What will happen at assessment?

Doowop · 10 Nov 17, 07:23 PM

We’re waiting on a CAMH’s assessment for our 9 year old daughter, we know she suffers with anxiety at the very least and believe there may be more to it than just that, can anyone explain what has happened at the assessment please, my daughter won’t speak to our doctor or a dentist so how will the assess anything? Thank you

Megandllsmum · 10 Nov 17, 07:40 PM

My daughter was 4 when she was assessed for autism so in our area she was seen at the child development centre at the hospital by a multi disciplinary team, made up of physiologists, SALT, occupational therapists, physios etc all under one roof and watching her play in a school environment whilst they talked to us and her separately over a few sessions and did home and school visits, this all took about a year. I think the older children are in our area they have various appointments with individual professionals so may be a few appointments. Last time my daughter went to camhs they got her to talk by using art therapy... It's amazing how much a child will talk doing something they like so they might do things that way.
Hopefully somebody will answer about their child's experiences at a similar age. My daughters 9 now, her diagnosis are high functioning autism and anxiety.

Doowop · 10 Nov 17, 07:51 PM

Thank you, it’s a long road then. We’re really struggling right now as there’s tears every evening and every morning about school. We’ve always noticed somethings with her but we accommodated it/her, don’t think we’ve done her any favours in the long run as we don’t seem to be able to do anything helpful now, the anxiety is winning x

Megandllsmum · 10 Nov 17, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by Doowop

Thank you, it’s a long road then. We’re really struggling right now as there’s tears every evening and every morning about school. We’ve always noticed somethings with her but we accommodated it/her, don’t think we’ve done her any favours in the long run as we don’t seem to be able to do anything helpful now, the anxiety is winning x

We found it's the waiting between appointments that's the long part and holds the process up but demand I suppose is higher than the resources.
My daughter day to day can manage a lot of her autism traits but does struggle with social skills, achademically she's as bright as a button but socially with her peers there is a clear difference in her behaviour. We struggle with anxiety more than anything though , fear of the unknown is a terrible trigger of her anxiety but once she's overcome that obstacle it's a lot easier, until the next challenge comes along