What to take to first appointment

[DesertOrchid]

Apart from DD and her red book, obviously!

DD1 (3.5) has an initial paed appt at a child development centre next week. Without boring you with too much detail, we are looking at possible AS/ASD/asynchronous development/anxiety/control issues/ADD - quite a complex picture with some red flags, some contra-indicators etc etc etc.

Anyway - what if anything should I take to help? I have collated a timeline of her development separated into language/social/physical skills, and I think that might be useful, but is there anything else that might help? I have lots of little bits of video of her over the years on my laptop - is it worth taking that to illustrate anything or will that just be overkill?

Thanks.

I just took dd1 and her red book (dd1 was younger though - about 16 motnhs when she entered the system, so video did not necessarily highlight major differences between her and her peers)

timeline good.
video good too, I would say, but have it organised - choose a couple of clips which really highlight the point you are making.
take along a list of questions you have - it is so easy to forget when you are there.

good luck!

No harm in taking everything with you - I took a long list of notes / observations with me and the paed asked to keep it for her file. Take copies of everything for the paed to have.

Thank you everyone - especially for the good luck wishes!

Preschool have already filled out something and sent it along with the original referral, so that's taken care of I think.

I'll have a look over the weekend for some key videos (I can think of one or two that illustrate points) and then I will take the laptop.

I've also kept a sort of 'symptoms and successes' diary of all the positive and less positive things that have happened since the referral (eg spontaneously sharing cheese with baby sister who was hankering after it vs having a tantrum because everyone says 'a-gain' at the end of Insey Winsey Spider instead of 'a-gen'... ;-) ) so I will take that with me too.

Oops, forgot to say thanks for the questions tip - and that has made me think it might be worth writing a definitive list of the problems and issues as I'm not sure I have one and will be bound to forget.

Notes have their uses, but make sure you have copies to leave for the paed to read "later" rather than having him read them while you are there. There is nothing worse than seeing your paed use up your allocated time by reading notes (whether yours or from other people) while you are itching to ask stuff!

Notes have their uses, but make sure you have copies to leave for the paed to read "later" rather than having him read them while you are there. There is nothing worse than seeing your paed use up your allocated time by reading notes (whether yours or from other people) while you are itching to ask stuff!

oops sorry about the double post, internet connection playing up!

they may also want to know about pregnancy, birth & family history