Does your ASD child see a Sensory Integration OT?

[nappyaddict]

When we were at physio the other day I noticed a sign on one of the rooms saying Sensory Integration OT and remembered hearing about it on here.

What is it they do and how does one get a referral? Is it easy to get a referral? What criteria will the GP want to hear to agree to referring DS?

Dd1 has seen one. currnetly not, but because of loistics of getting her there, as it was taking most of a day to get her there, have appt, and back home again.

it looks like a load of leaping about at softplay, but is more sophisticated than that. lots of swinging on various different swings, to stimulate vestibular system etc.

I would say you haven't a hope of an nhs referral, ime. although a couple of people have had success, I think.

it is hard enough getting regular OT, SI is impossible to come by, unless private.

Did you pay private? What sort of cost am I looking at?

DDs dont be will be in the new year, but privately. DD2 is due to see Physio and OT on nhs soon but doubt they would do SI stuff tbh.
Our private one is £100 an hour for assessment, not sur eon prices after that. HTH

yes, we paid private.

we were using a top-of-field specialist, as wanted a report for dd1's ABA tribunal. specialist in Central London, so pricey. we paid abuot £100 per hour.

I have seen other people advertise at around £60/hour though. depends on the OT, I suppose (like anything!)

who did you use silverfrog? wondering if we have th same one

we used Hopscotch.

absolutely brilliant, and would thoroughly recommend. did wonders for dd1.

but the logistics of it defeated us. her appt was 5pm on a Friday - we had to leave home at 3.20 to go to town, park, walk to station, get train at 3.40pm, arrive in London at 4.20, get on a bus to Harley St, arrive at about 4.50.

dd2 and I then waited while dd1 has appt, and we did the whole thing in reverse, except buses were less frequent. we usually got home again around 8.30/9pm - so the whole thing took us about 6 hours

we did it allover the summer, but it was just too much trekking the whole family around like that for just one hours appt...

not the same one. The one we have is based in Harley street but can do most of it at home in Herts :)
She is great.

who do you use?

when you say "at home in Herts" do you mean your hme? or does she have a satellite base too?

would love dd1 to have more SI, it really did her good. but we couldn't continue that regime - was exhausting for all of us!

I think she comes to your home and brings her stuff with her. Shes due to call me soon about appointment in Jan so will let you know.
Our you another Herts lady silverfrog?

no, I'm in Surrey.

hmm, interesting if she brings stuff with her - wonder how that works with swings etc.

if you could let me know how it goes, that would be brilliant - we definitely have the space (or could have, if we cleared all the crap up in the playroom!) for dd1 to leap/swing about.

would happily pay a premium for her to come to us!

did you not get alot of ideas from previous SI worker about stuff to do at home?

we did get ideas re: fine motor skils, and more conventional OT stuff.

and we do loads of rough and tumble play/squashing in blankets/under cushions and swinging around (but dd1 is getting big and heavy!) anyway.

but dd1 did lots of co-ordination, full body motor stuff on balance swings, and this is the bit we can't replicate wihtout the equipment (or arms of steel to swing her abut a lot! )

Nappy - our nhs ot gave us 4 sensory integration sessions as standard. We thought they did help. They work on integrating all the senses particularly vestibular and proceptive (sp?) senses.

Your DS almost certainly has problems with there senses and would benefit - however someone on here recommended getting rid of retained reflexes before doing SIT which is where we are at the moment.

After doing retained reflex therapy since Aug I'd agree. Do this before investing money in SIT. I think when we've finished retained reflex therapy we won't need SIT anymore.

what about the hanging swing from Ikea would that work??

What is retained reflex therapy?

A baby is born with primitive reflexes like a sucking reflex and a startle reflex, which they are meant to grow out of and turn into adult reflexes.

A lot of our kids don't grow out of these reflexes, and these therapists claim that it is this which is causing them a lot of their problems.

My personal experience with DS has been very positive, and I plan to start DD on it after christmas....

Here's some links about retained reflex therapy:

www.inpp.org.uk/index.php

www.thesoundlearningcentre.co.uk/treatment/development-programme/

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/1003187-Retained-reflexes-any-info-please/AllOnOnePage

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/1013333-Retained-Reflexes-update/AllOnOnePage

If you're interested in learning more about the effects of retained primitive reflexes this is a great book. Really interesting to consider behaviour in relation to this. I use it a lot.
Reflexes, Learning And Behavior: A Window into the Child's Mind : A Non-Invasive Approach to Solving Learning & Behavior Problems by Sally Goddard.
Hope it's useful

We got SI OT on the NHS...without asking...but only for a few months.