"Autism Friendly Communication"

My child is on the waiting list for an Autistic Spectrum Disorder assessment and was invited to an appointment over video.

A week before this was due to take place we received a letter telling us that the appointment had been postponed by a month and that the appointment would take place at the clinic. We then put arrangements in place to attend this appointment, including child care for our other child.

On the Saturday before the appointment I received a text reminding me of the appointment and saying that it was a video appointment.

This meant that on the Sunday afternoon I had to try to prepare both of my children (one who is Autistic and one who has been referred for assessment) for both types of appointment which caused quite a lot of distress.

On the Monday morning I phoned Outpatients who said that putting the clinic as the location on the letter was a mistake and that it was a video call. The person on the phone was polite and helpful and I asked if they could give feedback that although this may seem like a simple mistake, for autistic families, having clear information that can be easily explained to children and as far as possible, for plans not to change, is really important. I didn't get the sense that they would pass this feedback on which is why I'm posting here as well, in the hope that someone from outpatients will read it.

I was then in the situation where I had both children at school not knowing what would be happening later on in the day. For neurotypical families, perhaps this wouldn't be a problem, but for us this caused a lot of upset which meant that none of us were in a good mindset to get the most out of the appointment.

It is well known that autistic children can find appointments and changes in routine really hard to cope with, last minute changes are even more difficult to process. As parents we work hard to prepare our children for any appointments and in this case the Children's Hospital administration made this impossible.