Mental Health Assessment

Hi my son Glen is 16 and is autistic and has global developmental delay.

The professionals want Glen to have a mental health assessment due to Glen's behaviours over the years, at the moment he self harms, i.e hits his head, and is extremely slow in all ways, has stopped speaking for the last few months, and has no motivation at all.  The psychiatrist prescribed risperidone and prozac which have helped with the aggression, as there was a time when Glen was hitting out at people around him.

The assessment would last for 12 weeks, its an inpatient assessment in Northumberland.  Glen would come home after 6 weeks for the weekend to see how he copes at home again.  The funding has to be agreed and if it is I then have to decide whether I want Glen to go.  It is such a difficult decision to make but I know I mustn't be selfish.

Could you give me any advice and also tell me what your opinion is on such assessments please.

[Jason C Bourret, Ph.D., BCBA-D]

I’m not sure what exactly is scheduled to be done at the assessment you describe, so it’s hard for me to comment on it. I can say, however, that the self-injury and aggression you describe can be effectively treated. An assessment of his problem behavior should provide information about why the behavior is happening (this would be determined by an assessment called a functional analysis), what interventions would be expected to be successful, and also a treatment evaluation. Twelve weeks is more than enough time to identify causes for his self injury and aggression and also to begin to implement an intervention to test its effectiveness.

The most important question for you to ask the individuals who will be assessing him is “how will this help his self injury and aggression when he returns home?” Make sure that they will be conducting a functional analysis of his problem behavior and assessing treatment effectiveness and make sure that they will be showing you the data that they collect and explaining them to you. If this sort of assessment is worthwhile, the end product will be you and your son’s other caregivers learning how to effectively handle his problem behavior. Assessments of this sort can be extremely useful if they include a functional analysis, treatment evaluation, and training for you and other caregivers.

[Jeanne61]

Thanks for your comments.  We are hoping to go for a pre-admission meeting on Tuesday and then Glen could be admitted for his 12 week assessment on the 6th of December.  I have written down what you said and will be asking those questions at the pre-admission meeting.  Thank you so much it has been very helpful I will let you know how we get on and also how Glen gets on during his 12 week inpatient stay.

[Jeanne61]

When you say the self injury and aggression can be effectively treated, how would these conditions be treated?  I am very interested in finding this out.