Community Paediatrician

 As if we didn't have enough going on this week, we had our first telephone appointment with the Community Paediatrician this week.  She was lovely!  Ant took Oscar out for a walk so I could focus on the consultation and we were on the phone for just over an hour in the end.

I'm not going to go into great detail about symptoms etc because I've done that previously and will continue to do I'm sure.  Instead I'll just give an overview of the conversation.

The doctor basically asked why we had been referred and what our concerns were.  She asked questions about my pregnancy, birth history, family history, Oscar's medical history, specific areas of concern and then asked about things that would raise concern to her - sensory issues, eating, sleep, development, language, social interaction etc.

She agreed that he sounds developmentally age-appropriate but a little behind with his social interaction and particularly in understanding the subtleties of language and communication such as not understanding my tone when he's doing something inappropriate or thinking someone passing him in the street will take the ball he's carrying even when they aren't looking at him.  She suggested that this could be a delay in social communication or it could be a sign of autism.

We spent quite a lot of time discussing sensory issues including the throwing which I now think may be a type of proprioceptive stimming. She agreed with me that diagnosis wasn't the entire issue here as, even if she turns around and says he isn't autistic, we still have the sensory issues and behaviour to deal with.  It won't just go away.  I'm glad she appreciated that because so often diagnosis is the be all and end all and you get no support without a diagnosis or just get a diagnosis and then get sent on your way. 

From here we have to await a speech and language review which will be done at nursery with us present and then the Community Paediatrician will see us face-to-face, hopefully before the end of the year but I won't hold my breath.  She's sending me some information to self-refer to a sensory course run by Occupational Therapists but isn't sure if it will be running at the moment with COVID.  She suggested we set up a calming sensory area in the house for Oscar, with something like an aquarium.  I'm not sure how much money/space she thinks we have but it is something we are thinking about ideas for and I'll update once we make any progress with it.  

So that's where we are at for now... it gave us a lot to think about and honestly it was just nice to feel heard and to know that we aren't bad parents, we aren't doing anything wrong and we aren't making it all up.  There are clearly difficulties that he has and that we should really be able to help him with so I'm hopeful that we can make his life easier.