Rubbish letter from pead - can SALT help us better?

[davers79]

I'm so annoyed!! We've waited over a month to receive the letter from the pead following DD's appointment in May. I chased the pead regularly explaining I desperately wanted her letter so I could take it to school etc before they break up for summer.

 

Yesterday I finally got the letter and its RUBBISH It doesn't summarise the appointment at all. It gives no mention that the pead spoke to DD, asked her a few questions, all of which DD gave "wrong / inappropriate" answers to that 100% demonstrated what DDs speech and language problems are. The pead hasn't given her opinion at all in the letter apart from at the end saying she doens't want to see DD again but thinks I should speak to her teachers and arrange for transition support in Sept to secondary school!

 

In the appointment the pead said verbally that she agreed with me that DD had ASD traits and tendancies and speech and language problems. I really needed her to say that in the letter so that school would hopefully take some notice.

 

The letter is 2 pages long but is almost an exact copy of my original letter to the GP. I honestly believe the letter wasn't dictated or typed soon at the appointment. It really looks as though it was only done a couple of days ago after my constant nagging and chasing and looks as though the pead just re-read my letter and highlighted my concerns out of it. It keeps saying "Chloes mother says she .....", "Chloes mother has noticed she does ...." etc.

 

I'm so frustrated. I've found details of a local SALT who I e-mailed with brief details asking her to call me. She replied saying it sounds as though DD needs to see an Ed Psych and have a SALT assessment and she is going to call me next week. Sounds much more helpful that the pead!!!

 

How much of a diagnosis can a SALT give alone? Could a SALT diagnose Aspergers? Would we need to go back to the pead? Also is it worth holding out for an NHS SALT or should we pay to find an independant one - what are other peoples experiences?

 

Sorry this is long! Thanks for reading

 

 

[chris54]

Story those of you that have read this befor, in our case there was no input from a pediatrician at all, in fact my son did not see the pediatrician until after his diagnosis and then only to see about his general health (The way it was done where we lived at the time). The diagnosis was carried out by a multidisciplinary team headed by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist.

[Sally44]

You could send a letter to the paediatrician setting out what was discussed at your original meeting and asking if she can put that in her letter because that will help get things moving regarding support in school. Sometimes you do need to tell them what you need their letter to contain.

An experienced SALT should be able to tell you if the language/communication and social interaction difficulties your child has are due to an ASD. That is what ours did. She told us to expect to receive a diagnosis of an ASD, which we did some 18 months later.

This process does take a long time.

Have you spoken with school about a referal to EP and SALT. Is your daughter on SA+? That is the SEN stage where the school automatically has to ask EP and SALT to come in and assess and observe your child.

Our NHS SALT referred us onto the communication clinic at our childrens hospital. That is where we saw the developmental paediatrician and the clinical psychologist.

In some cases getting advice from a private professional can help speed things up. It all depends on how supportive the school is being. If they are happy to ask for EP and SALT to come into school then you are looking at around a 4-6 month wait for that. If they are saying they have no concerns, then it might be useful to get some initial advice from a private SALT regarding your childs speech and language and social communication skills.

Some LEAs say they don't recognise private diagnosis etc. That is not lawful. The Jim Rose Report (about dyslexia), to the government raises this issue and says that LEAs should have 'sound reasons' for rejecting outside professionals opinions/advice or diagnosis.

[rustysaddle]

Sorry didn't read this was, posted a reply to your other. You need to get someone, Paed mainly to refer to Clinical Phys you really need that referral, Paed don't have much training in AS, deal with the whole lot of illnesses etc. Feeling so sorry for you what a nightmare, I'm going through it myself and it just makes me want to cry... BIG HUG x S