Child ADHD assessment

riks

Hi to all! I am I’m trying to get some help and answers about a big issue that I am having . Please to all of you, give me your opinion and thoughts and if you can help i would really appreciate it.

I am a mum of four. My third child now 11 he has always been super active since he was little. Having said that I have never heard from anyone that something may be wrong with him. While growing up he started showing each day more& more issues (like having tantrums all the time that could not be controlled, not being able to finish a task given and lots more) I could see that he was different to my other two, but still not knowing that a condition could exist i did not try to do anything about it until three years ago when I found out about a condition called ADHD. At that point I contacted the GP and a referral was made. A few months later I received a letter saying that he potentially has ADHD so he will be seen by a specialist .And then while I was waiting for an appointment a few weeks later, I received a letter saying that they are not going to see him as they don’t think he has ADHD. So basically a decision was made without an appointment. As he was getting older a year later, I decided to contact the GP again because the teacher told me to do so as they could see that something was not right, and they made another referral. About one year later he got to be seen by a specialist. On that day he was very upset and he never got to answer any of the questions that were given. They asked me as the parent how he was while growing up. And that was it about three weeks or four weeks later I received a phone call saying based on emotions he does not have ADHD. They did not even ask to see him for another test or even ask questions about what’s affecting him? Now, I’m left to do this privately and I was wondering if anyone can give me any suggestions if they have been through something like this. Obviously, if I do this privately it will cost me a lot and if someone has done this privately, have they been able to get their money back? As i am looking into appealing this once I’ve got all the documents to hand…. i’m also looking to do this ASAP as he’s going into year six and this transition is as hard as can be with a child that doesn’t have this sort of conditions. Looking forward hearing from you all.

anisty

I'm afraid this is a pretty typical experience these days as they have such long waiting lists, they want to keep the numbers down.

I had a similar situation with my 17yr old daughter who was refused an autism assessment and booted out of CAMHS despite a very strong family history of autism.

I did get her privately assessed at a cost of £2 k and of course she is autistic.

I'm afraid i don't know whether you can re claim the cost of a private test. I would doubt it.

But i can tell you for asd or adhd, when looking for a clinic to do a test - you must look for the words 'gold standard' and 'NICE guidelines'

That ensures you get a test matching the NHS standard. Expect to pay around £12 - 1500.

Anything not up to that standard will be pretty much worthless for getting support going forward.

Annie_Scope

Hi @riks

Welcome to the community.

This sounds like like a very frustrating situation for you and your son. Is his school supportive of his needs and what are they saying in terms of ADHD? I think it would be good for school to provide a summary of how he displays in school, and any concern they have. Also, if you write down all the concerns you have. I would then take this to your GP and ask them to make a referral with this evidence. You could ask your GP about the Right to Choose option. This is the route I went down with my daughter and the waiting lists are shorter than the CAMHS waiting lists.

Here is some information on the Right to Choose

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-choices-in-the-nhs/

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/nhs-services/right-to-choose

I also took videos at home as evidence of what was happening. As this wasn't consistent across school, and I knew they wouldn't observe these behaviours and dysregulation within an assessment. All of this evidence was taken into consideration during the assessment process.

You may also find the following information beneficial.

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-a-z-mental-health-guide/adhd/

Hopefully we can help get the support you need.

riks

thank you so much 🙏🏻. I had no idea what to ask for.

Annie_Scope

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/971377#Comment_971377

Good luck @riks reach out for support, and keep us updated 😊