O.T.

[smiley]

Hello you lot...

 

M had his first OT appointment / assessment around a month ago..

 

It went fairly well - she listened to all my concerns and assessed M. Found out a few other difficulties he has that i hadn't even noticed - such as no pincer-grasp etc...

 

Anyhow.... I received the report yesterday - the bits that have bugged me are 'M's case is now discharged from the OTS..' - which is right after the huge list of difficulties he has... Where's the help for him??!! And the great big long list of things for school/home to do, all of which i told her we've already tried...

 

Why is everything such a fight??

Getting so fed up with going for assessments - being told my little one has big difficulties - then patted on the head and told to go away....

Moan, moan....

[mossgrove]

We had exactly the same debate with our OT service. They outlined a frightening array of difficulties, then said they had no resourceds for any 1:1 follow-up. YThey said they only offered group work but yjey did not think J would cope with group work, so they planned to discharge him with no help at all.

 

Things are better now he is special school as they assist staff at the school in devising and implementing interventions, but they still don't provide anything themselves.

 

Simon

[rainbow queen]

thats what happened after my sons first appointment

the report said there was no probs

after id told them all his difficulities

i wrote a letter of complaint to head of ot

they said they would have a meeting to disscuss it

i got letter back saying if i want to take it further take it up with the hospital trust

 

i havnt cause im sick of following it all up

its useless

and i bet that cr*p report goes to the dla too

so i sent a copy of my disagreeing letter to everyone involved including dla just so they know i dont agree with them.

[Suze]

Spoke to an OT in our authority about a month back.My son had been dx dyspraxic by them 2 yrs previously.I was hoping they could help with some current problems he was having.The OT was vey helpful and understood my concerns, her problem was his dx of ASD.Because of financial constraints they can nolonger offer any treatment to those dx with ASD.YOU CAN IMAGINE MY SHOCK .She was in full agreement with me that this was,nt on and suggested I write to the trust.Sadly their hands are tied by their budget and lack of staff........they are really under-funded.

[elainem]

Hi does your ds have a statement? You could try to get OT in to it.

 

My 5 yr old ds (Autism and Dyspraxia) is one year into a 2.5 year waiting list for OT with local authority. Meantime we had him assessed by private OT. We tried to get the PCT to fund our private OT and they did consider the request via the "Effective Use of Resources Panel". The outcome was no and I guess they did not wish to create a precedent for all the others on list.

 

We continued to fund private OT on a very infrequent basis - just reviewing ds programm etc.

 

We got OT into his statement but it says to be provided by the PCT HOWEVER LEA said if PCT can't provide (which they can't) then LEA will have to pay. They have now agreed to pick up the tab. It's not a huge amount but is enough. Agreed to termly OT visits to school (our private OT) to review ds and revise his programme. His teacher/TA then implement the strategies as we do at home. He also has been funded by LEA for a handwriting programme - Handwriting Without Tears and he has made good progress.

 

Its the little things you don't realise like you said about the pincer grip. My ds is termed an 'arm writer' in other words he does not rest the pad of his hand on the paper - think about how you write yourself. His hand hovers over the page and all the control comes from his shoulder. We are now putting lots of effort into this eg lying down to write forces hand down.

 

Could you try to get into statement and then have the provision by a private OT funded by LEA.

 

If I can help just PM me.

 

Elaine

[smiley]

Hi all,

 

So damn frustrating isn't it?!

 

The appointment was with someone who had been brought in from another borough - just to clear the backlodge of people waiting - so i can see how they are finacially unable to help him...

 

He isn't statemented yet - i've got most of it ready to go (request and part of my parental representation....), but we're moving in a couple of weeks - so i'm going to send it off from the new address.

Edited April 17, 2006 by smileymab

[darky]

yup same here!! both my son and daughter were only on the first centile for their fine and gross motor skills. meaning 99/100 children would have better skills than them. they got 6 sessions and were discharged with advice. its standard procedure here. i have just requested an update on my daughter whos skills were assessed 2 years ago, and now shes going to get some help for her sensory issues too.

it amazes me, as far as im concerned my kids are both "severe" enough to warrent extra help. but the schools wont do it and theres not enough funding for OT for them either so its all left down to us.

[Stephanie]

I expected some help from our OT when my son was initially assessed.

 

Instead she just sent us a report with some work sheets and suggestions on things to do (to improve his scissor skills, cut paper .... to improve his grasp on a pencil, try a triangular grip on the pencil) ... I was like yeah, cheers, we have been doing those for the last two years ... tell us something we don't know or come round here and help the little guy out because nothing we are doing is working... she never bothered.

 

He gets help at school now but still has some minor problems (like at the supermarket, he can't see trollies coming towards him etc). He can pedal a bike now (with stabilisers) but doesn't really see the point of it, his steering leaves a lot to be desired. Who helps with those kind of things??

 

Just seems to be that the only thing that helps is time and patience from the parents, the OT team we have had have been rubbish.

[lil_me]

I also live in an area where ASD is not a condition OT can help with and won't even assess his needs, just look at diagnosis and send out standard letter

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi,

 

OT report is typical..... you need to take this report and find intervention elsewhere, this will make you laugh, our OT said how severe B's problems were too.

 

Suggestions: fromone therapist to another but they all did help....

 

- take B. to playground and beach often to play on playground equipment this will help his motor skills.

- swimming

 

- At Stationer you can buy a triangular pen grip to slip on pencil to help with pen grip technique.

 

- Visit a Optometrist that specialises in Behaviour Optometry for analysis.

 

- Enrol child in kindy gymnastics

 

the list was endless and very costly and a took B to a Behaviour Modifications specialist and her list of things to do included putting B on a swivel chair and play a game with him he has to sit on the chair with arms and legs relaxed, then touch him on head, shoulder knee, foot cheek various parts of the body and ask him to name the parts you touched the exercise balanced something in the orbit of the brain, and while you were doing this your child had to have their eyes closed and turning the swivel chair at the same time.

 

This BM therapy went on for a while, then we had to do all the diets eliminations etc.

 

In the end the Special school redid an analysis and put B in a two hour workshop working on fine & gross motor skills with a whole host of other therapies thrown in and in the end, they all just said oh, medication will help. as if I didnt already know that.

 

What really helped there is a TOY LIBRARY for kids with Disabilities I suggest you all go and enrol and borrow their toys they are always run by Occupational Therapists and they will recommend a whole heap of toys and games to play that will help your child with their problems. This was the best piece of advice and B loved this and the games really challenged him and you could take them back each week.

 

There is a business over here targeting just that and they supply a lot of school with special needs stuff.

 

Its called Modern Teaching Aids, here is their webpage to browse, so you can see the types of intervention games they have.

 

Here it is http://www.teaching.com.au/ hope this helps.

 

Then there is sound therapy too don't forget how are your ears <'> <'> <'> aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhh

 

Hailey

 

 

Give m

Edited April 18, 2006 by hallyscomet

[bid]

How depressing...I heard exactly the same things 10 odd years ago when my son was little

 

Nothing has changed, then. He had group sessions for years, but only because I made such a fuss...otherwise he would have had one 6 week session, and that would have been it!! Everything stoped when he was 11 anyway.

 

Now he's at a special school he gets OT once a week...but the little so-and-so thinks it's boring, so he's been getting out of it, I've just discovered!

 

This reminds me that a few months ago I went to my local support group meeting. The speaker was from the LEA...and I suddenly realised that 10 years previously I had sat in the same room, with some of the same parents, listening to almost exactly the same old rubbish!!

 

Bid