| Occupational therapy help needed 10:06 - Aug 8 with 2643 views | qpr85 |
Hi guys
I know I post very little and always ask for help but I really need to know if anyone has been through this. I know a few of you have autistic children so hopefully you may know the answer.
I have a meeting today with an occupational therapist today to hopefully diagnose my son. We have been waiting about 4 years for a diagnosis because his previous school knew nothing about autism and believed my son was just slow.
What will today bring me, will we get the diagnosis we have thought for the last 4 years or will we have to wait. Will this be uncomfortable for my son and will he get upset?
Any information would be a great help to my nerves as we are hoping we can start getting the help he so desperately needs. Thank you in advance 85 |  | | |  |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:21 - Aug 8 with 2626 views | Brightonhoop |
Hello mate, I have a limited understanding and less on Autism but the diagnosis should open all sorts of doors to your son and you as a family so ultimately a diagnosis will be good.
My daughter had a loosely titled learning difficulty that was undefined and we didn't get a diagnosis until she was 11, once technology had caught up ultimately and was able to identify undeniable evidence that something was wrong. The difficult news is the Local Authority are not necessarily your friend. If they can deny service, to save their budgets, they will do, so view them with a healthy degree of scepticism. Even with the evidence, backed by St Thomas's and the Kings Fund on health, the LA still denied my daughter at which point I lost my rag after trying to get a diagnosis for 10 years I threatened Tribunal to get a decision and they backed down straight away and gave my Daughter a Statement which opened all sorts of doors previously denied to her.
If there's a local group, get as much info as possible and dont rely on the school or Local Authority. My whole situation of hope started with a meeting at a clinic a London Consultant in Brighton, to this day I dont know what her connection to Brighton was, but she was a genetics specialist and through a few years was able to identify the problem that enabled us to claim a Statement that had always been denied, so stick with it through the good and hard times. I hope you can get the help that you need for your son. |  | | |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:49 - Aug 8 with 2587 views | qpr85 |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:21 - Aug 8 by Brightonhoop |
Hello mate, I have a limited understanding and less on Autism but the diagnosis should open all sorts of doors to your son and you as a family so ultimately a diagnosis will be good.
My daughter had a loosely titled learning difficulty that was undefined and we didn't get a diagnosis until she was 11, once technology had caught up ultimately and was able to identify undeniable evidence that something was wrong. The difficult news is the Local Authority are not necessarily your friend. If they can deny service, to save their budgets, they will do, so view them with a healthy degree of scepticism. Even with the evidence, backed by St Thomas's and the Kings Fund on health, the LA still denied my daughter at which point I lost my rag after trying to get a diagnosis for 10 years I threatened Tribunal to get a decision and they backed down straight away and gave my Daughter a Statement which opened all sorts of doors previously denied to her.
If there's a local group, get as much info as possible and dont rely on the school or Local Authority. My whole situation of hope started with a meeting at a clinic a London Consultant in Brighton, to this day I dont know what her connection to Brighton was, but she was a genetics specialist and through a few years was able to identify the problem that enabled us to claim a Statement that had always been denied, so stick with it through the good and hard times. I hope you can get the help that you need for your son. |
Hi mate thank you for you experience
It echos mine. Since he was in reception my wife and I have known there is something different about him but everyone we approached said he was too young and he'll change.
It's been a long 4 years and am going to this meeting as apprehensive as I always am. We've contacted mps and GP's local authority and school so hopefully this will give us something to help him
Thanks again for your experience hope daughter is getting on better now. | | | |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:57 - Aug 8 with 2578 views | BklynRanger |
Hello, 85, my wife knows about this. She worked for several years now with children with Autism and is trained in diagnosing it. This was in NYC but she can at least offer some insight. Here she is, best of luck:
Hello,
What kind of assessment is your child getting? There are a few assessments that can diagnose Autism and the main ones are ADOS-2 and CARS. The ADOS has different modules base on your child's language. There will be questions that the therapist will be asking and also games. If your child does not speak, it will only be games. I find that it is mainly fun for children and adults. It's not threatening to them.
The problem that your child might have if he has autism is that he might be anxious about the change to his routine on the day of the assessment. In general it's best to prepare him a couple of days in advance by telling him what is going to happen before, during and after the assessment (e.g. "On Thursday, we have a different day, We're going to this clinic at 3pm and you will have your breakfast, mum and dad will go with you and you will meet Samantha. She is a new person and you will be playing and talking to her. It will be fun. After the assessment we are going to eat lunch at the pub and then we are going to go to the park" (i.e. follow his usual routine afterwards).
The therapist will ask you questions and you should tell them about your child's worst day. What he/she is not able to do. If your child needs assistance in brushing his teeth then state that he can't do it because he needs assistance. Many parents believe that because their child is doing an activity with assistance that they can do, it. What the therapist will be looking at is what the child can do independently. Be specific when you are talking about your child. e.g."When he is angry, he can cry for 2 hours non-stop. At times he gets angry and there is not a clear reason. He sleeps 4 hours at night." even if this is not often. Talk about the worst day, remember that. Talk about how sensitive he is to everyday noises or if he makes up words that you only understand.
The importance of this evalaution is for your child to get services. Your might need a paraprofessional, occupational therapist, speech therapy, ABA, some community activities, sports, and maybe some in-home services. I hope this helpful and let us know how it goes. Good luck. |  | | |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 13:33 - Aug 8 with 2466 views | danehoop |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:57 - Aug 8 by BklynRanger |
Hello, 85, my wife knows about this. She worked for several years now with children with Autism and is trained in diagnosing it. This was in NYC but she can at least offer some insight. Here she is, best of luck:
Hello,
What kind of assessment is your child getting? There are a few assessments that can diagnose Autism and the main ones are ADOS-2 and CARS. The ADOS has different modules base on your child's language. There will be questions that the therapist will be asking and also games. If your child does not speak, it will only be games. I find that it is mainly fun for children and adults. It's not threatening to them.
The problem that your child might have if he has autism is that he might be anxious about the change to his routine on the day of the assessment. In general it's best to prepare him a couple of days in advance by telling him what is going to happen before, during and after the assessment (e.g. "On Thursday, we have a different day, We're going to this clinic at 3pm and you will have your breakfast, mum and dad will go with you and you will meet Samantha. She is a new person and you will be playing and talking to her. It will be fun. After the assessment we are going to eat lunch at the pub and then we are going to go to the park" (i.e. follow his usual routine afterwards).
The therapist will ask you questions and you should tell them about your child's worst day. What he/she is not able to do. If your child needs assistance in brushing his teeth then state that he can't do it because he needs assistance. Many parents believe that because their child is doing an activity with assistance that they can do, it. What the therapist will be looking at is what the child can do independently. Be specific when you are talking about your child. e.g."When he is angry, he can cry for 2 hours non-stop. At times he gets angry and there is not a clear reason. He sleeps 4 hours at night." even if this is not often. Talk about the worst day, remember that. Talk about how sensitive he is to everyday noises or if he makes up words that you only understand.
The importance of this evalaution is for your child to get services. Your might need a paraprofessional, occupational therapist, speech therapy, ABA, some community activities, sports, and maybe some in-home services. I hope this helpful and let us know how it goes. Good luck. |
Qpr85, I have two boys on the autistic spectrum and best advice I can give you is contact the national autistic society to give you free supportive and helpful advice through out the process. The statements get process has just started to change into something that should be more helpful. But it's early days.
A great deal of the process locally will be managed by your local authority. Not to put to fine a point on it, my experiences have been very mixed. Best advice for dealing with them is ensuring that you get every piece of medical evidence documented. Your go is your biggest asset in helping you through this and can help get referrals to the right specialists as well writing to local authority when you need them to ( it has helped us).
The OT assessment is only one part of the process, probably as important is anything that you can get are the educational psychologist tests which are the ones that Brooklyn is referring to.
In all of this remember that you know your child better than anyone else and you are their strongest advocate. You will often find yourself fighting what seems stupid or upsetting decisions, but you have to keep strong. |  |
| Never knowingly understood |
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| Occupational therapy help needed on 13:47 - Aug 8 with 2441 views | qpr85 |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 10:57 - Aug 8 by BklynRanger |
Hello, 85, my wife knows about this. She worked for several years now with children with Autism and is trained in diagnosing it. This was in NYC but she can at least offer some insight. Here she is, best of luck:
Hello,
What kind of assessment is your child getting? There are a few assessments that can diagnose Autism and the main ones are ADOS-2 and CARS. The ADOS has different modules base on your child's language. There will be questions that the therapist will be asking and also games. If your child does not speak, it will only be games. I find that it is mainly fun for children and adults. It's not threatening to them.
The problem that your child might have if he has autism is that he might be anxious about the change to his routine on the day of the assessment. In general it's best to prepare him a couple of days in advance by telling him what is going to happen before, during and after the assessment (e.g. "On Thursday, we have a different day, We're going to this clinic at 3pm and you will have your breakfast, mum and dad will go with you and you will meet Samantha. She is a new person and you will be playing and talking to her. It will be fun. After the assessment we are going to eat lunch at the pub and then we are going to go to the park" (i.e. follow his usual routine afterwards).
The therapist will ask you questions and you should tell them about your child's worst day. What he/she is not able to do. If your child needs assistance in brushing his teeth then state that he can't do it because he needs assistance. Many parents believe that because their child is doing an activity with assistance that they can do, it. What the therapist will be looking at is what the child can do independently. Be specific when you are talking about your child. e.g."When he is angry, he can cry for 2 hours non-stop. At times he gets angry and there is not a clear reason. He sleeps 4 hours at night." even if this is not often. Talk about the worst day, remember that. Talk about how sensitive he is to everyday noises or if he makes up words that you only understand.
The importance of this evalaution is for your child to get services. Your might need a paraprofessional, occupational therapist, speech therapy, ABA, some community activities, sports, and maybe some in-home services. I hope this helpful and let us know how it goes. Good luck. |
Hello Mrs brklynranger
It is the first meeting to discuss what things he does since birth. It was really relaxed and Raymond felt at ease through the whole thing.
We will now fill out a social questionnaire along with the school and we will then have another assessment for ADOS-2 and CARS. The ADOS which will be done in September hopefully.
Thank you so much for your help with this been bricking it since we received the letter. | | | |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 14:02 - Aug 8 with 2430 views | qpr85 |
| Occupational therapy help needed on 13:33 - Aug 8 by danehoop |
Qpr85, I have two boys on the autistic spectrum and best advice I can give you is contact the national autistic society to give you free supportive and helpful advice through out the process. The statements get process has just started to change into something that should be more helpful. But it's early days.
A great deal of the process locally will be managed by your local authority. Not to put to fine a point on it, my experiences have been very mixed. Best advice for dealing with them is ensuring that you get every piece of medical evidence documented. Your go is your biggest asset in helping you through this and can help get referrals to the right specialists as well writing to local authority when you need them to ( it has helped us).
The OT assessment is only one part of the process, probably as important is anything that you can get are the educational psychologist tests which are the ones that Brooklyn is referring to.
In all of this remember that you know your child better than anyone else and you are their strongest advocate. You will often find yourself fighting what seems stupid or upsetting decisions, but you have to keep strong. |
Danehop thank you for you reply mate. It has been tough with his first school but we are now getting somewhere.
I didn't know this is the first step because getting to this point has been stressful and hard enough. Once things stall I will be taking your advice thank you | | | |
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