Advice about DD and getting assessment please

[beautifulgirls]

DD#1 is three and a half now. She has been seeing speech therapists (private and NHS) for over a year. No specific label for her problems but a lot of talk about verbal dyspraxia. She has also had hearing problems, now corrected with grommets (in for 9 months now). We are still having a lot of concerns about her however - she has very poor eye contact with us, despite a lot of effort to work on this with her. Her concentration seems very poor at times though better at other times depending what she is doing (she takes omega 3 fish oil supplements in the hopes of this helping a bit) and just generally there is something that DH and myself can not put our fingers on with her. She does talk to us - she will tell us what she has been doing when she has been at nursery and can hold a conversation all be it that it can be very hard to understand what she is telling us. From this she does not fit with the typical autism signs I have read about, though I know there are other related disorders that perhaps may be part of the issue here?

I talked to her speech therapist today who I think was trying to be tactful and not worry me, but at the same time agreed with me that things do not seem quite right with her at times. I asked her opinion about getting further assessment and she basically suggested we see how things go a while longer, but as a parent I am of course concerned that we don't leave things any longer than necessary. She did mention one possibility was auditory processing disorder but she is no specialist of course.

On reading up about APD it seems that it is not diagnosed until much older (over 6) and I am really not sure when is sensible to look elsewhere for further assessment. Presumably we go through the GP to do this and they will know who to send us to.

We are lucky that she still has about 18 months until she starts school and will be about the oldest in her class which will be some advantage at least, but I really want to do everything I can for her before she starts school to minimise the impact for her.

Please tell me of your experiences and opinions.

Please - anyone??

You can ask your speech therapist to refer for an educational psychologist assessment, there ia a form to fill in for this and you don't have to be in school or school age to do this. It's not something everyone wants to do but it is an option. It's hard playing the wait and see game and some professionals like this option because it doesn't cost anything whereas assessments do, also if a diagnosis is made then they have to provide support.

Another thing you could do is to ask your gp to refer for a full developmental assessment by the hospital or community paediatricians which should help if you are thinking possible ASD remember ASD has a huge range of abilities coming under that "umbrella".

I know nothing about APD but would consider trying the National Deaf Childrens Society helpline, google NDCS. They will also support you with the glue ear.

All the assessments and referals take time to come through and often they want to see the child over a period of time before they will commit to a diagnosis if there is one to be made. So really it depends on what you want to do. You know your child better than anyone and if you want to take things further then you will have to push to get things done. Hope it all works out.

I agree with Bigcar. Best to set the asessment ball rolling now, as it can take up to a year in some areas to get seen. I would have thought that it is quite possible that it's the hearing problems causing some of the behaviour rather than ASD - but obviously best to get a professional view. It's a very good sign that you can converse with her -as it shows that she is understanding language and communication well.

Especially if your child is maybe going to need special help at school.

If you have a raft of assesment stuff in place when they start in education. Then you can expect school to meet her/his needs from day one, not some months later when they get round to their own assesment.

If you feel there is something not quite right, have it investigated. You know your child. It is better to know early on, so your dd can get help if she needs it, and there is a vast range of different behaviours on the autism/Asperger spectrum.

Thank you everyone. DH and have been talking and will probably go via the GP and get the ball rolling especially after seeing first hand how bad the whole speech therapy and hearing assessment waits are round here. We would like to know as much as possible before she starts school as you said Talies.

I am now getting really jealous.

Everyone seems to have SALT's coming out of their ears (excuse pun)

Round here they cannot deliver a fully staffed service, as fast as one signs up another two leave!!!

We are using a private SALT for most of our work with DD so far. In nearly 18 months since we first got put into the system by the HV we have had 7 speech therapy sessions on the NHS and we are less than happy with that. Not much we can do however and we are fortunate enough to be able to afford the help she needs right now. Sorry you are finding the system so frustrating [insert hugs]

Hi beautifulgirls
Actually the Sunday Times has written about APD today. Link is below:-

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article3458710.ece

Hi beautifulgirls
Actually the Sunday Times has written about APD today. Link is below:-

women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article3458710.ece

Wow, thank you for that link. Sounds like it becoming a better known condition even if it has been around for a lot longer. It is a shame that so far they can not diagnose before they have started at school, but hopefully with time it may be easier for the professionals to pick up earlier. The microphone system they mentioned sounds interesting though and may be an option to use on a suspected diagnosis (money aside) as it is unlikely to cause any harm I guess. I shall talk more with the GP about this after Easter some time.