I just had the first session with the psych for W and she was amazing! The difference between her and the public health woman we saw last time were incredible. Last time the lady seemed to have absolutely no idea what she was looking at and could offer me no suggestions besides sitting on his hands to eliminate the constant hand licking. She never really talked to him or tried to find out the underlying issue, just wanted to slap a ASD label on him because then I would get some funding - no help at all. This lady took the time to listen and seemed genuinely interested in getting to the cause of the behaviour. I have been thinking for some time that it was SPD and anxiety, which are often good buddies. She said from the symptoms and behaviours that that was what she was thinking too, so next week we will have an OT appointment with a full sensory assessment and go from there. I am quite hopeful that we can find some strategies that will enable him to cope better without always operating at such a high stress level.

Coincidently, I was talking to his scout leader the other day who is giving up leadership at the end of the year to focus on her son and when I asked if he was alright she said he was getting assessed for SPD! We spent the next 15 minutes swapping tales of our boys and I think we both felt better for finding someone else who is living the same thing - kids that are amazing and perfect for everyone else but are a disaster to live with.