Wheelchair services - who refers? At what age?

[hazeyjane]

Ds (2.8) can walk, but he walks with a very unsteady gait, is very 'erratic' when walking, has a tendency to fall over, sit down and crawl when walking, if he has a tantrum, he will lie down and hit his head on the pavement, he tires very easily and often naps in the buggy.I don't drive so we walk a lot, and because of his low tone, he has a tendency to slump in the buggy. We have an ancient Mountain Buggy, which is brilliant, but not very supportive. He is 15 kg, and I know that MB are supposed to be good for older children, but maybe because of the slumping he just looks scrunched and uncomfortable a lot of the time.

We recently had a community OT assessment, wrt seating for the home, he is going to have supportive seating supplied for eating and play, and a chair for preschool. With this in mind, I emailed the OT and asked whether ds needs more support in the pushchair, and who would we ask for a referral to wheelchair services. She emailed back with a link to an insert to go in a standard buggy, that costs between £300 and £600!! Our buggy only cost £50, it would be crazy to spend this sort of money on a padded insert to go in it! Especially as I'm not sure how long the buggy will last. She didn't say anything about wheelchair services, do you think this means we aren't eligible or should I be asking someone else?

[CrushedWithIce]

Hi Hazey, it would be a professional so GP, nurse, physio, OT, maybe social services. (he's under 3 so probably not).
You should be eligible as he needs postural support and there is a wide range available that would help you.

[CrushedWithIce]

Just ask her to refer him as you are concerned...she'd be a bit of a bitch to refuse surely :)

[CrushedWithIce]

Sorry, sorry, will go now but I meant at under 3, he wouldn't have had much contact with SS, he can be referred to wheelchair services at younger than he is now :)

[TheNinjaGooseIsOnAMission]

of course you should be eligible, physio referred us originally, just try everyone involved until one of them does it. If he needs the support then they should be supplying it! For that kind of money you could buy a second hand sn buggy, I wouldn't be buying an insert.

[hazeyjane]

Helloooooo Starfish!

That is a good point about the eating, ds is too big for most highchairs, and can't sit on a normal chair. I will mention that too.

I was in a cafe today with ds asleep in his buggy, and saw a lady with a little girl in one of <a class="break-all" href="//99www.specialkidsplace.org/products/alvemaitostroller.html" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">these, it looked perfect, so much more supportive, and it can be supplied with a neck support, which I think ds may need, because his head is always tilted to one side in the buggy.

[eatyourveg]

did our referral through the HV she wasn't a sn one - didn't know there was such a thing