How to get a child offically diagnosed?

LegacyUser

I have a 4 year old son, who has been with the Early Intervention Team in Sligo for the past year. He has a significant speech delay, and sensory issues. My wife and I believe he has Sensory Processing Disorder, and is on the Autism Spectrum, maybe not Autism itself, but either Asperger's or PDD-NOS. We have pushed for an official diagnosis, but the E.I.T. keep putting us off, saying to "wait for another six months and see", etc.

We're prepared to go private and pay for an official diagnosis, but don't know where to start. Is there a private Occupational Therapist and/or Child Psychologist in Sligo that can officially diagnose our son, or would we have to go to Dublin? Also, with these private therapists, how many times generally, do they need to see and access the child, and what is the cost on average?

Hobbitfeet

Sorry cant help but maybe would be a goo idea to post in the sligo forum too

Pixie Chief

There may be a difficulty with firm diagnosis in the sense that they recognise that there is a problem but a specific diagnosis might be difficult to achieve given the presentation at the moment. That said, they may just be dragging their feet....if I had waited for the HSE team, I would still be waiting!! An official diagnosis matters a lot less than understanding his difficulties and finding ways to help him and it can be hard to achieve that without professional help. An occupational therapist will not be able to make an official diagnosis but will probably be able to provide a lot of assistance. Ideally you are looking for a private clinical psychologist with a speciality in this area and you could except to pay maybe in the region of €600. I don't know of any in the Sligo area but I suggest that you check out the Psychological Society of Ireland. They will have a list of registered clinical psychologists from all over the country to choose from. I wish you all the very best of luck, hope this helps!

Pixie Chief

* expect* - sorry, the coffee is only kicking in now!

Blueskye

I would be very wary of any private clinical psychologist willing to make such a diagnosis. It needs to be done by a multidisciplinary team and not by a single professional. Ideally it is done over a course of months also. I would go back to the EI team and discuss your wishes/concerns etc.

LegacyUser

Thanks so much for the replies.

I do understand his difficulties, as there's a strong family history of ASD. I have a 15 year old brother with Asperger's, and an 8 year old brother with severe Autism. Additionally, I have issues myself, possibly being on the Autism Spectrum (Asperger's), Social Anxiety Disorder, etc. I have been seeing a Psychologist myself for the past few months, and again, like the E.I.T., he kept putting off the need for an official diagnosis or to "label" me. It's very frustrating getting the same stance on diagnosis as an adult, and then again with my child. I pushed my Psychologist for a diagnosis, and he finally referred me to a Psychiatrist, as Psychologists don't diagnose.

Our child has been with the E.I.T. for the past year, and sees a Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, and a Physiotherapist. In our original meeting, they said he might also need to see a Clinical Psychologist sometime down the line. In our latest review (this week), they said an appointment with the Clinical Psychologist is still "six months or so away". It's so frustrating! We want him to start "big school" September 2014, and it really does feel like they're dragging their feet.

Thanks again for the replies, and I welcome any more help. I'll check out Psychological Society of Ireland.

Lucyfur

I don't think Molloway House has a resident psychiatrist at the moment so that may be a reason it's dragging on. Not a good enough reason, mind you.

Have you got a councillor on your side? Jimmy Devins was a huge help to me when I was going through the same.

Also, constant phone calls and letters get things moving a bit quicker.

Best of luck.

D1stant

Hi OP,

I am surprised that your EIT have waited so long to give you a diagnosis - early intervention is key and so beneficial and you can only get all the benefits (such as home tuition) with a diagnosis.

Many parents, including myself, have had to go down the private route in order to secure a diagnosis and start the whole process of early intervention and home tuition. Most do this whilst also waiting for the HSE multi-disciplinary assessment which can take anything up to a year.

If you can afford it, go down the private route, secure yourself a diagnosis and start home tuition ASAP.

In order to secure a HSE diagnosis (which you can do parallel to this) you need to complete an Assessment of Need form and send it to your local EIT - they are legally obliged to complete the assessment within 9 months (but this often takes longer).

You could contact Shine in Dublin who will be able to advise you of Educational Psychologists in your area that can give you a private diagnosis. There is also a man in Dublin called Prof Fitzgerald who can give you one but you would have to travel to him. Whoever you do use, you need to make sure that the Dept of Education (who administer the Home Tuition Scheme) accept that individual's diagnosis.

It will probably be one of the hardest days of your life, hearing those words. But it gets better from there on. You can then move forward and stop the wondering and feel like you are doing something positive.

I would also suggest you contact Irish Autism Action who are excellent advocates for parents and will give you invaluable advice and help with any problems you may encounter.

Best of luck and strength to you and your family.

Aineoil

You are in the system, it's a good place to be. The early intervention team are obliged to act under law. It's a frustrating process. Your child will be attending primary school in September. Seek an appointment with the school principal. Outline everything to them -everything.

Lucyfur is right. Constant phone calls and letters to the relevant people seems to work.
Blueskye is right too - a multidisciplinary team is a better way to go in my very humble opinion

This is a long, hard road. Keep fighting.
PM me if you need any more information, it's not an easy

Best of luck to you.

Crea

You child is with the EIT and so is getting the supports/treatments that he needs at the moment. A diagnosis isn't going to change at this time. In order to get a diagnosis of SPD your child will need to be assessed by an OT - given your child is already under an OT they are probably doing ongoing assessments. As for a diagnosis for ASD - the older the child is the easier it is to make a diagnosis. AFAIK assessments aren't done for under 4's. My DD was assessed through Assessment of Need when she was 7 and it was hard going trying to get her to complete the tasks. In total between OT and Psychology she had 3 appointments and we (the parents) had an additional 2. There are lots and lots of questionaires for the parents about the childs challenging behaviour so i'd recommend keeping a diary of these instances to help you with this.
You should have a team leader for your son so discuss your issues with him/her. If you have done this then talk to their boss.
Aspire.ie has a list of psychologists who do assessments privately. Make sure their report will be accepted if applying for resources at school before you give out any money. The EIT reports are always accepted

D1stant

My child was assessed at the age of two by our local EIT and received his diagnosis (ASD) just before he turned three.

We also had him privately assessed by an Educational Psychologist at the age of 2.5.

Based on the private diagnosis, we were able to start a Home Tuition programme for him immediately which benefited him hugely. That extra six months of intervention was invaluable and in my experience of talking to other parents, it's the road that most go down due to the system and the long waiting times for the assessment of need.

Early intervention is key and the earlier the better.