Hi!
I've thought for a while that my older DD (4 years old) has sensory issues, but whenever I brought it up with my pedi, she didn't seem too concerned--the pedi has very good rapport with my DD, so I think it's less apparent at her office than in other environments. Around January I called several therapy centers and got on the wait list for an OT evaluation based on my concerns. Her preschool teachers thought it was a good idea as well.
We had the evaluation yesterday and the therapist said that she believes that DD has SPD and that she has fine motor deficits (which I knew) and problems with her vestibular motor system. She's also sensory-seeking with movement and sensory-avoiding with tactile things. The therapist recommended weekly OT, and after watching the evaluation, I absolutely think DD needs therapy. As it stands, we don't have an official diagnosis and our insurance is rather crappy, so we'd be paying out-of-pocket.
I'm wondering if we should have her evaluated through Child Find to see if she would qualify for services and if I should have her evaluated by a developmental pediatrician, as well. Her language skills are very good, so both her teacher and the pediatrician were skeptical that she would qualify through Child Find. Some of her fine motor deficits seemed pretty glaring to me during the evaluation, though. She can't figure out scissors, sewing cards are a huge struggle, she can't operate buttons or snaps. On the other hand, she can write her name and draws very detailed figures. She's very outgoing and social, and she is able to follow the routine at school, but she tends to avoid certain activities because of her sensory issues.
For those of you with more experience with this, how would you proceed? Should I start therapy while pursuing additional evaluations that might possibly result in some of it being covered? Doing that might mean that we'd have to switch therapists at some point.
Thanks in advance for any advice! I've been lurking on this board a bit and have found it to be a great resource.
Re: Intro and some questions re: SPD
Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, "Child Find" is what they call evaluation centers for school-based services around here. That's pretty much what I suspected, and since they only have 1/2 day kindergarten around here, I feel like her areas of difficulty wouldn't really start to present a problem in school until first grade.
She still has another year of pre-school, but I feel like we need to work on this stuff. She's getting better at finding ways to avoid activities that are difficult or uncomfortable for her, and I feel like that's limiting her experiences. I'm pretty certain that my DH has an undiagnosed LD. He's developed good coping mechanisms and work-arounds, but he really struggled in school despite getting good grades for the most part.
Thank you! That's very interesting. I felt kind of sheepish about requesting an evaluation through the school because when I looked through their lists of developmental guidelines there were only a couple of things that stood out to me, but after seeing the evaluation yesterday I realized that those few things are just symptoms of what's really going on. The good thing is, even if they don't approve her for services now, they will re-screen at a later time if things change.
My DD will be entering Kinder this fall, and she has some similar issues. She's got gravitational insecurity (vestibular sensory issues) which has translated into gross motor and fine motor deficits. She cannot ride a bike, has trouble with some heights and stairs, etc.
We did private therapy from 2.5-3 years old because EI was only willing to provide 30 minutes of PT (she needs/gets OT) once a MONTH and I wanted more for her. Our insurance covered a limited number of sessions, and then we had to pay out of pocket, and we have excellent insurance. At age 3.5 I had her evaluated by the school system, and she did qualify for services. She did not attend the local SN preschool, but I took her there for 3 service sessions a week.
I wouldn't assume your DD won't qualify. DD's issues are fairly subtle at this point, but she did. They work with her on being comfortable on the playground, crossing midline for table top tasks, scissors, etc. She can also write quite well (though, like Auntie said, some letters she "draws") and draws incredibly detailed pictures.
She's made great strides in 2 years of school-based OT, and her IEP will carry over to kinder. I already had her transition meeting with the new team at her new school, so she'll start up day one.
Anyway, I agree that asking for the evaluation would be a good first step. GL!
That's so helpful--thank you! The vestibular issues are completely new to me, but after reading more about it, some of DD's struggles make so much sense in that context. I think we are going to start private therapy now and seek an evaluation through the school simultaneously.
Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I'm sure I'll be participating more on the board