Hi Im hoping someone might read this and hopefully give me some in site as to what to do next.

My son has struggled with attending school since starting high school, he struggles to make friends, has severe anxiety about school but is happy to go out skateboarding and does seem to be able to be social with people whilst doing this.

I had to go private to get him tested for various things and it was suggested he could have traits of autism / ADHD. Since the pandemic I have not managed to get him properly diagnosed as it was thought by school and doctors that he was just depressed. School are letting him do a reduced timetable but are not pushing him to go in so he's attending less and less. He has been referred to CAMHS but again this takes months and he is almost year 11.

We are a single parent family and his dad has not been a part of his or his brothers life for a number of years now so this could also have something to do with it. He has severe issues with his dad abandoning him.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to where I go next? There are tests out there for Autism but Im not sure it is definitive that it is Autism. Clinical Partners do a test for mental health and also Autism, does anyone have any experience of them or any other similar companies that could help. I am paying for this myself rather than through the NHS so any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated. My son has done so much research himself that he is convinced it is only anxiety and not Autism.

My brother was diagnosed as Autistic in late adulthood I don't want my son to have the same struggles that he has had.

 

Hello. If you have not noticed autistic traits in your child before, or if there was no reason to worry that the current situation may be related to the child's growing up. In any case, you should consult with a school psychologist and decide whether an examination is necessary. We have an autistic eldest son, and when we found out that there was a girl with Asperger's syndrome in our shelter, we decided to adopt her. We have applied to fosterplus.org to process the necessary documents faster; we are now raising two autistic children. The most important thing that you should understand is that a child with ASD is a child who needs parental love and understanding.