“Diagnosis can bring a sense of relief” -
It can also catapult you into an unknown, scary world when you realise you have a diagnosis and there are no services available for some years, depending on where you live. Lengthy waiting lists. You learn and research the diagnosis and realise Early Intervention is the KEY and the hope your child needs to give them a chance to progress and thrive but you could have to wait months or years.
When you finally get intervention and meet wonderful people along the route you get to the never ending brick wall, listening to departments lacking in resources due to budgetary constraints, not being able to provide a service. You rejoice when you see progress, no matter how slow it takes.
You are the voice your child needs and you will do everything to ensure they are allowed to achieve their goals.
You learn to praise and encourage and most of all love.

I completely agree about children being wrongly diagnosed with ADHD; we told parents that spanking is unacceptable and parents are still unsure of how to discipline and what works.
I have seen some truly disgusting examples of parenting including one parent who thought it was funny that their child was regularly biting other children in a playgroup. That child was diagnosed with a host of issues yet presented with no problems in playgroup when a new leader focused on that particular childs behaviour! We need to help parents with parenting skills instead of just giving a child a justification to behave in a way that’s going to leave them ostracised from their peers and things like birthday parties.

When I was a baby doctors tried to label me as someone with development problems just because I didn’t communicate in the way expected. My dad knew the doctors hadn’t a clue and well here I am years later with a college degree under my belt.

I’ve recently had a baby born with DS, we had no idea until he was born! The care and attention both he and I have gotten since then has been fantastic ! In fact I felt a bit smothered at the begining as we were trying to come to terms with this massive challenge both he and I would face in the future , I was so so worried about absolutely everything , but the systems that are in place for us are second to none! I am so grateful to all the staff in Drogheda and crumlin hospital and the public health nurses and the team from early intervention for making it so easy for us, they have given us space and also been there at the drop of a hat when we needed them! We have only just been told he will need heart surgery in a few weeks ( which was an absolute shocker when told) but with the reassurance and care I’m sure all will work out fine! I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones as I didn’t have to fight for anything , but who knows what’s around the corner and to every parent out there …. Keep strong and I’m sure everything will work out ok in the end ! X

No mention of effect of speech and language delays and disorders on a child’s social and academic attainment. Specific Language Impairment, for example, where performance IQ is normal but language comprehension and expression is disordered, can cause severe difficulties and has been linked to bullying at a young age. Diagnosis is essential to gain access to appropriate services.

You are the voice for your child so don’t always listen to the so called experts, they are not always right. Only recently did we have our 4 yr old diagnosed with autism and that was only after we fighting with HSE and the so called experts who wanted to send my wife and I on a another parenting course. Thrust your gut instinct and fight like hell for your child because you know them better than anyone else and not these health professionals who only observe them for a short time

There is also of course the issue that a minority of parents actively seek a label for their child ….it lets them off the hook when the child’s problems are caused by poor parenting skills. You can all red thumb this ….but the truth is out there ….admit it, you see it everyday !

I think that a problem with diagnosis is that the reaction is often medical treatment.
ADD and ADHD are over diagnosed and too rapidly treated with medication. There are lots of different therapies that can be tried, from working with an educational psychologist to learn skills to aid concentration and organisation, to things like primitive reflex therapy that focus on correcting underlying physical coordination problems.

All kids are different and learn and develop in different ways. The first solution for behavioral or educational problems should not be a pill.

Smiley I feel for the people who have to deal with you “firsthand”…… Ignorance is not bliss…… its ignorance…….. I have five children and as they were born without visual markers or without physical disabilities I got a hard time because of their behaviours…….their refusal to communicate…… their aggression…….. their eating habits…… Not all of them presented all of the same problems but I had no idea what I was doing wrong….. the excuses given by the “professionals” (teachers… PHN) was that I was a young mother…… maybe I had PND….. was I abused as a child which might result in me having a dysfunctional parenting method……I dod a cookery course for the nutrition and eating problem…… I did photography to cure my depression….. I did ECDL to ease the separation anxiety….. I did a parenting class just to be sure to be sure that I wasn’t the odd one…… My eldest was diagnosed at 14…… Second diagnosed at 6…. Third diagnosed at 9….. Fourth Diagnosed at 6 (by the pay per diagnosis specialist) fifth diagnosed at 3…….. So how did I do it??? Was it me??….. am I faulty?? NO it is genetic……it was always gonna be there……. As for the state payments and “holiday money” you have no idea what you are talking about……… Apply for it for your “firsthand” I dare ya……With diffabled kids and Health and education systems that don’t work most of the time the applying for financial assisntance is a battle that many parents (me included) cant be bothered to take on…… FACT!!!!

No one buys a diagnosis for their child how insulting

Well smiley with all your “first hand experience” and knowledge of special needs services obviously you have had to spend months and months bringing your child to assessments, had to fight over and over for your autistic child to have access to an sna, had schools reject your child purely on the basis of them having special needs, had to fight everyday against the prejudice of ignorant people and their ill educated and informed opinions, had to pay privately for therapies that your child desperately needs that you can ill afford but the HSE waiting lists are endless so you have no choice….all of which I’ve had too and many parents I know have had too. You are such an expert after all….you personally “know people”…. Wow! Well I also work with people with special needs and have a sister with Down syndrome (in the uk by the way where there are many many people with that condition to further add to your extensive knowledge) your comments are ignorant, Ill informed and insulting to the vast majority of special needs parents who have to fight every day for every little thing for their child – especially your rubbish about grants etc which most of us spend months applying for before being routinely turned down over and over again.

Ignorance is bliss , have you spent hours walking the floor averaging 2 hrs sleep a night , have you watched your child turn themselves inside out screaming and have no medical /physical reason .Have you had to bring them to A+E for three years for chest pain at 8 feeling as if their going to have heart attack to be eventualy told this is panic and anxaty due to asd.. Have you not had an undisturbed meal ,bath ,sleep for 9 years , have you had to stop going on holidays ,dread Christmas ,easter bank holl because it stops normal routine .

Do you know that majority of people with asd children need some one home full time because it takes over your life ,familys struggle to function ,services are non existant resulting in holiday payments being used for essential equiptment or therapy ………….. Do you know there is no child phycolagy available for children after diagnosis in south east .

Btw smiley people don’t “buy” diagnosis for their child – they – like many and myself may I say have to go private because their service provider has had their staff cut back so much that they can’t do any diagnosis in time for parents and schools to apply for supports – there are cut off dates each year for this and any application needs to be accompanied by extensive detailed long reports that include the child’s diagnosis. We have been forced down this route even though it was obvious to everyone involved – Montessori staff – family and friends and our gp and HSE that our child had autism, because our HSE funded local service has had it’s psychologists halved in the past few years. It cost us four hundred euro which we struggled to find – but we did – otherwise our daughter would have received no sna or supports in school. That’s why people go private – because their kids will suffer if they don’t.

Come on Editor! A professional (Education) writing about the pros/cons of classifying a child against a standard norm and then a crisis of conscious! Seriously; she has studies texts that reinforce her position in labelling the child. These text are based on the perfect middle class white boy (girls aren’t rational) and then she waffles about how this process impacts on the parents and less so about how education policy links funding to these labels! It’s tardy professional musings!