DAS registration - Does my son have to be present the whole time?

[AussieAngel]

My 11 year old son is autistic and has limited speech. I'm wondering if he will need to be present for the whole DAS registration video call?

He won't be able to contribute to the discussion very much, so he would be basically sitting there listening to me talking about all the negative aspects of his autism, which I feel really uncomfortable about - and he would too.

I'm hoping I could have the main discussion without him there, then he could pop back in to have his photo taken perhaps.

Has anyone else introduced their child and managed to chat without them there the whole time?

 

[jennab]

In the past I just told the person my son was in the home and I would call him after our discussion. I would say that I wanted to talk without him present and then they just had me call him after approval for a pic.

 

[HopperFan]

Did mine in September for DS. CM asked to meet him at the very beginning. After a couple minutes (he is non-verbal) she said that he could leave if he wanted while we talked.

 

[AussieAngel]

Great, thank you for sharing your experiences. That definitely helps puts my mind at ease.

 

[nalababybear]

We always have him.join at the beginning for introductions and then let him exit during the interview and come back at the end for the picture

This helps in many aspects, chief among them the practice of social interactions. And secondary to establish a quick baseline of who he is and the whole reason of the call

All good. They are used to not having the registered guest present the whole time