HSE Assessment of Need -What to expect/Your experiences

yellow hen

My toddler (31months) has a huge speech delay and although he has asthma and had grommets fitted during the summer, his hearing beforehand wasn't that bad. His speech is so behind now...he has about 10 words and most of them aren't particularly clear. He had his first meeting with a private S&L yesterday and she suggested that we should apply for an assessment of needs with the HSE, mainly due to his engagement and short attention span. I know she's right but I am absolutely devastated. I have the form and am sending it back today but can anyone tell me what to expect and what your experiences have been? In particular, I'd love to know (if people don't mind sharing) what their child's symptoms were and what the outcomes of the assessment were. I just want to prepare myself properly. Thanks.

eviltwin

My son had one two years ago when he was three. We were concerned about possible issues re autism. We got seen within three months of the forms being received. The actual assessment itself was in the local HSE centre, we went into a room with a few toys, he was allowed to play while I was asked a lot of yes/no questions about his habits, abilities, sensory issues etc. The woman doing the assessment was able to tell me when it was over that there were some issues that needed addressing and that he would be put on the list for a psychological and occupational therapy assessment. The whole thing took twenty minutes. We got the OT assessment about four months later, the wait in my area for the psychological assessment is two years so we ended up going private for that.

My son ended up with a diagnosis for Aspergers and ADD, it was great to get it because by this time he was in school and they needed an official diagnosis to secure an SNA. My son also had a terrible attention span, wasn't good socially, appeared to be in his own world a lot of the time and had issues with his fine motor skills.

I can totally identify with your feelings because I felt the same, I felt like I'd done something wrong or that I was a bad parent because my child couldn't do what other kids his age do but they were lovely in the HSE, not a bit judgemental which I was worried about. It's also made school a lot easier as he has the help he needs.

If you have any other questions just ask.

yellow hen

Thank you for being so honest eviltwin. I swing between thinking there's nothing at all wrong to thinking that there is. He's a hyper little 2yr old but then I think 'aren't alot of toddler boys hyper?'. His fine motor skills are really good and although he'll never be the confident child in the middle of a group of kids, you can see that he loves the interaction. I filled in the form today anyway and we're both trying really hard to work with him at home and use alot of repetition and word associations to help him learn new words. The S&L therapist thought he might have had a little bit of tongue-tie but I breastfed for about 6 weeks and he fed well so I'm loathe to think that's the problem. Time will tell but for now we'll just have to keep plugging away and working on his speech.