Best place to get help for my daughter

danih

One of my jobs is as a carer for a young man with autism and severe learning disability. I wish he wasn't chatty - chitters away non stop.

My main job is a social worker in an educational support team for children from 3 to 8.

Your child needs to see an educational psychologist and a paediatrician. Your gp is the most likely point of referral. Gps are busy and usually overworked - you need to push hard to get her referred. Ask for an opinion from a 2nd gp if you need to.

I understand the concern about labelling your daughter. However a diagnosis has advantages. A diagnosis will give you a rough idea of how she will develop in the future, what her future difficulties are likely to be and enable you to prepard for these.

There are face to face and online support groups for just about every condition. For example, people with dyslexia tend to struggle most with the written word, so support can be focused on the written word and related coping skills. When the individual receives support like this, their confidence will improve, and frustration will lessen.

Push your gp, and senco for your referral asap. Sencos in some areas can refer to education support teams, who can then refer to an educational psychologist.

Frith

My son has Aspergers Syndrome and chats to family members and people he knows - at great length!

Is there another GP you could see in your practice?

My son has never actually seen a GP (he's 10 but has never been ill!) but was referred by school to a speech therapist and an occupational therapist when he was 5. The occupational therapist thought about autism, referred him to a paediatrician and it all went from there.

My brother has dyspraxia (yes, it does run in families) but your daughter sounds more like my son than my brother.

ETA - I know some people are against labelling children but since my son has had a diagnosis he has had the right sort of help, been given a place in a mainstream autism base and I have been able to go on autism courses.