Forums
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10 months, 1 week ago by casdix |
Hi Chris, My daughter is 16. She was diagnosed at 14 with Aspergers (and also with auditory neuropathy at 10) and at 15 had a SALT assessment which found her understanding of spoken paragraphs to be on 9th centile - she is on 73rd centile cognitively. They said she was having difficulties accessing the curriculum due to the use of age appropriate language in lessons. She's now in college - what can we do to try to help her with this issue? |
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10 months ago by London Speech Therapy |
Hi Casdix, Huge apology for the lateness in my reply. On her most recent SLT report did it say which 'age appropriate' concepts she found difficult to understand (in the CELF this in the receptive language section: concepts & following directions) - if it did practise these keywords in everyday instructions you gave her. A standard recommendation for children with communication impairments is the pre-teaching of core vocabulary (e.g. National curriculum vocab) so that she has a head start on her peers - ask for a list of the new words for this next term and start to teach her them before they are introduced in the classroom. I use a word-map approach to vocab teaching whereby the student writes the word in their own 'dictionary' and writes clues about what the word means (attributes); gives the example of how the word is used in a sentence and an illustration where possible. With regards to understanding spoken paragraphs your daughter will need paragraphs broken down into manageable chunks: this may not be possible in every lesson and so she could be given the paragraph in written form too so that she is able to break the paragraph down into sections (with support and/or practise) and then complete each section of the paragraph in turn. I hope that helps Chris |
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10 months ago by kat |
Hi i have a 4 year old son with delayed development including speech delay. Can you recommend a book which would give me an insight into speech development pleasse? thanks |
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9 months, 4 weeks ago by London Speech Therapy |
Hi Kat, There are tons of books but I would recommend Caroline Bowen's website: http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/acquisition.html. I hope that helps. Chris |
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7 months, 2 weeks ago by Louc |
Hi Chris, I'm hoping you may be able to help me with figuring out the legal obligations on an LEA for providing 'specified and quantified' provision of SALT in a child's statement in Part 3? I am currently battling with our LEA as I do not feel they have quantified the provision sufficiently. I am told by the PCT that once a child goes to secondary school they don't get direct input at school, but simply they fund the training of support staff. I am not wholly convinced that this isn't compromising a child's needs. Support staff have no formal qualifications in this specialised area and seem to have turned into 'advisors' rather than therapists. Are you able to clarfiy the situation at all for us? Many thanks. |
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7 months, 1 week ago by London Speech Therapy |
Dear Louc, apologies for the late reply. It is true that as a child moves to secondary school it much more difficult to access SLT services and I agree that for a huge proportion of children this detrimental to their development. Research does show that early intervention is fundamental and for this reason the majority of funding goes to work with children pre-secondary school. I would suggest you have your son formally assessed so that you have evidence regarding the level of difficulty. Let me know if you have any further questions |
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7 months, 1 week ago by Louc |
Many thanks Chris for your reply. I am trying to get a private SALT to assess him as the current one I feel is in an awkward position, many feel they need to toe the LEA line. The first independent SALT I contacted wasn't prepared to assess and give an indication of level of input appropriate to his needs. I have written to another independent SALT and am awaiting a reply and hope that she will be able to help. I find it incredibly disheartening that I have to pay privately to gain an independent view when the NHS service who has been giving support from the age of four simply stand back and let the LEA take over. It's a dreadful state of affairs; I believe we have a system which is failing our most vulnerable individuals. Thank you again Chris for your advice, I very much appreciate it. |
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7 months, 1 week ago by London Speech Therapy |
Dear Louc, it really surprises me that you cannot find an independent SLT who will assess and provide recommendation based on your son's needs and not what services can be provided. Please keep in touch and keep asking questions, Chris |
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7 months, 1 week ago by Louc |
Hi Chris, well we may be getting a little closer to getting that assessment but what I hear is that in a tribunal situation the NHS and LEA tear the independents view to shreds saying they are over-egging the needs of the child because the parents have paid them a lot of money to say it and that the parents will go back to them for private therapy. It horrifies me that this situation exists! At least I now have a short list of two independent SALTs who are happy to assess and provide reports but why should a parent need an independent assessment (this will cost me circa £1000) to prove the LEA and NHS are simply skimping on the service because of funding and nothing to do with the needs of the child? |
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7 months, 1 week ago by London Speech Therapy |
Dear Louc, As SLTs we should always provide a comprehensive assessment and 'needs let' recommendations. It should be "what does the child need?" not "what can our service offer". If your case does go to tribunal then the SLT you choose must have experience at this level. Chris |
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