Does ds need an OT?

[sleepyhorse]

Hi

Ds has a severe language disorder but also has a very short attention span so loses interest on things very quickly. Also it's a nightmare if we are out in restaurants as he just likes to run around etc, doesn't like sitting still. Aside from speech therapy - do you think he would benefit from OT? Can it help with concentration problems?

yes sound like an OT could help however i think you may struggle to get a referal, sometimes GP & even paeds are a bit black & white & dont always realise that the OT's remit goes beyond fine motor stuff & equipment.
Make sure you get an OT that can do both a motor & sensory assessment to get the best results.

Thanks so much. So what kind of stuff do they do with the concentration?

It sounds like, at minimum, he would benefit from a screening assessment from an OT looking particularly at his Sensory Profile.....e.g. he may not like sitting still because he has low muscle tone and he needs movement to keep him 'up'. Or it might be that he has attention issues as well as his language ones. Or it might be that he finds visual fields difficult to process sitting still. Or it might etc etc......

Make sure you get an OT who has Sensory Integration training at post-grad level so that they know what they are looking at.

Hi my Ds 23mths has just had a OT assessment as part of a whole assessment of him. They found he has a very short attention span and is unable to concentrate for long so they have arranged for a heathfield chair to be delivered to home and his nursery to try and help him concentrate on one activity for a period of time. So they are very good at picking up children's concentration levels and providing things to help. He also has a speech and language delay and gas been assessed to have a developmental delay to that of a 12 mth old.