How long did you have to wait to see a Paed for Autism Referral?

Hi,

My 6 year old nephew needs to be sent for ASD assessment. He started Kindergarten this year and well, his parents have finally pulled him out of the school he was in and put him in another school after very poor academic progress and very poor social skills, bizairre speech etc, he responded better to his substitute teachers then his regular teacher, but something is definitely off with him, I won't go into details, but within three days his new Kindergarten teacher has initiated the process for ASD assessment. The problem is my brother says the waiting list is 9 months just to get to the Paediatrician Because he turned 6 in August??!! Does this sound right to you other ladies who have gone down this road? Because that seems an awful long time for a school age child who needs attention NOW. Is this a normal waiting period across the board, or could it just be our area? Am wondering as they will take him out of area if they can get into someone sooner?

Hi Sas85,

Im not sure what state you are in but know that in WA school age wait lists for a public diagnosis are quite long (though disability services is trying hard to reduce this) and 9 months sounds about right. On the other hand private wait lists are a bit shorter. The longers private waitlist I have heard of for a paed is 6 months but some are far quicker. Again not sure for all states but in WA you need a psychologist and speech pathologist also and if going privately then you could persue these whilst on the waitlist for the pead - most don't mind who you see first. If you are from WA pm me and I can give you some info on services. HTH

When DD1 was 3 we waited 18 months for the public system and then we moved states and started all over again... It took us 2 1/2 years from the beginning until diagnosis... so unfortunately, yes it does sound right. If you go privately it is much quicker and I actually would recommend it.

Ouch, that's not good news. I think privately it is still 6 months, but that might just be here. I think I'll see what I can find for them in Sydney or Newcastle see if that's any better. My parents will pay the gap fee for private, but if it's only a three month improvement that's really ridiculous, and especially as he's already in school and doing so poorly, it would really be unfortunate if it takes that long, the school said they don't can't get the extra facilities etc required for a student with those sorts of issues until a proper diagnosis is made. I am so shocked at the length of the waiting lists. Ah well, can only work with whats there I suppose thanks for the replies.

Maitland hospital has a peadatric clinic. I'm not sure of there are any wait lists or how long they are tho.