Like all the others this referral came in late at night and the family needed an urgent assessment before they flew out.
I was on emails into the early morning and booked the 4yo child in (suspected social communication impairment and limited expressive vocab) for the following morning at 9am.
Arriving at the property behind Harrods I notice several armed police guards don’t realise the embassy where Julian Assange is in the same building.
I meet the child’s 3 nannies, carry out a detailed case history (they have looked after him with the parents since birth) and note nothing extraordinary. We completed a Bayley’s assessment and a functional observation of communication in the family apartment over a 2 hour period.
The report needs to be with the family “within the day” as they fly back home to the UAE that early afternoon so I complete the report at the office and pop it over to the family PA.
The child presents with mildly delayed (not disordered) expressive language skills with some delays in his independence skills (typical of families income across with multiple nannies who often need to be seen as ‘doing something’ all the time). His social interaction and social communication skills are impacted on by his expressive language delay (ie peers his age do not want to play with him as he can’t talk as well as them).
By the close of the day I’m on the phone with the child’s mother, a Sheikah, and my flights are booked to go the following week to complete a block of therapy in the family’s palace in the UAE.
Adventure #4 here I come…