To Diagnose or Not...

I suppose it all comes down to whether that person can cope with everyday life and if certain difficulties are having an impact and making it harder to cope within an education, employment setting.

It is important to know whether it is Autism that is affecting oneself. If you have a child, partner or you are an adult yourself you will have had some sort of hint or trigger to set you on the road of seeking a diagnosis. It is a tough one especially if as an adult later in life you have a sense of 'well I've got this far' without a diagnosis, is it worth it?

Well I think yes if it would answer some questions about the past, confirmation of certain behaviour and provide help for the future. There is always that nagging feeling that maybe you would feel better for finding out, to make sense of everything. The picture above shows the missing jigsaw piece which I think just shows that something feels out of place and maybe  some sort of diagnosis be that of Autism or another condition, would make everything fall into place.

My son was four years old when he received his diagnosis. There were certain issues to do with his lack of speech, lack of eye contact, lack of social skills and lining his toys up amongst many others which are all classic traits but they were all points picked up very early by our health visitor at the time. This sent us on the road to his diagnosis of Autism. It's just a feeling you get with your child and you know as a parent, when it is right to investigate certain concerns, trust your instincts and always get some advice. 

It does feel like a pendulum of emotions sometimes swinging from 'should I seek a diagnosis?' to 'no it will be fine' and these feelings sometimes go on to nag you for ages but if they do talk to people around you first to get advice. Maybe talk to people who have already gone through the diagnosis  process and see how they felt. Don't get too put off by the system, yes there is a lot of work to be done regarding the diagnosis pathway, for example, the time it takes to receive a result but still persevere. There are people working to improve this especially in Derbyshire and Derby City.

There may be that decision whether to go down the route of the NHS or going to a Private Specialist. It may be quicker privately but you would have the added expense so there is that to think about. In some cases it can be where you are in the country, some areas have better services than others making it a bit of a postcode lottery but like I say, stick with it and push for it if you feel it's the right decision.

For some they may cope well without any diagnosis at all. You can just come to the conclusion yourself that your behaviour may fall on the spectrum and have your own coping mechanisms and that's fine. Always talk to someone though if you need to, it's good to talk.

I hope that helps a little. We have all been through these feelings at some stage and if you have received a diagnosis for yourself, a partner or your child how did you feel afterwards? In our experience we still felt a bit shocked although we only had what we had suspected confirmed for us but it still left us thinking 'well what do we do now?' Please use the National Autistic Society website for support, there is so much information on there and you can seek local support groups on there too. Go to www.autism.org.uk

Thank you for reading today, please join me again tomorrow for Pass the Remote Sunday but for now.........

Take care.