A FATHERS' support group is conducting a survey to discover how long children with autism have to wait before they are properly assessed.

John Franklin, who runs The Fathers' Club in Folkestone, Maidstone and Dartford, will be asking his 95 members over Christmas and the New Year about their experiences of getting their children placed within a school most appropriate for their needs.

Mr Franklin said it was not uncommon through the current inclusion process that children with autism sometimes ended up in the wrong school because their condition was not assessed early enough.

The 68-year-old former businessman, from Istead Rise, near Northfleet, stressed: "The sooner you can get to a child within the system, the closer you are to saving that child and improving their standard of life.

"If you don't get them early, what happens is that they go to this and that school and as a result the child is included in the wrong school and it could take two to three years to get them in the right one."

When a child needs to be assessed often he or she is referred from a school to see a GP who then refers that child to a child psychiatric unit. A statement, a legal document, is then created outlining the specific needs of each child.

Mr Franklin added: "This can take forever. That is why I am doing the survey to find out from people what the delays are at the moment.

"Statements are very hard to get because of money. You can wait four to six months until your child is assessed.

"When Thanet South MP Dr Steve Ladyman, who was then responsible for health attended a meeting five years ago with 200 parents and mentioned there was a 10-year plan in place for autism, you could not hear a pin-drop in the room. People couldn't wait 10 minutes, 10 days, or 10 weeks, let alone 10 years."

Mr Franklin set up The Fathers' Club in January 2003 to support fathers and grandfathers of children with autism in Kent, who he believed had become an increasingly marginalised group.

He said: "Men feel alone. There are many excellent parent groups in Kent. But because they are run during the day many of the fathers are unintentionally excluded and they have nobody to talk to about their problems.

"Men are different to women who have different mechanisms to copy with emotions. Men find it hard to explain their emotions and accept the fact their children have autism. But when they come together in the club they know they will get support."

He said the beauty of the club was that fathers with children from ages between three to 34 could help each other.

"We do get new fathers who get no help and have no knowledge about autism and fathers who have been there four or six years turning round and helping them. It's incredible.

"Anyone who has reason to think their child has autism is welcome to get in touch, whether it is for informal advice or to find out more about the meetings."

Call the Kent Autistic Trust on 01634 405 168 or The Parents Consortium on 01322 668501 to get in touch with Mr Franklin.

The club's next monthly meetings will be at: The Parents Consortium, Allsworth Court, St David's Road, Hextable, near Dartford, on January 23, at 7.30pm; Bower Grove School, Fant Lane, Maidstone, on January 22, at 7pm, and St Luke's Church Hall, Canterbury Road, Hawkinge, near Folkestone, on January 21, at 7.30pm.

Factfile

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability affecting the way a person communicates and relates to people around them.

It is often referred to as an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).

There are many different ASDs identified through a range of behaviours in the individual. These could include Asperger Syndrome or Dyspraxia.

* About 530,000 people in the UK have ASDs

* About 90,000 of these are children

* About 7,500 the current number of specialist school places

* 15 years ago, one in 10,000 of children were diagnosed with ASDs each year. Today that figure is 1 in 107

Kent has the highest autistic population of 12,312 than any other county, according to the latest statistics from the National Autistic Society.