"Take any help offered and do not be scared to ask for help!"
#AutismAcceptanceWeek
- Home-Start Parent
This #AutismAcceptanceWeek, “Cate” shared her families diagnoses experience for her son “D”:
“My son was referred to CAHMS when he was in primary 5 by his teacher. It wasn’t until he was almost in primary 7 that we actually started attending appointments.
It was a long process, and the forms were quite daunting and in depth. We did not know what to expect for the first appointment, again it was a lot of questions, and they asked ‘D’ a lot of questions and how he felt about things, what were his interests and hobbies and generally finding out a bit more about him. His next appointment was a play appointment where he played Dobble and Uno. We went back another couple of times and on our final appointment we were in an appointment with Speech and Language who then gave us an ASD diagnosis and referred him for a further appointment to look at a possible ASD diagnosis. Again, this was another wait but this is another story.
After we received the diagnosis, we contacted the Clackmannanshire carers who were very helpful and we went to the office in Falkirk for post diagnosis support, this was for 6 weeks, and we found this invaluable as we got to chat to other parents who were going through similar experiences. The post diagnosis covered sensory issues, self-regulation techniques and general understanding of how children can process information.
We have been very lucky that the school have been very understanding, and ‘D’ was able to have an enhanced transition to high school and is now coping better as the routine works for him and the moving between classes.
It is a long process but worth it, take any help offered and do not be scared to ask for help!”