Does the doctor take out a testing kit and do the assessment?? And is he a pediatrics or a GP?
The assessment kit is to tell if the kid is suffered from ASD/ADHD. The kit should include questions of asking the kid to pile up blocks, putting patterns together, cognitive questions, waking up/down the stairs etc.
But first of all, you should ask any doctor (GP, pediatrics, private or public) to write u a referral letter. Any private doctor nearby your home is good enough as you will have the referral letter which is about suspicious ASD right away, and never wait for gov't clinic which take some months.
Don't listen to the nurse fm gov't clinic as she may give u the wrong indication.
You then take the letter, and call your nearby gov't CAC to do the full assessment. The waiting queue is 1/2 year to 1 year, so do it quick.
During the waiting period, do find a private Speech Therapist to take care of your kid. Just waste some money, but don't waste the time.
There is not much you can do at this stage, or until you get a full result from the CAC.
Speech therapy will definitely help.
You can look for a private occupational therapist (OT) while waiting. The OT will give your kid an assessment of Sensory Integration Disorder. The training from an OT will help your kid to focus, balancing the body, the sensors, and link the body to the the outside world.
Remember doing exercise will have much improvement to cure. It is what the occupational therapists believe.
So, take the kid to the playground as much as possible, and most important, do it REGULARLY. Play more swing, roundabout (but hard to find nowadays), see-saw, use upper body to climb up/down to use core power. If the kid can or ready, try more sit-up.
Also, let him join a swimming class REGULARLY to co-ordinate all body muscles.
CAC will do the assessment and give you a diagnosis or reason only, but CAC won't cure anything. The kid will then be referred to the Social Welfare Department, and will be further for SEN (special education needs) school service PROVIDED that the kindergarten has joined the scheme. Otherwise you will need to find the ST, OT, PT etc services on your own.
The OT believes (?) the sensory integration (感統) will affect the overall development. For example, the kid needs to process what he senses (ie sound), then responses by what to say. If the "sensory processing unit" is out of order, the kid will have speech delay, or order the body parts to move to response. So the OT training will focus on sensory integration exercises, but not the ordinary exercises we do daily. Especially, he will focus on the core power training.
Having the "sensory processing unit" fixed, the kid can improve much for his language, concentration, memory, motoring skills etc.
The OT assessment will test the kid's body co-ordination (eg eye-and-fingers co-ordination, throw and catch a ball etc) in 360 degree, not just running or kicking or bicycling which we think he is "OK".
You will hear the term core power again and again if you meet an OT.
To my best understanding:
1) Speech therapy is the tree branch
2) Occupational therapy is the tree trunk
3) And in addition, physiotherapy is the tree root.
If fixing the tree branch doesn't work or not efficient (ie 我地依家放工晚晚帶佢去超級市場認生果), you will need to go a step(s) down, or do them altogether. Just keep in mind if you need to go to step 2 or 3 if 1 is slow.
Anyway, spend more time in the playground is no harm at all, so just do it and REGULARLY. Play more games which use upper body power.