On this week’s Parenting segment, one mother thinks her nine-year-old daughter should be assessed for autism. 

“In general, she is a happy child, she does very well academically, and her teacher said she has friends and gets on well with everyone,” she told Moncrieff. 

“I have observed her with her friends. When in the same setting as them she won’t engage with them immediately - she might stand beside them for a while until they engage with her. 

“I have observed that she communicates easier with adults. When she is feeling anxious, I noticed that she can sometimes start flicking her fingers. 

“She also enjoys walking on the top of couch or jumping from bed to bed... When she has a meltdown, it is as if she cannot control her emotions, they completely overtake her.” 

The mother said she is concerned assessing her daughter for autism, despite the signs, would give her a “negative self-image". 

“But I am conscious however that puberty and periods are around the corner, and I feel it might be good to have some extra supports in place,” she said. 

Child psychotherapist Joanna Fortune said this is only a “snapshot” of the daughter, but a formal assessment is a good idea. 

“I imagine you've probably Googled it - please don't Google things like this, it can be quite terrifying,” she said. 

“If you have grounds to question something, it is worth getting that question answered. 

“Otherwise, you will sit with that question, and it will come back to you and then when your daughter is 14 or 15 years, you’ll think, ‘We should have done something about that question’. 

“If you have a question, there's a reason you have it.” 

Testing for autism

Joanna said the woman could have an initial consultation with a psychologist and outline her daughter’s behaviour “in detail” to decide whether a full assessment is necessary. 

She also said people need to “challenge” the view that getting an assessment is a bad thing. 

“When we have our children assessed for something, it is really to better understand how they're negotiating the world, how they're experiencing the world, how their brain, how their nervous system, how they work,” she said. 

“It's also so that we can tailor our parenting of them so that we're parenting the child in front of us. 

“It really helps to create a shared understanding we can talk with our children about if there was a diagnosis.” 

She urged the woman to look into an assessment as soon as possible, since waiting lists for assessments are long. 

Listen back here: