From: Dr Kim Pedlow
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2023 11:44 AM To: laehsc@parliament.wa.gov.au
Cc: Dr Kim Pedlow
Subject: Submission from Dr Pedlow
Attention research officer Catie Parsons
for ease of doing | shall dictate my submission in the body of this email.
| have practised in Geraldton for 43 years. For 30 years I've looked after children and now a lot of adults with
neurodevelopmental disorder. These include between 100 and 150 with autism. We have a very strong local network including visiting professionals as per the Abrolhos group website link below.
| have one suggestion.
It is that for education department purposes a general practitioner with experience in the area of neurodevelopmental disorder working in regional WA be allowed to provide the doctor’s letter to confirm a psychologist and speech pathologist diagnosis of autism. This would make it much easier for my/our sufferers of this disorder to access education department assistance. Paediatricians are hard to access and very expensive.
For your information the NDIS is already accepting letters from myself and presumably other GPs of my ilk. An example of this letter is included for your use, feel free to circulate amongst my colleagues.
“ Dear NDIS and Education Department colleagues,
Thank you for registering ………….. on your system for support for ….. autism.
| can now confirm that .... has been assessed by a multidisciplinary team including Dr Kim Pedlow (GP with interest
neurodevelopmental disorder), Dr Angelkovska (PhD neurodevelopmental disorder). All agree that ……… meets the DSM-V criteria for autism.
On the basis of symptoms noted over multiple interview sessions and information from reliable witnesses ….. met DSM-V criteria for a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
Level of severity.
A: difficulties with social interactions and communications
-
(met)
-
(met)
-
(met) Severity level Il………. requiring substantial support. B: restricted repetitive patterns of behaviour.
-
(met)
-
(met)
-
(met)
-
(met) Severity level Il…….. requiring substantial support.
There is no intellectual disability.
| have advised ……. family to contact NDIS and the Education Department so that …. can obtain suitable support.
| recommend assistance from NDIS funded psychologist, occupational therapist, autism coach”
Yours sincerely
Dr Kim Pedlow MBBS(UWA), FRACGP, FACCRM, Dip Obs(Advanced)COG GP with interest neurodevelopmental disorder .
Email 3-5 working days turn around. For earlier response please text. Dragon voice to text ,excuse typos.