OT referral?

[Poshpaws]

DS2(almost 5) has S/L issues. He also has a few sensory issues.

He has been assessed for ASD and signed off straight away by dev paed when he was 3.5 and his social skills are now age appropriate.

After a recent SALT assessment, he registered as normal range for expressive speech and still a bit behind in receptive. Fine, he is accessing help for this.

However, he has one or two sensory issues for which I am not sure whether to refer to OT or whether he will grow out of.

He likes to stroke straight hair. In fact one of his best friends at school likes him to play with her hair . He has been doing this since nursery and although it is not a problem for the girls at school at the moment, it was for some at nursery and it is quite annoying when he does it to me at home. If you give him a firm 'No' he will stop, but obviously he will come along and touch your hair at another time.

He also 'stims' (I think). He will twiddle his fingers in front of his chin when excited, and if tired will run from one end of the room and back whilst twiddling his fingers. Thing is, when you say 'DS2, what are you doing?' he'll say 'I'm twiddling' .

Is it worth referring to OT for these? I know the waiting lists can be long. Should I discourage these behaviours?

Any books that anyone can recommend?

Thanks

Sounds like he is just fulfilling a need, even if you do end up with a bald patch

I just try to replace behaviour with a more appropriate one Have you tried a fiddle toy or something else to stroke or twiddle?

Thanks claw3. He won't play with his own hair or his brothers because it is curly (mixed race). Believe me, I am always telling him that he has his own head of hair !

He did used to walk around with a silky scarf of mine, until he lost it . I shall buy him a new one.

I suggested to my sis that I should let him take the scarf to school so that he'll leave the girls' hair alone, but she said that he would be targated for carrying a scarf around .

I suppose I just want to nip the behaviour in the bud before it becomes a problem at school.

Ds used to scratch his chin until it bleed, from an OT point of view it was sensory seeking behaviour, from an ASD point of view it was a comfort.

Either way whatever it started off as, it quickly become a habit which was hard to break.

I did try fiddle toys with ds, but he just didnt see the point of them 'why do you want me to do that' kind of thing!

At home i did things to keep his hands busy, hand held games were good, and exercises everytime i saw him scratching we would do 10 star jumps to give sensory input, you need just enough time to break the habit. Took about a month, but he has stopped.

Could you cut a little square out of a silky material, so he could keep in his pocket?

You would also have to get school to back you up and reinforce it, which might be hard without OT advice. Depends on how understanding the school are.