Please help me digest dd ed pysch report.

[Crawling]

initial consultation
background information
dd is a delightful little girl who was referred to the ed and child psychologist by Dr Sr associate specialist in child health due to concern with regard to her development, communication and socialization skills.

Dr Sr has seen dd on a few occasions because of delayed speech and language skills .

Dr Sr reports dd does not show evidence of smiling or reciprocal interaction.

dd is reported to be reluctant to take on any changes and dislike physical contact

Dr Sr considered dd to have learning and significant social and communication difficulties .

hv reports dd demonstrates some understanding of single objects and instructions. has pretend play skills and can use a social smile. dd attention is described as fleeting and her eye contact limited.

due to the nature and complexity of dd difficulties postage was put inn place until she can access a preschool with 1:1 support.

dd did not have a successful start at her first playground and was withdrawn.

dd is known to s and l and has recently started pecs no speech was heard during the visit but dd is reported to say no and more.

dd can dress herself she is selective with food but can use a fork.

dd is not toilet trained and is reported to play with her faeces.

her behaviour is described as challenging at times. She is sensitive to busy places and loud noises -when outside she will flop to the floor put her hands to her ears and scream and cry.

Dd tends to communicate her needs by pushing a adult to the object she wants.

Dd likes to have her own way and can become upset when this does not happen.

Conclusion
Dd has not had the opportunity to socialize with other. children in a playgroup setting and although she is presenting with some features of Artist she does engage in imaginative play and can give a appropriate smile. Dd has made some progress in the short time she has received postage, her eye contact is improving and she is learning to sit and focus on short activities.

I feel dd would benefit from attending a playgroup where her strengths andweaknesses can be identified and her behaviour and development can be monitored over time to determine whether she meets the criteria for ASD or if her behaviours relate to areas of difficulty other than autisim.

That is dd first report from ed pysch can people help me determine if its a good report and is likely to get dd additional help when she starts school is September. Dd is 3:5 btw I just don't know how this report compares as I've never seen one before.

I have been thinking about this and im actually quite shocked during the ed psych visit she told me based on the list of symptoms and what she observed dd will need a special unit in September providing she behaves the same or worse in play group. She asked how often dd sits upstairs banging the floor? Whether dd is always this solemn? does she usually not interact or make eye contact this badly? Does she always react aggressive when she can't have her way ? She told me she wants her in pre school so she can do a better evaluation as to what her needs are going to be in school so she would be better at meeting them.

But none of that is in the report even though she saw quite a few areas of difficulty. The pediatrician read my list and then stated in his notes that he observed many of the difficulties I describe.

No, mariamama, not dc needing full statutory assessment banned. But the raison d'etre is for the statutory assessment to be taken over a more extended timeframe because whilst needs are clearly recognised as likely to require a statement it isn't exactly clear what the needs are so what sort of provision might be needed. If the child has very clear needs- in terms of what the problem is and what support will be needed, such as a kid with profound and multiple learning needs, then those children can go straight into the relevant specialist school rather than using up one of the assessment places which are all about providing appropriate support whilst unravelling needs.

I still don't see why they can't start statementing process now, while your DD has preschool with 1:1. If they wait much longer, she won't have a statement in time for school in September, and a statement is essential for special schools unless the situation is an emergency. The SEN CoP is clear on that.

Aren't annual reviews about updating needs, and iirc they can be called early.

Better a statement with an early AR than a delayed statement with prolonged assessment IMO in this climate.

I'm angry but not really surprised at the OP's story (as it is quite similar to my story maybe I too close to the emotions to be objective). This laid back 'wait and see' approach might be almost justifiable if we were talking about a child aged 1.5 years not 3.5 years ! Where is the urgency? Where is the sense of reality about planning for this little girl's education? They already know or should know how she reacts in a playgroup setting, they already know or should know she has significant developmental delay. Is this what a professional would want if it was their own child? Of course it is not.... The process I went through consistently used terms like assessment, assessing needs, deciding on needs, thinking about having a think about needs - all through a time period in which in practical terms, nothing happened to address any of the issues.

Thinking about having a think about needs.....

Willow - that is how I feel. My DD is 4 years old now. She has been assessed since she was 2.5. I have seen countless professionals, she has been in a pre school setting for all that time I have peadiatrician reports, ed pysch reports, SALT reports, physio reports.
No diagnosis and noone willing to push for one.

Lots of nodding about her needing support and that she has issues.

She has had 6 weeks of group therapy on NHS which was really more observing and we have paid for private SALT. This has made a huge difference, but we did it. Not everyone has that option.

I have a meeting with the Child development team on monday where we will meet with peadiatrician, SALT and the SENCO from nursery and I am going to have to push them for a bit more than plotting her on some bloody score sheet again!

Thinking about it, DD1's Ed Psych report made it really clear that DD's needs were as yet not fully understood, and contained the sentence 'time will tell if language is DD1's primary need.' Just because she didn't know what was behind DD1's issues, didn't mean that she was denied a statement.

In fact, now she's 7 (this week!) we still don't know. Many of the children in her special school don't have diagnoses. It's life.

Ok, so get on to the AreaIncO as I suggested up thread. Tell them the Ed Psych is potentially looking for a specialist placement for school, and that she needs a setting ASAP with adequate immediate support.

Start calling. AreaIncO good place to start.

Call paed and get them to summarize placement need in writing for LA, highlighting adequacy of support, and with your or the paed formally request statutory assessment to discover extent of need in time for school placement.

Highlight that if a specialist setting is required in 10 months, they need to get the ball rolling NOW.

Pontificating about dx is something they can all do in their spare time.

'Pontificating about dx is something they can all do in their spare time'

is going on my list!

Ah, my first Christmas emoticon...

And happy birthday, lougle's dd!