What's involved in having your child assessed?

Our experience so far and answers to questions you might have

Today we are one step further on our assessment journey with our son and I wanted to write a little about it here. Both because the act of writing helps me to process and gather my thoughts and also because I know so many of my followers and readers are in a similar situation and I hope it will be of some comfort, reassurance and at the very least, help you to feel understood. Furthermore, I want to share some information on what to expect if you’re following a similar trajectory with your own child.

I wrote at Christmas about how difficult things had gotten - you can read that here for some context - but in short we’ve always known we’ve had a highly sensitive son. As his struggles in various domains have become more apparent, alongside our struggle to parent him through it and not knowing what approach was best for him, we got to the point of seeking professional help. I am told it’s hardest right before you make that decision, and then hard again as you go about getting all of the information - it’s sensory overload for you as the parent too - but it’s worth doing. I would say I have spent from the time he turned two to probably just last week (a year and a half) in a state of denial. I cried a lot. I still do and expect there’ll be many more cathartic shower cries in the coming months. Talking about neurodivergence seems - at least from how little I’ve dipped my toe into it so far - to be fraught with complexity and sensitivity and it is very easy to say the wrong thing and cause great offense. I have no idea yet what the right way or wrong way to talk about this is. But I do not mean to offend anyone. Nevertheless, I will just speak from my heart and hope that it doesn’t let me down.