The Autism News | English
By Madeleine Brindley | WalesOnline
CHILDREN with autism are facing a future of mental health problems because NHS services do not know how to care for them, a charity has claimed.
The National Autistic Society Cymru claims children are developing mental health problems because they have fallen victim to a “broken” service.
Parents of autistic children today said the lack of support from NHS services was typical of the health service’s overall approach to autism.
This is the latest damning criticism to be levelled at Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Wales.
It is estimated that up to 70% of children with autism also have a mental health problem, such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder or other anxiety disorders.
But NAS Cymru said many of these are preventable.
Because autism is a complex disability, when mental health problems do develop in children they can be much harder to recognise, diagnose and treat.
The charity said such problems are often dismissed as an unfortunate but unavoidable side-effect of having autism.
Shirley Parsley, NAS Cymru’s national co-ordinator, said: “With the right support at the right time, children with autism can have good mental health.
“However, too many are developing preventable mental health problems and find themselves up against a broken system that doesn’t understand them or their needs.
“All too often they receive inappropriate, ineffectual and sometimes harmful treatments.
“Families need to know that they are not alone. We have resources for children, parents and professionals to help children with autism get the mental health services they need.”
Jill Grange’s son Matthew, now 12, was diagnosed with autism when he was four and a half years old by a child psychiatrist – part of the local CAMHS team – who said she had a special interest in autism.
“She told me he was autistic and that he’d probably been that way since birth. She gave me a leaflet. I asked about things that could help and she said there’s nothing you can do for autism.
“I was given a medical diag-nosis and then told there was nothing I could do about it – I was left to find out about support and therapies on my own.
“If you have the wherewithal and the money to find the therapies that suit, your child will benefit but if you haven’t that child is stuck.”
Ms Grange, 55, a former health visitor who lives in Bridgend, used her savings to pay for Matthew to receive a range of therapies, which she believes have benefited him.
“When we would go back to see the psychiatrist, I’d tell her what I was doing with Matthew and she would just write it down. Then, after 18 months, she said I was coping well with his autism and she discharged us,” she said.
“One of the problems is that CAMHS doesn’t deal with children with learning disabilities and autism doesn’t fit into learning disabilities or mental health.
“I’m sure the Assembly Government is aware of this and it will respond, but it all takes time and we still do not have any experts who know what families are going through.
“It is frightening because services are so slow to respond and in the meantime the burden is on the family.”
NAS Cymru has launched a campaign – You Need to Know – to help improve parents’ understanding of mental health services in Wales and help key professionals improve their awareness of autism.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokeswoman said: “The Assembly Government is committed to developing specialist child and adolescent mental health learning disability services and are working to introduce a specialist learning disability service for children and young people to work alongside child and adolescent mental health services.
“In 2008 we launched an autistic spectrum disorder action plan for Wales – the first of its kind in the world.
“This plan takes into account the issues raised here and health boards are developing new services to meet the needs of children and young people with autism and mental health issues.
“Also, an evaluation of assessment and diagnostic services for children with autistic spectrum disorders in Wales is currently under way and we expect the findings to be made available later this year.
“In addition, in response to the joint report by the Wales Audit Office and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales into services for children and young people with emotional and mental health needs, we have developed an action plan, which will be published shortly.”
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