Im wondering how to go about getting help for my child. She is 5 and starting school this year. She sees a doctor and psychologist. This is all quite new. Next step is occupational therapist, allergy testing and possibly a formal diagnosis and support.
Does the school do any of this? Im not sure how to proceed and what the school can do.
She is very bright and sweet and holds it in to be perfect for kindy (perfectionist and anxiety) so i am concerned she will either be overlooked or the wheels will all fall off trying to hold so much together for so long at school.
ETA i know how to speak to the school and teacher that is not the question. I am posting this in school holidays looking for info now on the process and especially interested in stories of girls thank you
4 Replies
I don't think that the school do any of it, but I know that they can help put strategies in place for her. Even if a formal diagnosis is a while away, there's ways they can help her. I would suggest seeing if you can meet with her teacher before school starts and go over it with them - what you know and what you think might help her settle in to school. They're usually there getting set up for the year a good while before the year starts. Otherwise as the previous poster suggested, set up a meeting ASAP when it starts.
As a mum with autism and parent of a child with autism, the school won't do any of it. If they offer to do it, it will be an incredibly lengthy wait. Not worth it, at all.
The school depending on your child's profile, can apply for funding for your child, that usually goes to having a teachers aid for a few hours a week. That's about all they can do.
It will still be up to you to provide extra therapies, psychologist, speech therapy, and OT are usually advised but there are other more intensive therapies that are excellent. But that's up to you to organise and organise funding for. Start researching the NDIS and HCWA. Depending on where you live will determine which finding stream you are entitled to.
No the school does not get a diagnosis for you. They can do a basic psych report that you can use to assist your diagnosis journey but they don not do it for you. Firstly go and use your Child health Centre and see your child health nurse. They can get you a referral to a speech therapist and occupational therapist and the audiologist. Then once these have been done see the paediatrician and work towards either getting a private diagnosis which can cost anywhere between $1200 and $2500 dollars depending on who you use or you can wait it out on the public system which can be anywhere between 3months and 5 years to get your formal diagnosis. The path is not war to travel but it is doable I've got two boys with Autism and both went through the public waitlist. You are not alone there are many Facebook pages dedicatied to Autism and support you. Please find one that suits you and ask for help if you need it. Girls are usually harder to diagnose than boys and most are mis diagnoses to start with.
Good Luck on your journey from one IM to the Next
My daughter is turning 5 in march and was recently diagnosed with autism.
It would have been nice to send her off to school this year, but I'm waiting till next year now, just so we can both feel a bit more confident that she's ready and have strategies in place.
It was a 2 year journey of getting her assessed, she started with speech therapy, therapist said from initial assessment there were markers for autism, so her report was enough to get a paediatrician to see her and refer for full assessment, in the meantime, she started ot and play therapy, reports from all these helped when it was finally our turn for assessment.
The school will just be another avenue of supporting documentation when it comes to final assessment.
Is it possible to hold her back another year though, until you have a clearer idea on what's going on with her?
Side note, my daughter is youngest of 5 and all now been diagnosed with autism, so I had a good idea what I was looking for, which therapists to work with, and how it all works, even with a well-know, well-oiled machine of a team working with my family and fast tracking as much as possible, it still took 2 years to get in writing what the rest of us knew all along