Global Developmental Delay?

[WhiteHartLane]

Would really appreciate any thoughts on my 5.8 year old DS and possible GDD.

A few weeks back my DS was referred to a peadiatrician via the school SENCO. He has a mild expressive language difficulty compounded by a complex speech sound difficulty. He has blocks of speech therapy sessions at school and we work on the Mr Tongue programme at home.

Academically he is behind (reading and writing 30-50 below, maths 40-60 emerging). His handwriting is poor and he is not forming letters correctly. He presents socially and emotionally as a younger child. For social interaction and communication the SENCO has expressed moderate to serious cause for concern.

DS has been referred under the ASD pathway as advised by the Childrens Therapy Team (only allowed to refer under 2 pathways ASD or ADHD here), however the SENCO has made it clear on the referal that we are unclear as to the underlying cause. His behaviour on the whole is good, although he can be defiant and lacks concentration. He has always had an IEP due to his speech disorder and this is reviewed every other term.

I know I need to be patient and wait for his appointment to come through but if anyone has a child similar I would be grateful to hear of your experiences.

Hopeful bump

He sounds just like my ds (ASD/ADHD/dyslexia/speech & language disorder/ dyspraxia). Sounds like he needs an educational psychologist to do a cognitive assessment. Has he been seen by OT?

Thank you for replying. He hasn't been seen by an OT. I have a meeting with the SENCO (who is also his class teacher 3 days a week) on Monday to discuss the outcome of his IEP meeting so will ask about this, thank you. Is it something the school should have already done before referring to a paediatrician do you know?
He spends a lot of time with the class TA, especially during writing exercises otherwise he loses focus and draws circles instead of writing (although tbf i dont think he knows what to write) He is attending speech therapy weekly and reads daily to his teacher/TA.

Wait lists to see an OT are really long and it costs schools money for an EP so they often drag their heels in. We got fobbed off with a GDD diagnosis for several years and ended up having to pay privately to get all our diagnoses. Unfortunately NHS reports tend to be really woolly and, in our case inaccurate. How old is he?

That is really concerning. Would you advise waiting for the appt with the paedatrician or going straight to private?
He is 5 years 8 months so in year 1 but one of the youngest.
His teacher mentioned gdd but although he does present as younger socially and academically, he always met his milestones (except speech) before starting school so I am unsure.
Thanks for replying again and i hope your DC is getting on well now and is happy.

Teachers often don't have a clue. I think you really need the ed psych assessment and this will help the paediatrician make a diagnosis. You might as well see NHS paed- we just had a bad experience. If he met his milestones on time then it's unlikely to be GDD. I think you need a thorough investigation with ed psych, speech & language and OT.

Also the being better at maths than reading and writing shows a spiky cognitive profile rather than GDD that tends to be much flatter. You need to push for the EP assessment. If school won't do this and you can afford it then get an independent EP (who often run more thorough tests anyway).