First Steps of Diagnosing Autism/Aspergers

NicoleS

Hi there.

My son has been showing signs of Autism since he was months old, He's now 4 and finally got the ball rolling to have him assesed. 
I have a telephone appointment with Speech and Language next week, I just wondered what to expect? Do they only deal with the speech/communication side of things?
I have no concern over his speech, he has always spoken so clearly, skipped the babbling stage and went straight to clear words at 13 months old. The problem with his communication though is sometimes instead of telling me what he wants, he'll scream and throw himself around while myself and his dad work through a list of trying to guess what he wants. The only other thing with his speech is that he won't utter a word around people he's not comfortable with.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Luna51

Hello

I too have an 18yr old daughter who was diagnosed (rather late) for Autism at age 7.

From my own experience the SLT usually does a series of simple assessments to determine the areas of speech, language and communication a child may be struggling with, if your child is at pre-school or school this is where the assessments would usually be carried out (And don't worry they do try to make it a fun for the child) 
The call next week may be to just to listen to your concerns and look at the best way forward.
Due to Covid however, it may be a little different, but that is the usual pathway. 
Following on from the assessment, the SLT will report back to you (and the education setting) often with ideas of how to best support your child with their speech, language and communication. 

It's great that the SLT is involved, these things often take a while, but the sooner they are involved the better. 

Take care and good luck ?

Luna51

And just to add in..
If needed an Educational Psychologist can be called in following an appointment with the SLT, they have a lot of punch and can really help in the EHCP process (if one is needed) if you are worried about your son's behaviour, you can mention this to the SLT and ask if a visit from the Ed Psych might be appropriate for your son.

chiarieds

Hi @NicoleS - & welcome to the community. I hope Luna51 sharing their experiences with their daughter has helped answer your query. Please kindly let us know how you get on with your phone appointment, thank you.

Tori_Scope

Welcome to the community @NicoleS As Luna51 has mentioned, SLTs are able to assess a number of different aspects of communication and interaction, so it's really positive that they're going to have a chat with you. Perhaps you could note down some of the things you mentioned above around his ability to communicate with other people etc. to bring up? I'm sure they'll have questions for you though. Best of luck with the appointment, and please do let us know how it goes. 

I also wanted to direct you towards Scope's Navigate service, which is a programme for parents of children who are either on the pathway to diagnosis or have been recently diagnosed. It could be worth looking into, as they're a lovely team and pathways to diagnosis can be rocky.