“They blamed my parenting instead of recognising she was neurodiverse.”

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Emily's journey to have [music] Elsie diagnosed with ADHD represents a typical experience for parents seeking an assessment [music] through the NHS today.

[00:00:10]>> It was too long with no help, no support, not knowing what she had. I was really struggling when Elsie was younger. Her brain's going 100 miles an hour, but she can't tell me that. She's too young. [music] It would create meltdowns and sometimes they did get physical. We used to then >> [music] >> cry for hours afterwards and apologize.

[00:00:28]But she had to let it out. And on top [music] of that, the lack of sleep, that was really tricky to understand.

[00:00:34]So we did go [music] on the NHS wait list for a diagnosis just after her third birthday. I did feel for a while that maybe it was me. Like, what am I doing wrong? And I was sent on parenting courses just in case it's due to parenting that the NHS sent me on and I didn't learn anything.

[00:00:51]Because I knew all these techniques, but I'm dealing with a child who is neurodiverse. We finally got seen just after her sixth birthday.

[00:01:01]Three years is a long, long time to know that something's not quite right, but not to know what is really, really lonely.

[00:01:09]>> And I go with size as well now.

[00:01:12]>> But it was such relief when they finally said, "Yes, she does have ADHD." And it was nice to kind of have that yeah, I was right, rather than [music] it being blamed on poor parenting.