strange referal

[yoshysmum]

Hi I am new to all this as my ds has almost definatley got dyspraxia/as. We have been to our gp who has referred us to an emotional and behavioural team. We were hoping to go to a paedrition(sp). Does any one know what this team is,as we have never heard of it and it doen't really seem appropriate to our sons needs?

Did you ask him why not a paed?

a developmental paed is who you need in the first instance.

That's what we thought too, but the gp seemed really unsure about who to refer to, so left it to his secretary to organise it.

We are going to look into a private referal thoough as we have been told we wont be seen anyway until next year, which is no good as we want to get the help needed now.

School has been good this year they have acknowledged there is a problem and have at least put him on school action and wrote a report to take to the gp.

We were concerned last year but his teacher wouldnt accept there was a problem, despite him going backwards accademically.

Sorry for the rant but just needed to offload.

A developmental paed has a waiting list target of 6 weeks for an initial consultation. They won't dx, but will refer you to the appropriate dx team. That WILL take flipping ages though.....

Have managed to book an appointment for ds at our local private hospital for next week.

I hope this won't affect any treatment from the nhs though.

bump

Our GP refused to refer DS2 to a paediatrician as well. She insisted that it had to go to CAMHS as it was "not a medical problem" and gave a huge lecture on the budget issues for schools vs NHS, saying the school shouldn't have even told us to go to GP that the school or even we as parents could have gotten him in to see CAMHS and not wasted NHS resources. Just icing on the cake of a rubbish appointment when she said she was referring him to CAMHS because "he's obviously not normal!" Charming.

So we took the CAMHS referral, and then the school nurse referred him to the paed. Is your DS in school? Can the SENco get him to the school nurse and referred to the paed that way?

We have a good senco who looked into it all for us and told us basically that we had to go to the gp, who would then refer us appropriatly.

Ds is in year 2 aged 6.

He hasn't seen the school nurse and the ed psych didn't seem interested when she told him. I am sure it had more to do with budgets though than anything else.[hmmm]

Funny that last year when our concerns began his class teacher woulnt help, was bloody useless in fact.

We asked her for extra homework to improve his handwriting and recieved one piece all year, she didn,t even put him on school action,despite him going backwards in his learning all the time.

The heartbreaking thing is now that ds is older he is becoming very aware he has problems and keeps calling himself stupid and useless. He is very bright but cant get it all down on paper and fails to comprehend what is expected of him.

I am constantly reassuring him and praising all the things he is good at.

What should his iep have on it and how long do they normally take to put together?

Have you asked your senco if you can get a referral to the paed via the school nurse? Ours suggested it immediately when she found out that the GP would only refer to CAMHS.

She had the IEP done within a week, although tbh I'm not sure what is "standard" on it, as every child has different goals and specific difficulties.

Hmm we have been waiting for two weeks now and no mention yet.

I meant for the targets, are they usually achievable ones or more long term goals?

He really needs 1-1 support for his problems, but I know he probably wont get it yet as the school which only has around 200 pupils has 53 children on the sn register. He is really backsliding at the moment, he could spell his name correctly but for the last week he is dropping one of the letters consistently.

Quite frustrated really, when I get his dx If no progress is being made, I will be pushing for statementing.

One thing I am finding hard to deal with is other peoples reactions to ds quirks. They are becoming more noticable as he is getting older and harder to put down to his age.

Does anyone have an off switch for a child whos normal speaking tone is loud?

Have you found the off switch yet? I need one too!!

You could also formally request a statement of special educational needs, it would help if you have the school's support; and they should give it because it will result in more funds for them, and maybe a bit of extra staffing to support him. Try speaking to the school nurse, the SENco and the head teacher. The class teacher may not be very experienced or may have her own reasons for not wanting extra help in her classroom.

and you could go back to the GP; if he wasn't sure where to send you, you could ask directly for a developmental peadiatrician. not all GP's are that clued up on special need kiddos.

The emotional and behavioural team might help, at least they are professionals in child development and issues. they may be able to refer you onto a paediatrician. Don't dismiss them, they may be your way in to the right help. good luck.