Speech therapy

[col]

Had DS2 app at CDC today. And the paed was trying to convince me that speech therapy has improved in the last 6-7 years (for pre school children).

 

Im busy eating roast flying pig at the moment. Should i contune eating it or has speech therapy provesion improved and that my roast pig is pass it eat by date??

[madme]

I am told that in our area it has for pres schoolers but find it hard to believe when our local PCT is in the process of cutting SAlt to mainstream and special schools

[Emum]

Do you mean in terms of quality or frequency of sessions? I can't comment on the situation more than 6 years ago, but DS1 who is not on the spectrum was picked up at around 18 months as having a language delay, was assessed within a few months by a SALT and offered one block of group therapy about 5 months later. He was never called for a second block but we weren't concerned because by that stage his language was developing and we could see he was just a slow starter and there was no cause for concern. DD1 who is on the spectrum is only just one year younger. She was picked up at the same stage as DS1 and saw a SLT about 6 weeks later, who immediately said she needed more specialised input (pre-diagnosis). She was referred on to a specialist SLT and also to the Child Development Team. Was seen within a matter of weeks, diagnosed very quickly and then got specialist SLT from an ASD trained SLT immediately. She got it fairly consistently on a weekly basis for about 3 years until she started school, with a few (but only a few) blocks of about 8 weeks off, due to workload or SLT leaving and needing to be replaced. She now gets it at school, term time only approx fortnightly. It's all been focused and ASD specific.

 

I suspect it varies from area to area, but our experience has been that it was worthwhile. I would say it is at least worth considering again even if you have had bad experiences in your area in the past

Edited October 11, 2006 by Emum

[col]

DD8 had pre school speech therapy at CDC. Block of six sessions, 30 mins long and then had to wait 13mths for another block. 6 mths in to waiting, i went private and got weekly.

 

DD7 has had reviews and one block of group therapy. I also went private for her. Both girls were able to go a special resourced nursery from about 4yrs old??? Where there was a speech therapist.

 

I can't afford private therapy now and the SR part of the nursery is now closed.

 

My reports are a mess and i think i have got a few missing. So am going to write to the GP, to see if i can see their notes and get copies of the reports. Then will make a time scale of the girls.

 

For example DD7 when she was 3.3yrs and at CDC said "i go round round mummy" and "i not go to bed tilly"

 

DS who will be 3 at the end of this month has only a few 2 word sentances like thank you.

 

I need to work out how long was the waiting list between apps. And the quality and quantity of the girls speech. As at the moment i feel that i have seriously let him down. He has been in the speech system for a year now and am still waiting on speech therapy. They wouldn't give him any due to his attention and behaviour. That has improved but i can't help feeling that i'm going to find out that time hasn't changed anything.

 

Got asked if i have put him down for a nursery yet. How can i??? Without knowing who is he going to be more like in regards to speech. DD8 who is special or DD7 who is out of borough mainstreamed with support. I think it will have to be DD7 school nursery.

[Bullet]

Tom has got severe delays and disorders with his communication and speech. He is verbal, but his words are 99% echolalic, he does not often label items and had never said something with the purpose of communicating something. He is responding well to Makaton and pictures now, but still does not communicate with those. His verbal understanding appears to be severely limited as well, he seems to understand some nouns like "cup" or "bath" but little beyond that. His nursery head wrote in her report for the DLA:

"Thomas has limited understanding of verbal language, needing consistent visual clues such as Makaton signing, photographs of reference, routine and context to help him understand his environment and what's expected of him".

He gets speech therapy once a fortnight but due to his level it is playbased to encourage general communication at this stage. I work with him a lot at home as well. For example I sing lots of songs with actions to him and leave a gap for him to say or sign the missing word. He is starting to pick this up quite well, tending to do the signs more times than the words. However, he has always been good at repeating back songs and stories and other things he's heard. What I want is for him to be able to communicate his wants and observations with me. Being able to recite the entire trailer for Something Special is no use if he can't say "Mummy" or "I'm hungry".

Edited October 11, 2006 by Bullet

[Jericho]

My youngest so is now 3.5yrs and has been having speech therapy since he was 2yrs old. He generally has one session of 1:1 a month and the speech therapist then gives me materials to work on with him until the next appointment. My oldest son had similar help and started when he was 3yrs old and (then) pretty much non-verbal.

 

This was enough for my 2 boys and they got a lot out of it. I'm not sure whether it would be enough for every child though. The speech therapist was/is excellent. My only complaint would be the general waiting list. My oldest son was referred for speech therapy when he was 2yrs old and not even babbling, never mind talking. He was assessed by the speech therapist 6 months later and finally started actual therapy another 6 months after that. A year is a long time to wait.