188 Specialist Centre

Warwick Smith diagnosed my nephew with autism after interacting with him for less than 5 mins. Based on this he announced my nephew will never talk or interact socially with people. The parents were understandably shocked and started asking questions about the diagnosis and what the next steps were. Warwick glanced at his watch and told them he was busy with his next appointment and provided zero information to the parents who were just hit with life changing news.

It seems this is not a one off. A speech therapist and a child psychologist mentioned other clients have had similar experiences with Warwick where he would diagnose with autism them send the parents off with no resources or directions on what to do next. A lot of parents were left with the impression that there was nothing available to them and struggled alone for years. During this time many parents missed out on critical opportunities for intervention to make their kids' lives (and theirs) a lot easier.

By the way, Warwick was wrong. My nephew is thriving at mainstream school with many friends.

Receptionist shoed me out the door when I requested to make the follow up appointment that was advised by the specialist. Now my son has to wait much longer because no appointment was made! I only got one when I emailed then called and asked when it would be. Not fair on a child just starting meds and with side effects.