Dyspraxia - type of occupational therapy

[sunnyfields25]

Hi

DS 4.5 has recently had a sensory assessment with a private OT. We resorted to that after battling (and failing) for a year to get an NHS assessment. The OT is confident he has dyspraxia, although we'll need to wait until we can see the paediatrician again for a formal diagnosis.

The OT has given a long list of recommendations at the end of her report, for both home and school. One of the things she's advised we seek is a course of sensory integration therapy (process oriented). However, the NHS website mentions that task-oriented therapy is more effective.

We'll need to find out whether we can even access either type through the NHS, and I'm not sure we can afford private treatment. But does anyone have experience of which therapy type worked best for them/their DC?

Many thanks!

Morning, OP. We're just bumping this for you in hopes someone who knows more about this might be around this morning.

From our experience at the time (It was a couple of years ago that DD was diagnosed) the NHS OT team were great, but picked up on sensory issues that we had to deal with but admitted they couldn't deal with those as the NHS didn't do those. They did a course of working with her on various things we'd identified as her struggling with (dressing, handwriting and shoulder and arm strength in her case) but couldn't address the SI stuff at all.

We're in the middle of paying out privately for a full SI assessment now.

That is really helpful, thank you. I was wondering if the NHS just offer the more practical form of therapy that helps with doing certain tasks, rather than the sensory integration version, and it sounds like that might be the case. DS has been identified as having sensory issues too.

It feels like we've been given all this information, from the assessment/report, and now have to navigate our way through a very complicated maze in figuring out what to actually do next!

Sunnyfields - did you manage to find an OT? We're also looking for one, after a private assessment strongly suggested 6 year old son has Dyspraxia and an SPD. The NHS sadly don't seem interested and even after our GP referred us to our local CDD here in Worthing, they held a panel and said that he required no further input - despite not even having met him. I despair! We're in Worthing, West Sussex.

Hi @Fulltank17, sorry to hear you're having a similar battle!

DS is currently having sensory integration therapy with a private OT, which we're having to use savings to pay for, but it ended up being the only option. When DS finally saw a paediatrician he was happy to diagnose DCD based on the private assessment we'd had done, and he referred us to the NHS OT team. But as they're at full capacity and struggling they have really high thresholds, which DS did not meet. So, despite having been diagnosed with severe DCD, DS can't be assessed or receive treatment on the NHS. I don't know if it's like this everywhere or if we're just unlucky in where we live.

I'm afraid the specifics of the OT we're using won't be a help to you as we're based in Yorkshire. But please just let me know if threre's any more info I can help with 🙂