Derbyshire Language Scheme

[dekra]

Does anyone know much about the Derbyshire Language Scheme?

 

I was talking to my sons SALT yesterday and she said although she hasn't yet formally completed the Derbyshire assessment for him yet he is sitting around 2-3 and he really ought to be about 10 before he starts school. However the little I can find out about it online it only seems to be scores 1 2 3 4 or 4+ so I am confused.

 

During the meeting to discuss his needs prior to starting school a number of things were brought up which I think will strengthen the case for an ASD dx. Finn's language skills including the learnt phrases, echolalia and his inability to grasp basic social interaction were particularly noted by all concerned. No-one raised holding him back from sarting school until I myself mentioned it but I am still against it and the edu psy agrees it may well be pointless as we could easily be in the same position next year with little progress. Finn will be starting his language unit sessions the full 4 afternoons a week starting 1st March (he currently goes twice a week) and these sessions will continue when he starts school too so effectively he will only be in school part time. There are concerns he may find the school overwhelming. The building is only 5 years old and is built on an open plan basis. They do however have 1 closed room for teaching which was just built on to give extra space this year and the deputy head seems to think it would be appropriate to put Finn's class in this room.

 

There are going to be a few more discussions next week. My husband and I will be observing a SALT session within nursery, then getting a tour of the primary school to see how we think Finn will cope with the physical/emotional aspects of the environment. Whilst on the tour I can get more information on TA provision and ask if they can arrange some sort of buddying scheme for playtime and lunchtime as otherwise I envision a very lonely isolated little boy on my hands. I know without someone to guide him he'd just wander off himself. Later in the day we will also be going along to the language unit to observe that session through the 2 way mirror.

 

The educational psy and the hv are also getting in touch with OT to see if they can influence the council to put a bath in our house. When we accepted this house it was knowing that there was only a walk in shower and we'd not be allowed to change it. We thought that this would ok as although Finn does not like showers we thought he would adapt - he has not. He will not go near the shower at all after we forced him to shower a couple of times for a brief wash. He goes into fullscale melt down now at even the suggestion yet he stripped naked the moment his gran mentioned he could have a bath later when we arrived at her house a few days ago. Hopefully OT's imput will help change the councils mind and we can have a happier (and cleaner) child.

 

So basically I am happy with educational services, everything seems to be moving along with support being in place or being organised. I will be taking a copy of the nursery report and the minutes from yesterdays meeting to the next paediatricians assessment next month and I think realistically that's pretty much it until we hear what the dr has to say.

[Lyndalou]

Hi Dekra

 

We are probably in a similar situation to you to a certain extent. Struan's langauge continues to improve but it would in no way be considered on a par with his peers. He uses a lot of learned and repeated phrases and echolia and there is a certain amount of spontaneous speech mixed in. He speaks a lot at home and to adults outside the home if they start the conversation but with other children the only 'communication' he uses is smiling and laughter, ranging from nervous giggling to belly laughing .

 

At his special needs nursery I have spoken to the SALT and nursery teacher about his language development. The emphasis on improvement (in terms of timeframe) is probably different to the conversations you have had as Struan is going to attend primary one at the special needs school the nursery he attends is part of. They use the Derbyshire Language Scheme within the nursery. On a day-to-day basis they use it in the nursery and then it is reinforced by the SALT when she works with him. I don't know very much about the 'scales' involved to determine the level of ability of the child but I like the sequential way the scheme is taught. I suppose I view it as the 'building blocks' that I can build on at home. I haven't as yet asked for more information about how to use the techniques at home but like you, the last time I asked he was still being 'assessed'. However, I am of the view since my discussion with the SALT that they believe his level of understanding is lower than I believe it is. I am not too worried about this at the moment because I can see a steady improvement in his language abilities at home and I don't think he communicates as effectively outside the home. Every day at home we repeat words and sentences he says back to him, particularly if the sentence structure is incorrect or words are unclear, we use 'mirroring', we make a point of using 'please', 'thankyou', etc, we talk back in the first person, ie, when he says 'Throw ball to Struan' we say 'YOU say, throw the ball to ME' and he says it back. I know a lot of this is 'rote' learning but I believe strongly that he has benefitted immensely from this...yes, it could be classed as 'learned phrases' but I think that if these appropriate phrases become ingrained at an early age then it's all for the good! My little boy has always loved music too so we sing a lot together and I think this a great way of communicating and I'm sure he's learned a lot of language this way too.

 

I don't know what 'level' of ability a child would need to be to communicate effectively in a mainstream environment but I know that Struan is a long way off from that but who knows how much more it will be improved by August. Does Finn have to go to school this year or could you defer? - I think I remember you asking something about this before. If Struan went into mainstream this August, he'd still be one of the youngest in the year so even if he weren't going into his special needs school primary one this year I would probably have deferred him and kept him in nursery. Although he has a speech disorder though, he's also academically on and above par and holding him back would probably not have been helpful with regard to his other skills and development!

 

I hope that you manage to get the bath situation sorted out too. I'm sure it would make like so much easier for all of you. Struan has difficulty with getting water on his head and we have always bathed him so I empathise with you. The night-time routine goes so much more smoothly if it's enjoyable and relaxing!

 

Lynda

[Kazzen161]

The 1-4+ refers to the key word level of their comprehension/speech. p16-18 of this explains it:

 

http://www.ifanc.org.uk/files/786comrichenv07.pdf

 

and this:

 

http://www.brothersofcharity.ie/galway/Derbyshire%20Language%20Scheme%20Summary.pdf

[dekra]

Hi Lyndalou,thanks for your reply. There sounds like a lot of similarities between our boys (although mine does NOT like singing especially if it's me or his dad lol). Finn will have turned 5 just before he starts school in Aug and I am against deffering him as I don't believe he will gain a lot by it and I feel he needs school, another year of nursery won't benefit him imo.

 

Kazzen - I found that first link also which is where I found the keyword level scores too. I'm just confused on what the SALT meant when she was discussing scores that must go to at least 10. I will definately need to ask for clarification of that next week.

[Kazzen161]

I am guessing that they score the child on the tests (eg: how many of the questions they get right at certain levels) and that is what the SaLT is talking about, but it would be best to ask her to explain.

[Kazzen161]

This talks about levels up to 10:

 

http://www.derbyshire-language-scheme.co.uk/Programme.htm

[Sally44]

My son's primary school had a similar layout.

 

I think it will depend not just on the educational and communication aspects of an ASD, but also on the sensory side.

 

You've mentioned about him refusing to have a shower. That could be down to sensory issues and not likeing the sensation of the water on his skin? Does he often appear deaf, or cover his ears. Does he get distracted by things and become absorbed with them eg. looking, listen, touching things?

 

Our experience as that whatever the sensory stimulation typically was for a primary class, this was trebled by huge open plan classrooms. There were also two teachers, and TAs in that room teaching different lessons to different class groups, that were sat on different tables in the room, and they moved to different tables for different subjects.

 

My son simply could not cope with that at all and one of the main reasons he moved to another mainstream primary at the end of year 2, was because the class sizes were smaller. And by that stage I was having to take him to school in a buggy because he just went into meltdown every day when it was time to take him to school.

 

I knew that he was not coping, but it took years to get anything done about it, and for us to have him moved. And I think that that level of anxiety and stress, over those years, made him very fearful.

[dekra]

Hi Sally,

 

Yes he does have some sensory issues although they are not as bad now as they were. Certain noises set him off and he often covers his ears. Hand dryers in a public toilet are a big problem but we've gotten around that by mainly using the disabled toilet where possible and if we can't do that then he will only go with his hands over his ears, leaving me to do all the "manual handling" required to get him on the loo. In general he loves the water - he really does miss his bath but doesn't like getting his head wet although when he was going to swimming lessons he was slowly getting better at that. We will be restarting swimming lessons shortly so hopefully we can make more progress in that respect again. As for getting engrossed in things yes he certainly does, although this is more focused on his tv and xbox now rather than more physical sensations so that might just be typical little boy behaviour! Onesensory issue I am worried about inflicting on him is taking him on a plane, we are booked for our first ever family holiday and I'm worried it's a huge mistake and am considering cancelling but at over £1000 it's a lot of money to just wash down the drain when there might not be a problem and I doubt insurance would cover in the circs.

[Lyndalou]

Hi Dekra If it helps at all, Struan mostly copes well with airports and going on a plane! He flew for the first time at the age of 12 months and we were probably very lucky on that flight that it was only an hour (to London) and there were spare seats so he got his own seat and got some attention from flight attendants For the differences in air pressure on take off and landing we had him drinking out of a spouted cup and it seemed to do the trick too. He has been on 3 flights since to and from London and the most difficult flight was when he was still not quie old enough to have his own seat and both hubby and I were crammed in on a full flight with Stru on first my knee then dad's knee and so it went on. He didn't cope very well because it was hot and the air conditioning was loud and he pretty much had to stare at the seat in front. Being confined (his favourite thing ) and bored and coping with a lot of noise, being encouraged not to kick the seat in front and coming down with a cold are not a good combination! Our last trip was very good considering returning home was the day that BA cancelled 80% of their flights due to the 'arctic' weather in London . The main difficulty we have is with all the waiting and there is a lot of waiting and queuing at the airport. Therefore, we always try to travel as light as possible including having baby things at the other end (we visit relatives) and an easily collapsible buggy. Stru also likes sitting on the luggage cart (you have to be very careful with that!!). We check in ahead of time and while we wait we try to stay in not-too-busy areas and we have regular snacks and drinks. Waiting at Heathrow this last time involved having a little 'cordoned off' area overlooking the runway where Stru watched the planes taxiing with his dad and was able to play with his etch-a-sketch. Stru also went on regular jaunts to examine TV's and information screens and I left him to it so long as he wasn't standing right beside people and staring into their faces or over their shoulders at their newspapers!! Stru struggled a bit when we were pre-boarded and then un-boarded again - we had to wait in an area with nothing much to look at and for half an hour (twice) we had to stop him playing on the escalators, something he is intrigued by... On the plane itself, it was packed because they had combined two planes into one. I would like to say that it wasn't at all stressful but the main thing is really just paying constant attention to what is going on, the noises and sensations and monitoring the stress and the behaviour (of everyone). I was absolutely knackered but we survived Good Luck when it happens...Lynda

Edited February 25, 2012 by Lyndalou