Help - Child development assessment

[Dannygirl]

My DS is 4.6 and his Reception teacher has said she has concerns about his physical development, briefly - weak pencil grip and writing, poor coordination, poor muscle strength, poor motor skills....I always thought he was just a late developer (didn't walk till 18 months etc) but I am beginning to have concerns. We have been referred for an assessment by a community paediatrician at Carmelita House in Ealing. I guess my questions are - has anyone got any experience of Carmelita house that they can share? And can anyone recommend a specialist paediatrician in London we could see for a
development assessment? (happy to pay if we are seeing
someone really good!). Trying not to worry or google but it's difficult...any advice much appreciated.

I've only got experience of private speech therapy, but have read good things about the London Children's Practice. [http://www.londonchildrenspractice.com/]

you might want to consider paying for private OT or physio rather than a paediatrician

Thank you for replying. Sorry if this is a silly question but how do you decide who to see first? I sort of assumed a Paediatrician would tell us what kind of therapy would be needed, if any, but I don't know anything about this.

Thank you v much for the link by the way

I would definitely go to see an OT, they are invaluable for putting together reprts about children's physical skills.

You might find that you pay for a paed and then he/she sends you straight to OT.

Good luck

Paed would be likely to refer to an OT anyway but it may be worth having a paed in the loop early in case they want to do other assessments such as SALT or Audiology. In some areas NHS do a more holistic assessment with various specialists initially as a matter of course which may be what your gp is suggesting.