Difficulties getting a diagnosis?

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Hi, Im new here, my son aged 4 has been recently diagnosed at having a significant social communication disorder, the more i read the more i feel he maybe on the spectrum. I have his doctor telling me he needs 1 to 1 support at school (nursery) and this must start now before he starts full time at school (sept 08), and because he hasnt been "label" with any "known condition" I have school telling me there is nothing they can do!

Its all very frustrating and at every turn all the services that are here to "help" are giving such contradicting advice. I really dont care what anyone wants to label him, just as long he is able to get the support he needs, but sadly it seems without this "offical medical label" we are not going to get this support! I have also learnt in the last week that it all seems to boil down to the financial cost involved - very sad!

Anyone else have difficulities getting a diagnosis? I'm NNEB (nursey nurse) trained and I just "know" things arent right, im sure that as him mum i would just know anyway! My training just helps and it was my corncerned that led us to the HV then peadiatrician

Any advice would be great, we are in the UK

Thanks

I'm not sure how it is in the UK, but in the US, the school didn't even evaluate my son for autism services until I specifically requested it and pushed for it. It really kind of ticked me off because the school already knew that he was HFA. They knew it long before I did and they didn't want to bring it up because they didn't want to give him the necessary services.

If you think your child is on the spectrum, start saying he is. No one else will say it until you do it. State it like it's a matter of fact. Your doctor already told you what services your child needs. Try to get that in writing from the doctor and ask the doctor to use the ASD label. If the doctor was good enough to recommend services, I think he would agree to use the label you need to get those services.

we couldn't get services for our son until he had a formal dx...........without it, the school just poo-pooed the whole notion and played everything off as if my son was just willfully deviant and willfully defiant...........get whatever you can in writing. the school can still argue with the dx, but you can ask for them to evaluate your son's needs.

No formal dx = no assistance.

It's that simple.

If you're not getting appropriate assistance, you should change paediatricians and get a second opinion.

BTW: If you do things at age 4, you're less likely to get an aspie diagnosis and more likely to get HFA because there's a communication part to the aspie diagnosis and unless he's a good communicator, he'll fail that bit.

ive had loads of trouble in the uk to get diagnosis for son now 14, only advice i can give is try to get school on your side get reffered to camhs and if/when your given diagnosis if you dont agree dont give up and keep going back again and again. my son had adhd/odd aged 6 aged 13 it was changed to as/ full adhd /borderline personality disorder/ servere and pervasive social something or other[cant remember unless i look it up] oh and just for fun when doctor refered my son to camhs when he was 3 they refused to see him as they dont usually see children before the age of 5 and told me he was probably suffering terrible twos syndrome even though they had never met him. dont give up just keep pushing