DD had an assessment today, can anyone have a chat with me about it please? Feeling a bit down

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DD is going to be four in september. She has had SALTinput for nearly two years and has made progress but according to the assessment today she still has profound s and l difficulties and associated learning dificulty. This is thought to be related to her genetic condition although until today I had been tol that there would be no connection.

Dd will see her psychologist if she agrees and has been referred for SENIT input. I am not quite sure what the SENIT does?

The paed also said this means nothing interms of the future, it is just impossible to know whether she will always have difficulties so I am guesing by difficulty she means delay type of thing rather than long term issue.

I is just a bit of a shock, I thought her issues were s and l, possibly hearing, hadnt really thought through the other delays although deep down I knew she was not the same as her friends.

AWW used to be.These things hit you like a ton of bricks don't they?I remember when dd was being assessed for Statement and saw the Ed Psych and just how much she COULDN'T do.I remember being sat there with tears rolling down my cheeks.

I am sorry no idea re SENIT,am sure someone will be able to advise soon,just didn't want your post to go unanswered,sending a massive {{{{{hug}}}}}

I understand how difficult and scary this must be, My dd is 7 in november and although its not the same level or anything she has started to get extra help for her reading and writing and I was upset when the teacher told me. Espcially that 'look' they give you when they say, " We think she would benefit from some extra help". Its horrible because you start to question whether you could have done anything to help etc.
She is very young and you never know these days so don't feel too helpless and atleast everyone seems to be invovled very early on which is great as some kids slip through the net until its almost too late before they get help

Thankyou yes they certainly do MavsEnderby. I didnt cry at the assesment but cried all the way home and just feel awful this evening and worried about the future.

lostlilly yes Ihate the fact that you know they know its such a sensitive issue-I hate showing upset so always seem stupidly calm as if I dont care I am sure. True that she i early getting help though, she was already in the system so to speak because of her her condition which means she is generally well looked after.

Will she be going to a mainstream school used 2 be?I think that although it is very hard the thing you have to cling to is that all of the assessments have to be done in order to access the relevant help.

dd is pretty severely delayed (mental age of 2 ish overall,10-18months speech wise,she has very few words but lots of vocalisations,especially excited screeches and giggles,the little monkey!)She startsat Special school in Sept having been in the nursery for a year or so and she LOVES it and they are absolutely marvellous there.

Apparently she will be going to mainstream and I think the role of the SENIT may be to support children with SEN in mainstream settings. Having major panics over pre school, she has another yearbefore school and is at two settings mainly because I couldnt make up my mind.

The paed said she hadnt done the scoring yet but be prepared for it to say dd has one to two years delay with s and l. She is making progress but her speech is so unclear it is impossible to really know what she understands.

You are right she needed the assessment and it is good that she will now get support I just feel totally lost about the future but that is partly because I have so much going on (looking for a job, want to move house and not sure where she will go to school).

Hw old was your Dd when she had the assessment? If you dont mind me asking do you have a diagnosis or maybe it is normal to not at this stage? Or maybe the "profound s and l difficulties etc that the paed mentioned is my dds diagnosis...

dd was first seenby a paed at 20 months.She was then referred to Portage (early years pre school support by SEN Portage workers who were fabulous).After lots of tests she had an MRI which showed her brain had not developed properly.She also needed physio etc to teach her to crawl.She walked with a walker and took her first independent steps at 3.Now she has AFO splints and is off like 10 men though a little wobbly and uncoordinated with grazes on both knees to prove it lol.I think the Ed Psych stuff and statementing was around 3.5 but I have had a lot going on in my life over the past couple of years and it all merges into 1.Once the statement happened things calmed down with all of the appointmenrts and so on.

I would imagine but obv am not a paed taht the sld are all associated with her genetic condition.Are there any support groups with children with similar issues that could help you with advice??

Wishing you all the best.

I have to say that having a sn child is never easy,but atm my NT one is the one that is giving me ishoos lol.I think children are always a worry!!My big fear for dd is what happens to her when i die but that is a whole other thread.

I hope that your dd gets the appropriate help that she needs and it all runs smoothly.It is all so daunting but i think when things get put in place,even though it is devastating knowing your child is "different" you may feel a bit more settled and at ease that things are in place.

Thank you pijc

Thanks MavisE your Dd sounds great! i am with you on the merging into one I am the same it makes it hard to work out what happened when.

I am actually woking voluntarily for our support group and was always told that it isnt known to affect children developmentally so have emailed the group leader, she is brilliant so I am hopeful that she will have some ideas.

I have worked so hard to get to grips with all the medical stuff so it feels surreal to be learning about SEN stuff but I hope that like you, I will feel a bit better when there is some sort of plan.

Good luck

Thank you