School nurse says poor muscle tone and not crossing mid line. What next?

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Ds2 (4yr 11mo) had his assessment with school nurse and she and his teacher are not happy with his development and said he has poor muscle tone and is not crossing the mid line. Teacher said nurse was sorting out a referral but he wasn't sure who too.

What happens next? I'd love to here from anyone with experience.

Probably to an occupational therapist. Depending on where you live you could have a fairly long wait for an appointment. OT will then assess and give you some exercises to do at home.

Ok thanks. So can we just focus on getting help like the OT rather than having to chase a diagnosis? His teacher said he would do some 1:1 work with him which I thought was very kind. Hoping the SENCO at school might have a few tricks up her sleeve.

Do they do sensory circuits at school? Ds massively benefits from doing his every morning. Our OT was useless- gave us exercises, said she would be in touch in 3 months and we never heard from her again. We didn't pursue it though as the exercises and sensory circuits had made such a significant difference. Ds has aspergers. Children with aspergers can have poor muscle tone and retained reflexes but so can children without asd so unless you have other concerns I wouldn't worry.

He has been doing sensory circuits twice a week at school and we have seen some progress. His teacher seems very keen on getting stuck into it himself and it's parents evening next week so I'll talk more with him then as doesn't like I can expect too much from OT :)

And thanks for the replies

We've had a massive input from a physiotherapist based on DS's low muscle tone; 30 minute sessions at home and twice weekly sessions at the hospital.

We're also waiting for the results of bloods taken a month ago to rule out any chromosomal difficulties.

We've had initial OT input but she referred back to physio as until DS's core stability has improved, she won't see him.

Hopefully you've been referred to physiotherapy and possibly a developmental paed?

FF x

I meant chromosomal disorders, not difficulties!

physio, probably.

dd2 was definitely seeing physio for muscle tone and mid-line stuff, ot was for fine motor and equipment.

i would ask gp to refer for full developmental assessment to paed tbh. the referrals can all join up later - no harm in getting ahead of the game.

I agree, she'll probably refer you to an OT.

Those are classic symptoms of Developmental Coorination Disorder (DCD) / Dyspraxia.

If you see an OT they may well know its DCD / Dyspraxia - but not tell you or write it on the report. So make sure you ask if that's what he has.

Much easier to help if you can google the right words :)

I was really hoping to avoid drs and assessments at least for a bit longer as he is quite hospital-phobic now, after medical problems when he was younger.

I did a bit of reading, his problems don't make too much sense to me because he was an early crawler, walker and jumper, could pedal a bike by the age of 2, and thread beads at 3. But still struggles to walk through door frame without richocheting off the sides, or pick up a cup without knocking it over.

Will wait and see what the nurses letter says I guess.

This book might help with suggestions of quick exercises that can be incorporated into the day. www.amazon.co.uk/Growing--Sync-Child-Activities-Develop/dp/0399535837/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331210118&sr=1-1 plenty of the activities will feel like playing and they have suggestions for particular issues like midline crossing, core strength etc.

Thanks ohmeohmy. I just ordered The Balanced Child last night so I'll take a look at that first when it comes through. The poor lad spent most of age 2-3 years snuggled up on the sofa with me because of health problems so I am sure that missing out on all the games and running about he should have been doing is what's causing him trouble now.