English: My issue, and the problem that I've seen so often, is that it is too much about seeking a diagnosis and then dealing with the symptoms, rather than the first bit, which is looking at what is presenting - what are the presenting behaviours, what are those behaviours we're seeing, how can we support and treat them. A diagnosis is almost - not quite, but almost - secondary to that. We shouldn't be rushing to diagnosis. In fact, in the cases of ADHD, some people with ADHD do not want an autism diagnosis, because they do not consider themselves to be autistic; they have ADHD. If we overdiagnose, they may seek an autism diagnosis in order to access services, and that wouldn't be right. So, with the greatest respect - and I've got no party political difference - I just didn't support the autism Bill for those reasons. I think the National Autistic Society got that wrong, to be honest with you. But, that said, I think that is now water under the bridge and we've moved on from there. One thing I want to say about many of the cases that are coming across my desk and people I'm meeting at the surgeries, people I'm meeting at Sparrows, is schools, and how their children experience schools. Exclusion is a huge thing. I was sent by Steffan Davies, who's a PhD student at Swansea University, this report that many of you may have been sent, which is 'The Education of Autistic Pupils in Wales'. It's well worth a read because it's the preliminary findings of his PhD study, and in it there's a stark statistic that I think we need to be aware of, and that is that 76 per cent of autistic children and young people in the survey told them they'd been bullied in school. And not only that, 20 per cent of parents told the survey that their child had been temporarily externally excluded. And half of the parents of boys who had experienced fixed-term exclusions say that schools had given the reason that they were unable to manage their child's behaviours, with disruptive behaviour being the second most common reason. This is one of the problems that children are facing with autism. They're being excluded from school because their behaviours are being addressed, and not their needs. It has to be the need. I've had the pleasure of working with Caerphilly's inclusion lead, Sarah Ellis - I met with her today, just this afternoon - and Claire Hudson, whose son Jack is in this position. She said that too often, what schools tend to do is look at disruptive behaviour and take action against the behaviour. Instead, there's always a reason for the behaviour. What is that reason? Those are the questions that need to be answered. Support the need, not the behaviour. That brings me to ADHD and Tourette's, two conditions that are associated with autism. My daughter uses verbal stimming. It sounds like verbal tics. Sometimes, you get that with autism. Sometimes, you don't have autism and you have Tourette's and you have ADHD entirely separately, and this is where people may fall through the gaps a little bit. I've spoken today to Helen Reeves-Graham, who has reported her own child with Tourette's, and she said that there do not seem to be pathways for those children who aren't presenting with ASD as a comorbidity. That is a real challenge, I think, for the sector to meet that, and there's a report on the BBC website about that. While I mention Tourette's, I also want to mention Lucy-Marie, who has written a book - she's 12 years old - for children with Tourette's explaining some of the challenges that she faces, for children to understand that. There's also a piece on the BBC website with a video of her talking. She's one of our Sparrows group children. We call them 'fledglings' and she's involved in that group. So, what I am asking for? Well, there are some key recommendations that I'd like to see. First of all, a key point is addressing needs, not behaviours, and reducing the number of children affected by ASD, Tourette's and ADHD in school being excluded - reducing that number. Diagnosis needs to be multidisciplinary and not in isolation, therefore we need people working together cross-disciplinary, not just for autism, but for ADHD, and increasing understanding of Tourette's as well. And we need to increase understanding and awareness of the associated co-occurrence and risk between neurodevelopment conditions and mental health problems. That needs to transcend policy and practice. We know that issues waiting for CAMHS is part of that, and I know we've had conversations about that too. Remember the 'Mind over matter' report; it's all wrapped up in that - the work that Lynne Neagle did and Julie Morgan is doing. At that point, I'm going to give time to Laura Anne Jones and Mark Isherwood, so I'm going to stop there at this point and say that this isn't the end of the debate. I think we're going to have a further debate on Tourette's that the Petitions Committee is bringing forward. I've only just had a chance to scratch the surface today, but I hope to bring more to that debate as well.
Welsh: Fy mhroblem i, a'r broblem a welais mor aml, yw ei fod yn ymwneud gormod â cheisio diagnosis a thrin y symptomau wedyn, yn hytrach na'r darn cyntaf, sy'n edrych ar yr hyn sydd yno - beth yw'r ymddygiadau sy'n bresennol, beth yw'r ymddygiadau a welwn, sut y gallwn eu cefnogi a'u trin. Mae diagnosis bron - nid yn hollol, ond bron - yn eilradd i hynny. Ni ddylem ruthro i gael diagnosis. Yn wir, yn achos anhwylder diffyg canolbwyntio a gorfywiogrwydd (ADHD), nid yw rhai pobl ag ADHD am gael diagnosis o awtistiaeth, oherwydd nad ydynt yn ystyried eu hunain yn awtistig; mae ganddynt ADHD. Os byddwn yn gorddiagnosio, fe allant geisio diagnosis o awtistiaeth er mwyn cael mynediad at wasanaethau, ac ni fyddai hynny'n iawn. Felly, gyda'r parch mwyaf - ac nid gwahaniaeth ar sail bleidiol wleidyddol ydyw - nid oeddwn yn cefnogi'r Bil awtistiaeth am y rhesymau hynny. Credaf fod y Gymdeithas Awtistiaeth Genedlaethol yn anghywir ynglŷn â hynny, a bod yn onest. Ond wedi dweud hynny, rwy'n credu mai hen hanes yw hynny erbyn hyn ac rydym wedi symud ymlaen o'r fan honno. Un peth yr hoffwn ei ddweud am lawer o'r achosion sy'n cyrraedd fy nesg a chan bobl rwy'n eu cyfarfod yn y cymorthfeydd, pobl rwy'n cwrdd â hwy yn Sparrows, yw ysgolion, a phrofiad eu plant o ysgolion. Mae gwahardd yn beth enfawr. Anfonodd Steffan Davies, sy'n fyfyriwr PhD ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe, yr adroddiad hwn ataf, ac mae'n bosibl fod llawer ohonoch wedi'i gael, sef 'Addysg Disgyblion Awtistig yng Nghymru'. Mae'n werth ei ddarllen oherwydd dyma ganfyddiadau rhagarweiniol ei astudiaeth PhD, ac ynddo mae yna ystadegyn syfrdanol y credaf fod angen inni fod yn ymwybodol ohono, sef bod 76 y cant o blant a phobl ifanc awtistig yn yr arolwg wedi dweud wrthynt eu bod wedi cael eu bwlio yn yr ysgol. Ac nid yn unig hynny, dywedodd 20 y cant o rieni wrth yr arolwg fod eu plentyn wedi'i wahardd dros dro yn allanol. Ac mae rhieni hanner y bechgyn a brofodd waharddiadau cyfnod penodol yn dweud mai'r rheswm a roddwyd gan yr ysgolion oedd na allent reoli ymddygiad y plentyn, gydag ymddygiad aflonyddgar yn ail reswm mwyaf cyffredin. Dyma un o'r problemau y mae plant yn eu hwynebu gydag awtistiaeth. Cânt eu gwahardd o'r ysgol am fod eu hymddygiad yn cael sylw, yn hytrach na'u hanghenion. Rhaid mynd i'r afael â'u hangen. Cefais y pleser o weithio gydag arweinydd cynhwysiant Caerffili, Sarah Ellis - cyfarfûm â hi heddiw, y prynhawn yma - a Claire Hudson, y mae ei mab Jack yn y sefyllfa hon. Dywedodd mai'r hyn y mae ysgolion yn tueddu i'w wneud yn rhy aml yw edrych ar ymddygiad aflonyddgar a chymryd camau yn erbyn yr ymddygiad. Yn hytrach, mae yna reswm dros yr ymddygiad bob amser. Beth yw'r rheswm hwnnw? Dyna'r cwestiynau y mae angen eu hateb. Cefnogwch yr angen, nid yr ymddygiad. Daw hynny â mi at ADHD a Tourette's, dau gyflwr sy'n gysylltiedig ag awtistiaeth. Mae fy merch yn defnyddio ymddygiad hunanysgogol geiriol. Mae'n swnio fel ticiau geiriol. Weithiau, fe gewch hynny gydag awtistiaeth. Weithiau, nid awtistiaeth ond Tourette's a fydd gennych ac mae gennych ADHD yn gyfan gwbl ar wahân, a dyma lle y gall pobl ddisgyn drwy'r bylchau braidd. Heddiw siaradais â Helen Reeves-Graham, sydd wedi adrodd am ei phlentyn ei hun gyda Tourette's, a dywedodd nad yw'n ymddangos bod llwybrau ar gael ar gyfer plant nad oes ganddynt anhwylderau'r sbectrwm awtistig fel cydafiachedd. Rwy'n credu bod honno'n her wirioneddol i'r sector ei goresgyn, ac mae adroddiad ar wefan y BBC ar hynny. Gan fy mod yn sôn am Tourette's, rwyf hefyd am sôn am Lucy-Marie, sydd wedi ysgrifennu llyfr - mae hi'n 12 oed - i blant â Tourette's yn esbonio rhai o'r heriau y mae'n eu hwynebu er mwyn i blant eu deall. Mae darn ar wefan y BBC hefyd gyda fideo ohoni'n siarad. Mae hi'n un o blant ein grŵp Sparrows. Rydym yn eu galw'n 'fledglings' ac mae hi'n rhan o'r grŵp hwnnw. Felly, am beth y gofynnaf? Wel, mae rhai argymhellion allweddol yr hoffwn eu gweld. Yn gyntaf oll, pwynt allweddol yw mynd i'r afael ag anghenion, nid ymddygiadau, a lleihau nifer y plant yr effeithir arnynt gan anhwylderau'r sbectrwm awtistig, Tourette's ac ADHD yn yr ysgol sy'n cael eu gwahardd - lleihau'r nifer hwnnw. Mae angen i ddiagnosis fod yn amlddisgyblaethol ac nid yn ar wahân i bopeth, felly mae arnom angen i bobl weithio gyda'i gilydd yn drawsddisgyblaethol, nid yn unig ar gyfer awtistiaeth, ond ar gyfer ADHD, a dealltwriaeth gynyddol o Tourette's hefyd. Ac mae angen inni gynyddu dealltwriaeth ac ymwybyddiaeth o'r risg sy'n gysylltiedig pan fo cyflyrau niwroddatblygiadol a phroblemau iechyd meddwl yn cyd-ddigwydd. Mae angen i hynny fynd y tu hwnt i bolisi ac arferion. Gwyddom fod problemau gydag aros am CAMHS yn rhan o hynny, a gwn ein bod wedi cael sgyrsiau am hynny hefyd. Fe gofiwch yr adroddiad 'Cadernid Meddwl'; mae'r cyfan yn hwnnw - y gwaith a wnaeth Lynne Neagle ac y mae Julie Morgan yn ei wneud. Yn y fan honno, rwy'n mynd i roi amser i Laura Anne Jones a Mark Isherwood, felly rwy'n mynd i ddod i ben yn awr a dweud nad dyma ddiwedd y ddadl. Rwy'n credu bod y Pwyllgor Deisebau yn mynd i gyflwyno dadl arall ar Tourette's. Cyfle i grafu'r wyneb yn unig a gefais heddiw, ond rwy'n gobeithio dod â mwy i'r ddadl honno hefyd.