Has he a problem!

[Felixmum]

Tonight at my scout/cub/beaver meeting that I help to run beavers I brought my 12 year old son along,he doesn't go to Scouts as he doesn't like certain things.He used to go to Sea scouts and his leader was ace,his leader also worked with children that had aspergers and autism,he had loads of patience and seem to understand him.Tonight he was asked to join a team game where they held a piece of spaghetti in your mouth and passed a polo to the next person well he refused to do it,said he didn't like the feel off the spaghetti in his mouth,another leader said to me point blank has he got problems or just being awkward,I felt insulted with has he got problems,I was like yes but he hasn't any diagnoses,he is dyslexic,but also a bright boy and works hard at school.He is quirky,he does have melt downs,he had one in his Spanish class,he does flap,but when I speak to my GPs oh we will look at it the next time.I spent money seeing a paed when we lived in another country to say he's not autistic,he talks well now,he used to forget words or stumble over words.I don't want to talk to my Gp as I feel I get no help,I talked to school re his writing .I don't like to say to much in front of him,because he has said before people think I'm weird.I love him to bits,the way he is but I'm sick of people's attitude towards his quirky ways.

[emmasue]

People can be so rude. Not everyone is the same and I don't know why it matters if one child doesn't act "normally"! Sorry, I just get angry sometimes. In order to get assessed for autism/aspergers, it needs to be done through CAMHS. Your son could be referred either through the GP or through school. The waiting lists are long, but it depends on area as to how long the lists are. You might want to speak to someone at the National Autistic Society for advice and support. They are very good at helping you through the process. autism.org.uk/

We finally got a diagnosis for my 11 year old son just over 6 months ago. It took us 3 years from initial referral to diagnosis. Part of the problem was that they didn't really know what was up with him. Now that we have a diagnosis, it's so obvious. The funny thing is that to those who know him, there are many that realised that he was autistic long before we knew. Anyway, we are now awaiting for an assessment at the end of the month for our 8 year old daughter. She displays differently so I am worried that they will say that she doesn't have autism. If she doesn't, I hope that they try to figure out why she struggles so much because she has lots of learning difficulties. Our son on the other hand is very bright and only struggles with writing. The process is very stressful, but it can be helpful for both the parents and the child to know why the child is different. It shouldn't matter, but it does. Good luck and I hope you get the support you need.