum]

Hello, everyone, after months of reading everyone else's experience I have finally plucked up courage to make a post!

I am from Leeds and have 3 children, a 10 yr old (nearly 11) son, a 9 yr old stepson and an 18 month son. I also work more or less full time so live in chaos most of the time.

My eldest, Daniel is currently going through the assesment process with CAMHS in Leeds, this has been a very long time coming and Im sure my experience is typical of many other members on here. I am about half way through and they are hoping to go to the panel in October to decide wether to diagnose or not. Im getting very nervous, mainly because Im scared they wont make a diagnosis and I will be back to square one where I was 6 or 7 yrs ago, but I suppose for the time being I will have to just sit it out.

Daniel was never a particularly lively child, especially when in hindsight I compare him with my 18 month old now, which I cant hep doing although I know I shouldnt!

It was at Nursey that his teacher first mentioned something to me and as a result he went for hearing tests and speech and lngauge therapy, all of which never seemed to come to much. Then he started Reception and seemed to have a fairly good start to school all in all, it wasnt until Year 1 that his teacher asked to see me and said she wanted to refer Daniel to the Ed Psycologist and put him on the special needs register. He saw the Ed Psy who saw him a couple of times and did say there were some problems but he couldnt really put his finger on what it was. So he went through year 1, 2, 3 with every parents evening the same, "he is very quite and seems in whis own little world, but maybe thats just how he is". It also became clear that he spent the majority of playtime on his own, wondering round the playground talking to himself and clapping!!

Finally in Year 4 his teacher asked to see me and stated she was concerned about Daniel and wanted to refer him to the Ed Psyc again, after lots of waiting and ringing to chase things up, he finally saw the same one as 4 yrs ago when he was in Year 1. this time round he seemed to grasp things abit more and did agree with me that Daniel was likely to be somewhere on the spectrum, all Weschler scale tests he did indicated this, most of his scores were 3 to 5. He has had a speech and language therapy assesment with a lovely lady and she agreed that his comprehension skills were somewhat lacking and he would need support for the remainder of Primary School and also into Secondary School, she agreed that he could have E Band Level 2 funding which equates to 6 units (that means nothing to me by the way, seems a very technical term) but they have got a classroom assistant now in Daniels class to spend part of her time with him so that is a help. And that brings me up to now with Camhs, I just get the feeling they dont think his case is serious enough compared to some of the other children they see, and even though I am sure they will see worse cases, that will be no comfort if they dont make a diagnosis and put me back to square one.

Im sorry, I seemed to have rambled aimlessly, I only wanted to introduce myself, thanks for your patience if you have read this far!!

Edited September 12, 2008 by baddad

[Karen A]

Hi daniels mum.Welcome to the Forum.

I have Ben who is 10.We are in the process of assessments to finally decide whether Ben has AS.

We expect news in early October too so I understand exactly what you are feeling. <'> <'>

[baddad]

Hi Daniel's mum - welcome to the forum

I've made a tiny edit to your post, deleting the name of the specific CAMHS clinic you're attending.Difficult time waiting for that decision Hope you'll get the support/recognition you all need)

 

 

[chris54]

Hi there

 

Sounds a bit like my sons story.

 

Late talker, at preschool spent most his time on his own. Not a good start in reception year, refused to use the toilets which as you can imagine led to a few problems, which detracted attention away from other problems he had. He was always liked by the teachers , did not misbehave, ever! But there again he went unnoticed, if you know what I mean.

 

Not a good start in year 1 "TEACHER" .But then she went on maternity leave and new teacher got things under way.It did take about 2 years of seeing this person and that person but finally Early this year we got a diagnosis of ASD Presenting as AS.

 

But to complicate things we have since moved to a different area and so now his new school has got to sort out what support they can get for him. His new school seems to be on the ball and have already been giving him some 1 to 1, and keep us well informed. email what would we do without it. I have the email address for half the staff at the school new so if I want now anything or tell them something its just a click away. Also have a school home message book.

 

We have a meeting with his teacher and the SENCO planed for the week after next when hopefully will have a better idea of what is what..

 

By the way A is 8 years old.

 

Yes it is easy to ramble on and on about things but I think it does you a bit of good to talk about things now and then.

 

Bye Bye

 

Chris

[JsMum]

<'> A warm welcome, and well done for taking the courage to post, many people are very nervous and dont ever do it, so hopefully others that are too nervous may take insperation to your post.

 

I hope that the cahms team assess and diagnos soon, I think band E still wont possibly meet his needs in a mainstream setting so do look into getting further advise, IPSEA and Network 81 are great for further information, I fighted for years for a statement and when we got one we soon realised it was NOT meeting his SENs, we have now been successfull in funding for a special school, were waiting for a decision for a placement, so do look into what support your son should be getting not what the school want to give your son though I understand they are doing there best to help and support your son.

 

I wish you the best of luck and hope you get some valuable help for support and remember you dont nessasarily need labels but an identified need to ensure his SENs are met, and that can be a concern by you, and other proffessionals.

 

JsMum

Edited September 12, 2008 by JsMum

[Clare63]

Hi Daniel's Mum and welcome to the forum, I hope you get a diagnosis very soon.

 

Clare x x x

[**Mia]

Hello