Jump to content

Menu

Recommended Posts

Posted

Would you have this child evaluated for SPD? :confused:

 

DS is 8.5 almost 9. He just started Vision Therapy, many of his vision skills are around a 4 year old level. He has a academically, especially with writing and reading. He does much better orally. His receptive and expressive skills are somewhat delayed. He is easily distractable. He doesn't like loud noises, he said he likes women's hockey games batter than men's hockey games because they are less distracting, i.e. less people and noise. He has a low self-esteem and is easily frustrated. He started V.T. homework this week and was very frustrated by it, I am going to see if we can start with less homework even if it takes more therapy so he can be successful. He is scared of the basement, we had a flood and a bat in our pellet stove. He is scared of the attic that connects to his room thus he ends up moving into our room in the middle of the night. We are making progress, he did go down stairs for a short period of time with his sister today and starts out the night in his own bed. :)

 

He is tired of evaluations and therapies but I am afraid of missing something or I am missing something.

 

Any suggestions?

 

TIA,

Kirstin

Posted

Just O.T. and one counselor visit. The counselor recommended The Out-of-Sync Child but said we were doing a good job and she didn't need to see us again. He does have some school anxiety too although that is getting better this year. We are planning on hs for next year.

 

Kirstin

Posted

How good was the OT? Most OTs are able to evaluate for SPD, although many are not very good at treating it. Was this a school OT or a private OT? School OTs usually do not evaluate for SPD.

 

With the problems you described, I would want at least a good private OT eval and a good private speech and language eval. Ideally you would want a complete neuro-psychological eval, which would include both of these evals and much more.

 

Do you have medical insurance?

Posted

This was a private O.T. I don't know how good she was, I have nothing to compare to. We started O.T. for fine motor. I did keep asking if I should be looking at anything else but she didn't say anything. She did say he had some visual issues, closure and something else. But as it turns out he has lots of visual issues or it looks like a lot to me based on his V.T. eval.

 

Right now, my plan is to have his speech evaluated privately this summer. This would give his eyes a chance to mature and develop.

 

What would a neuropsch. evaulate? I am not sure our insurance would cover this and right now with his V.T. there is no way we can afford to pay out of pocket. I had to fight to get his O.T. fully covered.

 

I hope this makes sense,

Kirstin

Posted

Yes, I would. The combination of visual/fine motor/academic/distractibility problems makes it likely that there is some SPD in there as well. Sounds like the former OT wasn't tuned into it. So yes, I"d seek an eval from an OT who is experienced with SPD. Some OT's have specific certification in SPD. Our ds had a great experience with one without certification but with 10 years experience. She was excellent and worked in a practice that has an excellent reputation. Have you read the Out of Sync Child? Do you see specific patterns?

Posted

Okay. You might want to start asking around to find a good OT who is knowledgeable about SPD. When you find one, call their clinic and describe your child. They deal with insurance companies every day and can usually tell you exactly how a referral needs to be worded or coded so the eval is covered. When you talk to the clinic, ask specifically about SPD so they understand you want that evaluated. Usually, though, you want the referral for something else such as fine motor.

 

What really makes me wonder about SPD is the vision problems. Some types of vision problems are actually caused by SPD. When this is the case, VT is often not very effective unless the SPD is also addressed.

 

IMO, you should get speech evaluated right away. If he needs speech therapy, the sooner it is started the easier it is to remediate.

 

I would start with OT and speech evals. The test results can always be incorporated into a full neuro-psych later if you decide to pursue that.

 

A neuro-psych typically includes IQ testing, achievement testing, psychological testing, and tests of areas such as working memory, digit span, etc. Some children's hospitals have teams that conduct this kind of testing. It isn't always covered by medical insurance. In our case, because the testing ended with a medical diagnosis (dysgraphia), our HMO picked up the tab. If we had done the testing and it had not resulted in a medical diagnosis, I'm sure we would have had to pay out-of-pocket.

Posted

I redid the SPD check list. He scored in the often category just about across the board in the following areas: visual,auditory, activity level, organization, sleeping, and social-emotional. In the other areas he didn't really rate a response.

 

Any other books you would recommend while we wait for an eval. I will talk to our ped. tomorrow.

 

TIA,

Kirstin

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...