Autism diagnosis?

jbw

Hi, my 7 year old son had an assessment by an educational psychologist at school (30 mins). She said she thinks he has autism due to lots of different things that she saw in the assessment. I haven't had her report yet but expect to get it in a couple of weeks. My son is very bright and academically remains at the top of his year 2 class but socially is way behind his peers who know which buttons of his to press to get him to kick out and they use this against him regularly to get him in trouble. The educational psychologist said that she will be coming back to work with my son. I would like to know what the next step is... I know I should wait for the report but... The future that I thought we had has just changed on a huge scale! Should I think about pushing for a diagnoses to help him? Will this label him for life and be a disadvantage in the future? But if I don't push to have him diagnosed will he get the help in school that he needs? 

Stripes

Dear JBW

My name is Ian and I am an Information and Advice Worker for Scope.

I perfectly understand your concern that your future has changed on a huge scale, but speaking as a person with a disability the future can be just as bright for someone with a disability as it can be for a person without a disability,- there is no reason why your son should not achieve whatever aspiration he may have the same as  every other child.

In relation to your question should I ask for a diagnosis, you are right it does have a double edge sword, yes having a label can be seen at disadvantage but in my experience it is just words,

If your son is given a diagnosis will you love him less, of course not?

If your son is given a diagnosis will it change his personality and his love for you of course not?

If you son does have a recognizable diagnosis what it will give you is access, hopefully, to extra support and services it means that some funding could be put in place to help him at school, which in turn will help him to achieve whatever aspiration he may have.

At the end of the day having a diagnosis is just words on a piece of a paper, it won’t change the way you feel about your son and the way your son feels about you.

If you are given the diagnosis and your son is given the right support and through that support he grows up and becomes an integral part of the society then you will look back say ‘I made the right decision.’

Scope runs a Face 2 Face befriending service, this is a service where we match up parents to other parents who have a child with a disability and as well as going through our extensive training they will have gone through similar experience to what you are going through at the moment This service can be either online, in person or by telephone depending on what area you live in.

You can contact our local helpline on 0808 800 3333 and they can put you in touch with your local Information and Advice Worker.

Regards

Ian Jones

Information and Advice Worker (Northern Region)

jbw

Thank you for your help and kind words, I am still waiting for the educational psychologist report but have been in touch with the parent support worker at school and the special education needs coordinator to try and figure out what happens next and what they will do now to support me and him. I have also found a support group in my area which I will go to when they next meet up.