developmental pediatrician?

[sarahr]

I have been concerned with my dd's social skills and, at the recommendation of a friend, took her for an OT evaluation to look for sensory issues. We just got the evaluation back and I feel like I was kicked in the gut. Not only did the OT find sensory issues, but also gross motor delays, possible auditory processing problems, and possible visual processing problems.

The evaluation accurately described dd in terms of her personality and what she can and cannot do. But I KNOW (or at least I thought I did) that nothing is seriously wrong with her.

So, should I take her to a developmental pediatrician? Just do the recommended OT? What do developmental pediatricians do? Are they appropriate for kids like mine who don't have anything serious going on?

[kme]

Based on what the OT found, I would take her to a developmental pediatrician. A developmental pediatrician can give you a medical diagnosis (which an OT cannot) and from there determine the best therapy/treatment. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by nothing seriously wrong. My son by most standards is pretty mild on the special needs continuum but there was clearly something "not right" with him and so I did take him to a developmental peditrician and a neuropsych. Based on their evals, and observations, I was able to get him an IEP at school and feel pretty good about the therapy (speech and OT) that he is now receiving.

[Emmeline II]

Did she explain what observed behavior led to those evaluations?

A developmental pediatrician would be appropriate; as a pp said OT's cannot give medical diagnoses. My ds OT evaluator said she saw signs of Asperger's, which I concur with, and I relayed that to the psychiatrist we later saw.