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my son

Emdol1
Emdol1 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
This discussion was created from comments split from: Ask an Educational Psychologist.

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  • Emdol1
    Emdol1 Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    Hi Hannah my son is 4 and 2 months, at 1 and a half I had some concerns as he did not like communication, no babble, limited eye contact, I contacted health visitor who said it was due to him being the youngest of 4! At 2 still no speech and we really struggled with him out of the house, running, tantrums, climbing no interaction etc I demanded they see him, referred to audiology, speech therapy and portage, audiology detected severe glue ear and he was put straight on the list for surgery due to the speech delay, grommets put in privately at 2 and a half and his progress following was slow, six months post grommets he was due to start nursery, I delayed this as he could still not speak in sentences, eventually he had to start at 3 and a half . He had trouble paying attention and following instructions, I was concerned as he still ran everywhere and was worried he would escape, my gp referred us to a paediatrician and he started kids playgroup recommended by portage, the playgroup made him worse as restraint was recommended to engage him in circle time which he hated as he could not rhyme and would never allow me to sing to him. I stopped this after 6 weeks.
    The last 6 months I have made changes that have helped dramatically, stopped milk.. Instantly more understanding, started pro biotics, again improvements noticed, fish oil capsules, although I still had concernes about understanding, running his speech is fantastic (masks understanding) we have gone through echolalia at 3 and a half which I think could have been developing speech, and imaginary play seems to have helped, he likes to constantly role play. speech therapist last sept said he is not therapy ready and would refer to school team, hearing test last November was fine but audiologist said as he had an inability to concentrate for periods and he got fed up putting the peg men in the boat so put them in upside down she suspected mild autism so would send another referral to a paediatrician, (normally he does no inappropriate play, has great imagination and will give eye contact to me) after this that day I took him to a cranial osteopath, he had had 8-10 sessions and we have noticed massive improvements, running has stopped, I can now take him in shops ( could not before) seems much calmer :) after a 2 year wait school speech therapy have assessed and he is now on another waiting list, stated he has good understanding of basic concepts but finds it difficult to follow one and two stage instructions. We notice he does not retain names well as he only knows a few children's names, he saw a pead two weeks ago she observed good eye contact and he followed instruction to be weighed and measured, no intervention at the moment but advised it would be a good idea school refer to ed psych, he only goes to nursery 3 mornings, and after advice of speech therapy I am increasing to 4 (worryingly as they cannot find 10 mins per day to give him extra time recommended!) just spoke to them today and ed psyc still has not been applied, cannot do it under my authorisation so awaiting pead letter, they say he is better at school but will sometimes poke others, and won't dance, can be grumpy. Teacher has said that he won't get 1 to 1 in her opinion.
    Is a delay post glue ear normal or could this be something else? Everything we have tried ourselfs has seen improvements, and I'm on the border to do a gluten free trial, I cannot believe that I would have to try so many things without instruction but we have been on waiting lists over two years and still no where near any real help, saying that constant interaction and play has brought him from a place where I never thought he would speak or hear his voice.
  • EducationalPsychologist
    EducationalPsychologist Community member Posts: 118 Courageous
    Hello Emdol1, It sounds like your son has had a difficult start in life and that it has been a very frustrating experience waiting for you. Every child is different, so his delays could be linked to glue ear, could be related to something else, or even both! There are lots of different services involved and they will all work in different ways. Unfortunately, resources are limited so there are often long waits to access services. A thorough EP assessment would be helpful in trying to better understand your son's difficulties and, therefore, which interventions are best. Have you contacted the EP Service directly to see if they accept self-referrals, rather than relying on nursery? I recommend the following useful sources for information and advice: www.ipsea.org.uk and there's a group on Facebook called It's Not Just You. This link may also be helpful: http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/send/
  • Summer_1
    Summer_1 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hi Emdol1i have found your post and  you have totally described my little boy who's 2.9 years old. I am wondering how you are getting on and if anything else has worked for your lb. Please could you let me know as as you know these are very stressful times... thanks in advance. 

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