In the space on one week SENCO suggest ASD, and friend suggests mild brain injury - what now for LittleLatte?

[LargeLatte]

Had a meeting at school with SENCO about LittleLatte (6yo), to review his progress. Academically he's holding his own with lots of support, and although his handwriting is poor it is legible now, and he is much more enthusiastic.

Now their main concern is his social problems and immaturity, and suggested it may be an idea to get him assessed for ASD. I agree there are a lot of traits.

A week ago a friend who used to help out at Riding for the Disabled was watching him ride and said she felt his dyspraxia diagnosis was incorrect as he had good co-ordination, fast reactions, but a general weakness down the left side, more consistent with children she had seen with CP or who had a very mild stroke.

I have absolutely no faith in the paed we saw initially. She spent about 10 minutes with him, asked him to stand on one leg, hop, and draw a circle, then bent his arm to check for hypermobility and that was it. I've never had anything in writing from her, or a follow up. OT asked at last appointment how follow ups with Paed were going as OT also has query about diagnosis, and was surprised we had only seen Paed at that initial assessment (a year ago).

Thanks for reading this far.

What next?

I haven't got a clue. We have recently changed GPs and I trust her, so maybe I should start there, at the beginning again.

Or do I just sit back and let everyone else do their thing, since I'm not that keen on more assessments anyway?

Poor you it's horrible getting comments about your child I'm sure your friend meant well but it's hard on you especially as you have done the right things getting him support.

I had a similar thing as felt our pead appointment and report were unsatisfactory, we had been seen by one of the consultants team rather than her and so I rang the secretary who was very sympathetic and said I should email the consultant.

I emailed the consultant and was given another appointment. I said I would like asd assessments and she organised this too, we had a diagnosis a few weeks back.

So may be quicker to go directly to the paediatrician if you can as they may be able to put you in with someone else or talk to you about asd assessment. Good luck, Gp sounds a good option too as areas vary with who does asd assessments, some are through pcamhs I think.

Just to through my pennyworth in.... I did a tiny bit of psychology at university years and years ago (but I dropped the subject after a year to specialise in something else). One of the things I remember was about aphasia i.e. someone might have a mild stroke when they were a baby or a slight brain injury and it would knock out a tiny section of the brain. However, the baby would grow up into a normal functioning adult but perhaps with just one or two oddities.

The best example is when the stroke happens in the part of the brain that controls the right hand. When that happens the left hand becomes the dominant hand and the person will learn to write left handed. However, it wasn't the hand they were originally supposed to write with so they are never quite as good with their left hand as they would have been with their right. As a result they are often clumsy. Its why the french word for left (gauche) means clumsy in english.
The same thing can happen the other way i.e. a natural left hander has a stroke as a baby and becomes right handed, and they will always be clumsy too. However, they will be such a tiny proportion of the right handed world that the label of clumsiness will never be associated with right handedness.
So, people are making judgements about the person when really what they have difficulty with is a result of a brain injury and they should be congratulated instead for overcoming their difficulties to the extent they have.

Knowing the little I know, i would be very tempted to take what your friend seriously.

Ds has dyspraxia as well as asd. When he was seen by paediatric occupational therapist and dx with dyspraxia ,she described him as having a weakness down his left side. So perhaps just part of dyspraxia? My ds Also had an unstable pelvis and unstable shoulder girdles with a mild tremor in his hands. He had hypermobility and had little intrinsic muscle bulk.
Never even thought of cp at the time tbh ( lol- a good thing I think!) ... We were also mid dx for asd... And I knew he fitted the profile. ( social immaturity/ lacking in social imagination/ anxiety/ poor language skills/lack of organisational skills/ sensitives to noises etcetera)
Are you happy to have him assessed for asd? Go to gp maybe and ask for referral ? Do you know who is likely to dx where you live? It was CAMHS here.
We are 7 years on from that point now. He's a big lad now.
His writing has really improved at secondary ... Unbelievably it's even neat now . He hates pe. Detests it. He swims.
Tbh I think of him as asd with dyspraxia. The asd presents us with more problems now.. because he has mastered most if the things that were giving him grief because of the dyspraxia. ( laces , writing, dressing, self care)
It's exhausting for you thinking about having to do the rounds again I imagine. >. [ grin]
I am just starting the post 16 battles atm.
You kick me up the arse if I kick you?
Good luck x

lisson thanks for your post. He chooses to write with his left hand, so if I offer a pen in a neutral position he will pick it up with this left. But his writing is very poor, and he has little strength in the left. Despite hours of practice his left hand is actually still no better than his right. If I ask him to write with his right it looks exactly the same.

He can't pedal a bike, even with stabilisers, but can push a scooter, and can pedal his go kart - although the seating position means it is a different pedal action to the bike iyswim.

He was in hospital on IV AB for an infection at 5 weeks old - maybe something might have happened then?

I am more interested in investigating this possible left-sided weakness than anything else, because if we have missed thism surely it will have a significant affect on what the right sort of therapies are for him.

Just going to read trout's post now - haven't forgotten you.

trout - It is exhausting yes. That is actually the first thing I thought when the school asked me about it 'no I am just too tired'. I know that's extremely selfish, but I have 2 ds's both on the SEN register. They both have regular audio, ENT and CPOC appointments. ds2 also sees OT and foot people (name escapes me), and I have regular reviews with the school. They do all their normal reading and homework, plus extra exercises when I remember them. I am just so tired of trying to fit it all in.

I am so grateful to have them both, I really am. And at our appointments I see people coping with so much more. But I have some well meaning friends who keep saying about everything, his ear trouble, dyspraxia, behavioural problems that 'he'll just grow out of it' - as if I needn't bother with all this. So this new round of assessments will be something I don't feel I can share with anyone because I'm that mad mother who keeps taking her kids to hospital, but that if I don't go through with it, I am not doing the best to support ds2.

So tired. No RL emotional support for this.

Interesting to hear about unstable pelvis, shoulder girdles, left sided weakness - I never thought of dyspraxia as being that complex. I need to do a bit more research.

Yes.. Tbh I had no idea of the physical things... Just knew what he struggled with.
Ds also left handed... V interesting lisson!
It's hard without any rl support Latte ... But only you really know your kids and their difficulties... Other people have no real idea.so just ignore silly people who say he'll grow out of it.