Trevor McDonald says the assessment would open up new pathways to support for his seven-year-old.
Oliver Leader de Saxe reports.
Oliver Leader de Saxe reports.
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00:00He looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't he?
00:02He looks so sweet and innocent where he puts a wooden mouth in his mouth, but unfortunately he has his issues which need to be
00:09I just need a little bit of
00:11assessment a little bit of intervention. A loving father trying to help his son before things get worse
00:20Trevor McDonald has been trying to get an SEND assessment in Medway for his seven-year-old son Matthew
00:28since
00:302022
00:31The assessment would mean that Matthew who is believed to be on the autism spectrum
00:37Would have additional pathways to support. The problem is they can't seem to get one
00:43It's it's it's absolutely horrendous. I mean, but you there's no way there's no way to sort of
00:50Access the system. Yeah, because this is it's like a closed shop. Yeah, they will deal with you when they have to deal with you
00:58Yeah, when your time arrives, that's when you will be dealt with. Yeah, but that's that's not acceptable, is it?
01:04The length of time some three four years to be my son's two years
01:09But the length of time to wait so many children three four or five years to be assessed. That's ridiculous
01:15Trevor says he's called snapdragons dozens of times over the last two years
01:21But says he can't seem to get through
01:24He's now worried it could take another year until Matthew is assessed for his needs and
01:31That could have a significant impact on his life
01:36Medway community health care have apologized for the wait time with Tracy Webb the assistant
01:43director for Children's and Planned Services
01:46Saying that like most children's health providers across the country
01:51They've been receiving an extremely high
01:54Number of referrals and that they are looking at every possible solution to the situation
02:01Medway community health care say they are planning to follow up with Trevor to make sure he's aware of the support
02:09Available while his son waits for an assessment
02:13But with fears that his son's behavior could get worse for Trevor any wait is fast
02:20too long
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