Here s what you said:
HELEN DURÁN: It s a ridiculous wait for assessment, after you ve already spent years trying to get a referral. We re 2.5 years in to our wait. apparently the only way a child will be seen sooner is if they are physically hurting themselves or other. But why should a child and a family have to get to this level of distress in order to get the help they need? Waiting for there to be a major problem and making them suffer through school for years without the support they need only leads to more and more problems - especially in school where it often results in poor attendance and the kids falling further and further behind, which could often be avoided if they had the diagnosis and support in order to flourish and excel.
A FAMILY is seeking help to get their autistic son diagnosed with a behavioural condition so that he can be treated properly. Sophie Middleton believes her son Albert has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), but says the wait to get the five-year-old diagnosed on the NHS is almost five years – leaving him without appropriate medication and care. Mrs Middleton, from Witney, says Albert has no communication skills, and in February of last year, was diagnosed with regression autism. Initially, Albert developed communication skills like other children, however that changed almost overnight. “When he was two, he was pointing, waving and clapping like all children but then he woke up one morning and couldn’t do any of that anymore,” said Mrs Middleton.
At this point we really started wondering if marriage wasn t meant to be for us.
Later the news came which would change all that – they were given the opportunity to get married the following day, at 5pm on Christmas Eve, and they decided to go ahead with it with less than 24 hours to go until the ceremony.
Matthew and Sophie Middleton finally got married in St Mary s Church, Redenhall, at 5pm on Christmas Eve, after having to cancel their planned ceremonies several times in 2020.
- Credit: Paul and Joe Flatt
But it wasn t so simple. The couple are butchers at family firm Pepperells Meats, based on the outskirts of Harleston, and Christmas is one of the busiest times of year.