Statement Paediatrician appointment

[Scruffalo]

Been going through the process of getting a statement for DD, which tbh I was/am fairly clueless about, and she has received an appointment to see a paediatrician on friday. I've been told this is a standard part of getting a statement, what I'm not sure about is what kind of things the paediatrician will ask, look at etc. What things should (can) I mention or ask to be looked at? Or do they simple want to check the things school have written are true?

Sorry for all the questions but I've never done this before and want to be as prepared as possible so I say the right things for DD's sake and not forget to bring up something important like I usually do. Also as DD gets quite anxious about hospitals (she associates them with pain, injections etc.) it would help me reassure her if I can talk her thought he appointment beforehand.

Anyone have experience of this?

They're usually looking for an overview of what your child is like.

I was asked questions about things like:

• any toileting issues?

• any problems with sleeping?

• any medication prescribed?

• how do they get on with siblings and other children?

• any particular interests?

• any behavioural issues at home?

I think there were some general questions about school, but the Paed didn't refer to anything the school might have said. In fact, I'm not even sure whether they had seen the school's report before the appointment.

It's quite a generic appointment - bit like a health check so will listen to their heart etc, usually get them to hop about, do a little eye test, get them to write/draw something. It's all quite basic really. You can obviously talk to them about stuff etc. mine said that he struggled with long instructions when spoken to and could not hop or heel toe place very well.

Fast forward 2 years and private salt and OT reports later and he has huge issues but the LA refer back to this generic appointment as no concerns raised which wasn't strictly true. I'm guessing in hindsight may have been better to have voiced my concerns in more detail and something more may have been written.

Both my boys are statemented and the appointments were much of a sameness, really bland and basic

Yep, "bland and basic" is a perfect description.

Ds didn't even have a physical check-up, although that might've been because he has ASD rather than medical/physical problems.

The appointment could just as easily have been carried out by someone with a list of questions and a pen.

Just to add to what's already been said above, it would be worth taking copies of reports like OT, SLT etc.

Do not assume that if your dc's assessments were carried out at the same hospital (or same ward in my case), that they will have any record of it.

We ended up (thanks to a cock up) seeing a Paed that had no knowledge of our ds. She had a form to complete that basically covered the same headings as they sent us in the suggested parental contribution bit.

We took along a few reports & also gave her a copy of what we had written. There was no medical exam & tbh it could have been done over the phone.

As it was,she basically copy & pasted large parts of our report,added a few standard lines,& that was her report! It covered everything we'd asked so that was fine.

I would say depending on how well the paed knows you/your dc,be clear on what you see as important to be included. Don't assume anything about what they will include.

Hope it goes well.

Thanks for the replies. Bland and basic I should be able to manage. I have a copy of the school's report which combines the finding from SALT and the Behaviour specialists who did assessments last year. I don't have the EP report yet as she only saw DD 2 weeks ago. OT I can take the letter stating DD is on their (2 year long) waiting list, if that would be of any use.

Wheteher DD will 'perform' on the day re:hopping/drawing/writing, it could go either way. She will either refuse point blank and hide behind me or go to the other extreme and spend the whole appointment showing off her hopping skills. Hopefully it will be the latter as she is quite proud of her new ability, compared to 6 months ago when just the mention of the word 'hop' would have her in floods of tears, saying she was useless, would never be able to do it etc.

Maybe that is something I should highlight to the paediatrician rather than just say she can hop? She can now but has only mastered it in the last few months, whereas as most of her peers (age 7) have been doing it for several years.