Which therapist / support to go for?

[mia1972]

Hello mumsnetters,

I am at my wits end with my little boy and don't know where to start. There are so many small things that are worrying me and I get really down. My thing is I don't know who to speak to: an OT or a child psychologist / speech and language therapist? Or all of them?

To recap: he was a calm and sweet toddler, he started to speak a bit later on, always a little shy. Never had a behavioural problem until 4 years old really, although he used to go really close up to children already at nursery and want to hug them. At that point it seemed really sweet.

He started school last year and when he moved schools in the middle of reception his behaviour started going down. He is the youngest in the year. He is now in Y1 and behaves very very young for his age. He seems to relate to other children in odd ways, goes really close up to their faces and shouts quite a bit. Talks jibber jabber and laughs out loud, and you can see the other children looking at him land thinking he is strange. To add to this he is a late dribbler and still drools quite a bit - sometimes children will think he was spitting at him and get angry. He got kicked for that more than once.

I need to mention, he doesn't behave like this all the time, not with his close friends, but when there is a playdate organised with a new school friend or in the playground at school he gets so incredibly excited that he behaves like this and I can't seem to get him to calm down and behave in a more 'grown up way'.

He also has low muscle tone and is seeing a physio who is helping a lot as he was struggling to sit on the carpet at school but that is getting better. Academically he is doing pretty well considering his age.

I am trying to figure out who should I see. The school did some referrals last year and nothing has come through (OT, SLT and Physio) they now want to start the referrals process again for SLT again but are dragging this along and I want to get professional advice soon.

As there are lots of little problems I am not sure if I should see more than one specialist. The physio made a huge difference already and she suggested seeing a SLT for the dribbling, but that won't solve the behavioural problems.

Does anyone have any advice on where to start? Any thoughts?
I also had a baby recently who is 8w old - to complete the picture.

Thanks in advance,

[mia1972]

I should add that it has happened - although only a few times that somebody shouted at him at school and he responded with biting. Again, erratic behaviour, very hard to pit it down.

[MiniMileyMoo]

Maybe worth speaking to your GP or health visitor as a starting point? My little boy is younger but has several development issues and is overseen by a developmental paediatrician (referred by GP) who in turn referred us to the most appropriate services for him (physio, SLT, Portage for us). Maybe worth following up again if the school did refer once before to speech etc - in our area at least the waiting list is months and months so you may be still on a list somewhere!