Any other help we should be seeking?

[Nevillethefathamster]

Thanks in advance for any advice- I've posted before about my son & the suggestions have been really helpful. He 8 &is going through the diagnosis process for possible autism at the moment. His main issue is social communication (making & keeping friends, knowing how to play, reading social cues etc). It breaks our heart to see him without friends & we are desperate to do anything we can to help him grow up being able to navigate the world & be able to build connections with people.
At the moment, he sees a TA at school semi regularly who goes through social stories with him. He has been seen by the LA's speech & language team who reported that he had significant social communication difficulties. They've suggested strategies for his classroom teacher and said that structured language support could possibly be offered in a couple of years?
My question is does anyone know of any other support we could be seeking at this stage? Maybe we should be asking for further speech and language intervention sooner rather than later?
We are happy to put in the legwork at home- if anyone knows of any social communication materials/resources that they've used with their child at home?
We are also toying with idea of an educational psychologist (we'd probably have to somehow pay privately for this I'd imagine). The academic side of school is mostly fine but we are desperate to make sure that his communication difficulties don't affect his life chances & get any extra insight into how to help him.
Has anyone had an ed psych report at this age for something like this?
Many thanks in advance for any advice.

I would be pushing for further SALT support now, not waiting a couple of years.

Are you school offering any social skills support other than social stories? Things like nurture group, Lego therapy, social skills training. Also is DS receiving any emotional literacy support?

An OT assessment is also likely to be helpful.

If you think DS needs more support than the school can or will provide you can apply for an EHCNA. Via an EHCP it is possible to secure more SALT provision than otherwise typically available.

Thank you so much for this, that is incredibly useful. Would not have thought about OT and looking it up now, I think this could really help. EHCNA is a great shout too ...so glad I posted, I need to get clued up and this is perfect. Thank you!

No, the school aren't offering anything except a weekly or fortnightly session with a TA to chat/do a social story.

The school need to be offering more support.

If you request an EHCNA an OT assessment can be part of that. If you don’t request an EHCNA, or it is refused, in some areas you can self refer to OT (some areas don’t commission sensory OT on the NHS anymore but it’s still worth a referral anyway).

Thanks again, I appreciate this hugely. I wonder if the threshold for OT referral is too high for us? My son struggles daily with social skills, finds it extremely difficult to communicate appropriately with his peers. This manifests itself in not appreciating personal space, doing and saying daft things, being physical (not hitting, more grabby and using his hands to make a point), not knowing how to join in games or conversations, making silly noises instead of answering questions normally...

Whether the NHS service will see DS depends on your area, and a massive bit of luck, I think. But even if the NHS refuse a referral if the LA agree to an EHCNA you can request an OT assessment via that and if the NHS can’t or won’t assess the LA must commission an independent assessment.