Hi
My DS has been diagnosed with a complex language disorder and sensory processing disorder and is waiting for an assessment to see if he is on the autism spectrum.
Back in Jan the special needs co-ordinator from the LA told me he would never get a statement but at a transition meeting at the school he will be starting in September she said that his needs are a lot more complex than she had thought and so he might be a candidate for a statement as she is concerned that without one the gap between him and his peers could widen.
DS is 4. He has a very spiky language profile - due to private speech therapy and an ABA programme he has gone from having almost no functional speech to having an expressive language disorder classed as mild. However, his receptive language skills range from the 1st to the 6th percentile, other than his understanding of single words which is appropriate for his age. He is very good at learning by rote, hence he has learned how to request things in sentences and respond to certain questions appropriately. I had no idea he was masking such a lack of understanding.
Anyway - about statementing. The special needs co-ordinator has asked his form teacher and the Senco to gather evidence between September and January and then start the statutory assessment procedure. I would like to start it now but unfortunately his pre school have not logged incidents such as him refusing to remove his hands from his eyes for several hours or occasions when he hit children because they were crying (he cannot stand the noise and I have had to work very hard trying to desentitise him and teach him replacement behaviour).
My other concern is that the occupational therapists report once you get into it makes it clear that he has SPD and needs OT daily at school carried out by a LA as well as once a week with a qualified OT BUT on the front page she lists his strengths as being kind and loving, intelligent, good imaginative play and enjoys museums and soft play centres (she had asked him what he liked to do during the assessment.) She also noted that he could do his buttons up although needed help putting a shirt on.
I am just wondering if this is going to lmake him look too high functioning for a statement.
Should I start the process now even though his pre school haven't logged incidents? I want to but am scared it might do more harm than good as they seem to think he is some sort of mathematical genius because he can count to infinity, tell the time and recognise numbers in their thousands. I think it's just an unhealthy obsession and doesn't mean that he will be able to understand mathematical concepts later on - his language disorder makes it likely that he will have great difficulty in this area I'm told.
Sorry for the waffle. Bottom line is this - do I leave it to the school to gather evidence and apply in Jan or do I get the process started now based on the evidence I've got which is really just the private reports I've commissioned.
Oh and DLA - I haven't applied yet. Do we stand a chance of getting it? All the speech therapy, ABA and OT is costing a fortune...