Over 12 months and still no diagnosis

donnysmum · Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:17 am Post subject:

Hi, I am new to this site and I am looking to find some support/answers to my questions. My son is 13 and is attending a child and adolescent mental health centre in the UK. He is seen by a consultant psychiatrist, after seeing a paediatrician just over a year ago who diagnosed Aspergers Syndrome after just one consultation were he asked me a few questions. His psych says he doesn't have Asperger's but does have an ASD. This all started out because I took him to the Docs because he was losing stuff all the time, couldn't even begin to do his homework and was shouting stuff out, things like song lyrics.

The move from junior to high school seemed really difficult for him and the more he needed to organise himself the less he could do. My son doesn't have any obsessions or has never had a need to collect stuff, he would eat us out of house and home if we let him and likes to try all different foods, he loves being on his computer.

Over the past 12 months he has become more and more depressed and was having suicidal thoughts, the psych has recently put him on anti-depressants. After a couple of weeks the change was amazing, he is much calmer doesn't shout out and his attendance in school has really improved (although he still finds it difficult). He is really lucky that his classmates are good kids and they were really pleased to see him back in school and he was so happy because he realised that the kids really do like him and he is a popular member of his class, (he says he feels different).

Because I wasn't happy with the diagnosis we tried to get a second opinion, which we are half way through, the Paediatrician who saw him said she thinks he has a Deficit in Attention, Motor and Perception (DAMP) has anyone else ever heard of this. Before she gives a full diagnosis she wants him to have some assessments done by an Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist and an Educational Psychologist Assessment. He has had the Educational Assessment and it was amazing, in some things he had an age of 18+ years and was in the top 2% in the country, in comparison his reading and spelling was somewhere in the 11 years age range.

My sons main difficulties lie in having no self confidence at all, he is overweight and we are trying to address this by watching what he eats and like a lot of overweight people he really tries but then you find him sneaking something out of the fridge. Yesterday was really bad for him because he wanted his hair styled, but the dread of going to the hairdresser is a really big deal for him, then I offered to buy him some new clothes ready for Christmas, again when he was in the changing rooms he was so frustrated because of his appearance. When we got back in the car he just kicked off, kicking the inside of the car and being verbally abusive, when we got home he apologised and just asked me to sit with him and give him a hug. He has also been invited to a party that night but he wouldn't go, yet last Sunday someone from school called for him and he was out the full day and was so happy when he came home and said his confidence felt really high.

My son never reads, or picks up a pen he complains of tiredness a lot and is really lethargic, he has sleep problems in that he can't get off to sleep and then sleeps like he's dead and he finds it really hard waking up in the morning (even at week-ends or during school holidays).

I am sorry to rant on for so long, but it is taking an age to get the right support for my son and I just want him to be happy in his own skin, and right now I can't see that happening.