Trouble getting a referral from the doctor...

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My son has gone to a center for autism, and they concluded he has it. Asperger's to be exact. Now the school is asking about a medical diagnosis for any assistance he may need. They have the educational diagnosis, but they want me to try to get a medical one as well.

His doctor (who sees him for a whole 5 minutes in a visit) just says he looks like he is getting along just fine and doesn't need one.

Should I keep pushing this issue, or just find a new doctor?

Thanks for the encouragement. I've been wanting to find one who will easily do a referral. I thought that the whole thing with referrals is they just hand you a piece of paper and say "call up this doctor and see what they think". I don't get why he is fighting it so much in all honesty.

He knows now that my son is having problems in school and all, and STILL says he looks like he's doing fine. I don't get it, lol.

I think you should find a new doctor and register a complaint about your current doctor. Presumably he is a family doctor and he should know that when someone asks for a referal about something that is outwith his area of expertise then he is being unreasonably obstructive in withholding it, particularly when there is other evidence to suggest that a referal would be beneficial to the patient.

The school seems to want it because if later on, if he needs someone like a personal assistant to help him do things, to keep him on task, and all that good stuff, they can't give him one unless it's a medical diagnosis.

Right now, they can work with me when they have a problem, but don't seem too obligated to go by it at all. Autism center let me know that when that starts up, if I have a medical diagnosis, it adds strength to the educational diagnosis.

We have somewhat of an IEP based on the educational diagnosis, but that is flimsy without it being documented on paper as a genuine diagnosis.

They were able to say he has it, they can say what we should do to work with it, but as far as on his medical papers/medical problems, I cannot put that down unless it's diagnosed by an actual neurologist.

I don't really understand all of the ins and outs of it, but I do know that my doctor is quite aversive to the idea, and that bothers me a lot. He is the same way with me on things... He's *supposed* to be an adult and pediatric care physician, but seems like he's one of those who just doesn't care anymore.

He seems to have this idea that if Zack is making it by at all, he is fine. I tell him all that is going on in school and such, and he still says "oh he's a kid, he's doing fine and doesn't need it". He said the problem with giving a referral and getting a real diagnosis is that later on in life, it'll be a problem for him.... I don't see how it would be a problem unless he's judged by it, which he'll be judged for being weird anyway according to others... and if it's in his papers, then at least they will HAVE to work with him.

It's not easy getting a diagnosis later on... I went through a LOT to get it, and still only have psychologist's "diagnosis" which doesn't amount to much with docs or anyone important. I see it as beneficial ultimately... if he has issues with things, he can tell his employer about it. If he's doing alright, he doesn't have to say anything at all.

I don't see how it could hurt anything to have it documented professionally somewhere just in case it's needed later on for anything at all. But alas, his doctor... our doctor, is a moron.

I must add as well, this is a doctor you can get in only every 4 months or so to be able to see because he's the only medicaid doctor around here, and for anti-depressents, he NEVER gives me refills to last until my next visit, so I'm screwed for 3 months after adjusting to them to begin with.

He gives them for me for anxiety, but won't offer other methods to help with it. He also drew blood from me many many times, and it took my gyno one time of taking bloodwork to figure out that I have all kinds of health problems due to the results... including looking at his results from the past-the problems were always there, he just didn't notice.