Pediatrician: How many appointments?

[BigTipTop]

Hello,

My son is 6 and I'm struggling accessing any support. He was referred to the community pediatrician at 4, had two appointments at 5 and is due a third one in a few weeks. So far the appointments outcome have been that he isn't displaying enough symptoms to hit the criteria for asd / adhd due to his eye contact, playing and some printed work sheets on fussy eaters and children who struggle sleeping. I honestly don't know what I'm trying to achieve he's struggling and I don't know how to help.

This is Lengthy but if anyone can give any insight it would be amazing.

Currently he has a IEP in place, the school have set up a ED Psych assessment for end of April. The school have in house SALT support once weekly for him. We have private occupational therapy twice weekly for him who dx developmental coordination disorder & spd.

At schoolhe cannot read or write, he struggles with memory, instructions and staying engaged. School refusal daily. Climbs everything. Fidgets, moves constantly. His speech is unclear, slow and struggles recalling words. He is really loud when he speaks. Spins alot and makes noises He can be silly / clown like when trying to make friends -(which he has no strong friendships or friends in school)- "look me - I'm big poo poo" will laugh and laugh and laugh. He will make eye contact, and can play with his favourite toys. Wears chew necklace & ear defenders. Has a limited diet. Sometimes won't engage with eye contact,'talking and kinda shuts down - curls into a hard rigid ball and stares at the floor making a "gggggeee" noise - this happens mainly at unfamiliar situations, parties and loud softplay. It was displayed at the private occupational therapist appointment and the first time a health professional has seen this. They recommend we pushed for further assessment.

We are also under the NHS SALT - we had a assessment at 3 (too young for support referred us for another at 4 years, at 4 years they recommend plenty of reading and reassess at 5, again at 5 they highlighted he was delayed in all areas and showed immature understanding for his age (ie couldn't comprehend the outcome of a picture book about the 3 bears) recommended more reading and a further assessment in six months time....this has been cancelled twice but were due another assessment next month. Hopefully. We had a private SALT assessment- which was completed over three sessions due to his inability to engage in the session - wasn't interested in the acitivites/ jumped around for the 30 minutes. They highlighted the same as the NHS but told us due to his inability to concentrate they were unable to offer any therapy at that time but gave us some worksheets to work on at home- explained that most children when they learn language progress the information and store them into little categories, our sons words had been stored into basically a big jumbled pile and we had to work on helping him re store them into the correct category.

Where else can I find support for him or is there anything I need to be doing / taking in with me for the peads appointment?

Sorry its so lengthy!! Thank you for reading.

[Headfirstintothewild]

There’s no set number of paed appointments.

However, support is based on needs not diagnosis. Has an EHCNA been requested?

[BigTipTop]

@Headfirstintothewild

There’s no set number of paed appointments.

However, support is based on needs not diagnosis. Has an EHCNA been requested?

Edited

Morning - thank you I wasn't sure what the process was / is for the pediatrician. We have a Ed Psych assessment due at the end of this month and the school are wanting to apply for a ehcp once we find out the outcome of the assessment. It just feels so long!

[Headfirstintothewild]

Theres no one set process. It varies area to area.

Don’t wait to request an EHCNA. You can do it yourself now. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

[SprainedBum]

You feel like you're not getting anywhere, but all this that you're doing is gathering the required evidence. The paediatrician needs to see all of this in writing, so make sure you take (you can email ahead too, but definitely take a spare hard copy) any reports that you've gathered in this time.

My son had one appointment that lasted about 30 minutes. His diagnosis was largely off of the weight of parental/nursery/OT/SLT evidence