Hi I'm looking for advice. I've not posted before so feel a bit nervous. My son is 7, a gorgeous little boy who is getting increasingly discouraged by his handwriting difficulties. We always thought it was odd that he never wanted to draw/paint use lego etc. In reception and year1 he couldn't reliably draw a face. He has been in a writing intervention group at school since reception and at the beginning of this year the SENCO referred him for a Paediatric OT assessment. We now have the report which indicates borderline manual dexterity problems and significant (below 3rd centile) problems in 4 out of seven areas of visual perception. He has been put on the waiting list for "a block of intervention at school" and we have been given suggestions for various activities/exercises at home. The SENCO is discussing the report in a meeting with the local Ed Psych at the beginning of March. It has taken months to get to this point and I still don't know what to make of it.
Does anyone have any experience of commissioning private educational psychologist reports? if so are there any tips on finding good ones besides the obvious of personal recommendations and asking for CVs. Does developmental/behavioral optometry have a sound evidence base and does anyone have any experience?
I know what I am describing is fairly minor compared with the difficulties some of you have to contend with. I feel terrible though. It breaks my heart to see him struggling and to hear him say he is the only child in the class whose handwriting his teacher cannot read. I swing between thinking he is only 7 and will grow out of it to panicking thinking he will never reach his potential (whatever that means) and feeling really worried because all the push for intervention has come from the school which seems to indicate that he really must be struggling compared with his peers. Actually I know he is it is just hard to admit it.
Any advice/ pointers/tips from personal experience would be great. I've been feeling pretty upset.