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We are trying to get a diagnosis of 'something' for AS1 (nearly 16) - has had a diagnosis of auditory processing disorder for 5 years. Now we are pursuing ADD (think we are nearly there), but also concerns re dyspraxia (avoids buttons, buckles, laces; cannot organize himself, loses things, forgets things, very poor working memory and very slow handwriting speed etc). I did contact a private O.T. but she said she couldn't diagnose, that would come from the paediatrician. She could offer 'treatment/exercises' after diagnosis if they weren't available on the NHS. The paed thinks AS1 will not be seen by NHS OTs due to his age. Hope you get somewhere with your daughter. It's AS's GCSE year and we are hoping he will get some meds AND extra time in exams very soon.

I'm not sure. In our case, we had to get a statement to get any level of support for anything - before that, when we went in with reports, the school would just file them and that was that. So we commissioned an OT report as part of our evidence for a statement (as school were not interested in supporting us) and all the recommendations from that report went into the statement and so our daughter gets masses of help. But that's because we had a statement to put it into, if you see what I mean - I'm not sure what happens if you don't have a statement.

She was turned down for a statement - her academic attainment, while lowish, falls into normal range and her behaviour / social needs, although noticeable, are not severe. She manages mainstream basically. But the ed psych is currently very interested in her - saw her twice last term and is being quite forthright with the school. School have also aRranged support with TAd etc. I think they would move on allowing her to use a laptop with a bit of concrete evidence - they have more or less said she can only not have one because she is too young and they fear she would lose it (being very disorganized). Actually I don't think she would lose it as her motivation would be very high - has never permanently lost her beloved phone, for instance. We also think she needs one to one and extra time for tests and exams. School tried this with science and found she scored much higher than when doing the test in class. So again I think they could be pushed on that too.

What happened to the edit button??

Our ds1 had exactly these sort of problems. Buttons, laces, and handwriting. School referred him to ed psych who simply stated it was not an ed psych thing and referred him on to occupational therapist at children's centre in local hospital. They taught him how to tie his laces and diagnosed dyspraxia, which enabled him to access laptop and scribing support in secondary. Can your ed psych do a referral to OT. Or if she can't maybe doctor could do so if you explain the situation. Ignore the sen co, this sounds classic dyspraxia. Our son wasn't clumsy either, that is more those with gross motor skills issues, whereas ours have fine motor skills issues.