Shea is a 6 year old little boy who has an Autism Spectum Condition. He is currently in a mainstream school with a one to one support teacher but he is becoming depressed and really struggling to get through a school day.

Shea has a diagnosis of ASC but the spectrum is huge and no two children who have autism are the same therefore finding exactly where the child sits on the spectrum is very difficult. It is evident that Shea has ASC with a presentation of PDA (Pathalogical Demand Avoidance) the problem is not a lot of places recognise PDA as it isn't in the Medical Manual, therefore some local authorities have no provisions for children who have PDA and expect them to just get by from using ACS strategies, but this is having an adverse affect.

Although Shea has a diagnosis of ASC we need to pay privately for a second diagnosis which will also include the PDA presentation, this will enable him to get the right support either brought into the school he is currently at or at a specialised provision who are experienced in avoidance behaviours.

Im hoping that eventually PDA is recognised enough for other families to not have these struggles, every child has a right to an education in a setting where they are understood so their anxiety levels aren't preventing them from learning. Shea's current school are doing all they can to help him and we are so grateful but again without the PDA presentation being documented it is hard for them to be able to get the right support in place.

We need to raise £700 asap so Shea can have this diagnosis done as early as February 2018. We as a family would never have thought about crowdfunding, but it has been suggested to us because there are a lot of nice people around who giving the chance to help are happy to.

Thanks in advance 💙