As far as I know, in the UK they have done away with the distinction between ASD and Aspergers and it all comes under the ASD umbrella, so I am surprised they are still doing that in Northern Ireland. Anyway, it's just a label. It is useful when it comes to services/school/disability allowance, in other words, red tape. Other than that, your son is your son, you know what his strengths and weaknesses are and work with them. Also bear in mind that the dx will give you a snapshot (a partial one) of what your child is RIGHT NOW. He will not be the same kid in a month, six months, a year's time. My son had very few words when he was diagnosed and he was 4yo. Now people don't even believe me when I tell them he is autistic, they just think he might be Asperger at the worst, which is flattering and infuriating at the same time, because it shows how people rely so much on labels.

@A MyAutismTeam Member don't know where to post this so will just post it here. There is a camp in Northern Ireland- could be a resource for you- hope it helps. It's the only one in Europe/UK outside of the US http://adamscampnorthernireland.org/

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A MyAutis...

I think it's all different depending on here you live, even though we are in the UK and under the NHS...For us, it took the pediatric centre a couple of appointments of one hour each to diagnose my son with autism and after that they couldn't answer any of my questions, like: how far he was on the spectrum (mild, severe and so on) and what kind of therapies they recommended (speech therapy, that he never got because the only therapist in the district said she couldn't do anymore than what we were doing at home anyway). Then they gave us leaflets that simply informed us how autism is a life long disability with no hope of cure, but perhaps we could learn strategies to help us "cope" with the symptoms, followed by obsolete phone numbers and websites.
I got far more help from my son's nursery at the time: they told me not to get hung up on labels and do what I thought was right for my son, which is homeopathy, diet and biomedical treatment.

Omg....omg g g g g!
You guys are 💥...shining stars!!! Star bursts!
Amazing info @A MyAutismTeam Member how on esrth did you know about this camp? It sounds amazing I will contact them to probe more info on age groups etc!
@A MyAutismTeam Member thank you very useful info same to @A MyAutismTeam Member and @A MyAutismTeam Member as usual Im on your page.
The support and info we recieved through professional services has been a miss compared to those through from family friends, well meaning strangers and my metalworking etc.
Thanks so much to all of you ^^^^^^ on here!

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A MyAutis...

A MyAutis...

A MyAutis...

Our son was diagnosed early on, I want to say two or three also. It's through a series of cognitive tests and evaluations, and the guidelines that have been set up, that determines autistic or Aspbergers.