Does it make you suspicious that the weekly school visits she promised at joint clinic aren't going to happen?

Or am I just a cynical old boot?

I think you have a right to be suspicious.

Hi TC,

I'd put the points you want answered in writing to her manager, if she hasn't answred by Monday!

Letter always.Note time and date of attempted phone calls
cc to Chief Eeac. and manager's line manager(s).

thanks! Unfortunately I didn't note the time and date of the first call, assuming that I would get a response (not necessarily of a helpful nature, but a response of some sort). Will write in next week if get no further, and cc the letter.

From now on,keep a file.
Log every call and conversation.
Date
Who spoke to
What said

Again, very useful in fruture. Also means you can shame them with letters listing times and dates of phone calls not responded to.
All Trusts live in terror of complaintsa.

will do, thanks for the pointer.

in fact have just noted down the main "promises" (dates and names) and comments about internal referrals just now!

That's good.
From now on, when you talk, be poised with pen and paper to take notes. Get direct quotes down straightaway.

In meetings, have someone sensible dress up smartly and take notes. Doesn't matter if it is just a mate, as long as they look the part. Introduces them as 'one of my team' and have them take notes with a posh pen and nice paper.Have them ask people to repeat or clarify commments occasionally while writing carefully.

Gets them very twitchy again.

I know ALL the tricks.

so you think now might be a good time to throw my legal background into general conversation then

Oh yessssssssssss.

was initially pleased to receive a SALT appointment for DS for next week. On ringing up to confirm and investigate this further - this appointment is to assess whether DS is still eligible for a speech/language group in the summer holidays (s/l group was mentioned at end february). Since DS was in joint clinic six weeks ago where a senior SALT was present, I think quite frankly they are taking the piss. I shall of course be attending the appointment with DS, and grilling the SALT and writing down all that she promises.

Oh for goodness sake does the left hand know what the right is doing?

is it me, or is this appointment next week a pointless paper exercise? a complete waste of all our time.

assess, assess, assess. Why don't they just get on with it and give him the help he needs. What is it with all these assessments.
During the appointment write down all the promises and conclusions, and (thinking back to my business meeting days), summarise with them what you have written down before leaving the meeting!

That's all we had too TC. I can't see the necessity if they have just done one, or was he just observed? I have a crap memory

they like assessments- but even those are gold dust now!

child in ds3's class- her mum was refused a referral by the school to salt and told she was not eligible to apply for a statement. she had a private salt assess, 3rd centile all round, salt says needs ed psych- school said no.

found out all this in pta today, set her sytraight and put her in touch with chap at snap who helped us

my first thought was- moondog will cry lol!

senco's reasomn for not applying for statement is 'theyre for kids who should really be in special school not mainstream'

so how come they told us they couldnt have ds without his statement but he didnt need unit?

pmsl though- we were relaying our experiences to a joint friend at pta today, turns out that she's interviewing senco for promotion tomorrow and is now going to recommend againast it. ha.

(our ta has gone cool lol, meetings at celtic manor resort now!)

That is shameful peachy, at least I can say one thing, our school is supportive and we have had ED pysch input

md i love that one of the team trick lol

one for the future!

totalc, is it this september he starts school? it is isn't it, all being left so late now, no wonder you are worried

I count joint clinic as an assessment even if they don't .

Peachy - yes, it's September he starts school. But situation schoolwise is currently not problematic - he will be in the upper half of the exact same class with exact same teachers as he is now at nursery. There are 2 nursery nurses and 2 teachers to 30 pupils, so DS is managing fine there without any 1-1. Head of nursery is very used to picking up the pieces of poor early intervention up here. Apparently there are 2 or 3 kids in the nursery whose language issues are worse than DS.

Peachy - that's why an unnecessary (IMO) assessment seems to me such a complete waste of scarce SALT hours.

well I finally got a call back today. apparently DS has finally been allocated a new SALT who is very experienced with kids with ASD and kids at language units, who should be in touch today to arrange a nursery visit in next few weeks. Apparently this SALT will be able to unpick what's going on with DS (presumably in terms of ASD v language delay/disorder). I am (ridiculously I know) feeling a bit wobbly about the ASD issue being brought back again so soon, having been told two months ago DS was probably not on the spectrum (verbally but not in report . I've asked for a paed review to be scheduled rather than wait for the SALT to decide whether to refer back to joint clinic) Hope I've done the right thing.

I wouldn't trust a SALT to advise on ASD (not meaning to be nasty about SALTS reading this). The more borderline the case, the more you would need input from an ASD specialist who has the clinical experience.

It does sound as though you are getting very mixed messages, I'd want to know on what basis ASD has been thrown in the mix again, but as you know the strategies are useful for both, so I guess I'd be looking at it as a positive.

Incidently M's teaher asked DS if m had ever been tested for autism, the other day. Grrrrr it doesn't go away!!!

weekly????

No chance!

Get it in parts 2 & 3 of the statement.

Would agree with moondog about the smart person. DH is a lawyer, we made sure they knew that. He was on his way to work in a suit and occasionally stopped to check what had been said and throw in some long words. They looked very nervous each time he spoke (and we did get SALT in parts 2 and 3)

sorry that was meant to say DH not DS

thanks very much tc and jimjams. think I will be buying a cheapish suit and throwing in a subtle mention of return to my legal career when I next see SALT!

cyber - completely agree, I was a bit about that proposed role of SALT too. Partly why I pressed for a paediatrician review.

A SALT alone shouldn't be diagnosing ASD. Yes, they can pinpoint the differences between delays and disorders with relation to language, but as you know there is more to being on the spectrum than that. They need to look at any routines or obsessions your ds may have, any stereotypical mannerisms/stimming he may do for a start.

They being the whole team of people who should be looking at your ds I mean.

Agree with bullet. A SALT can't diagnose ASD (and ime will go out of the way to avoid any sort of ASD dx even if they strongly suspect it).

pondering the convo this morning, I"m wondering if the lady I spoke to meant that the SALT would refer back to joint clinic if she suspected ASD rather than make the DX herself. presumably DX made by community paed would be definitive though?

Yep paed best, clinical psychologist next best....

ds1 had multidisciplinary. Clinical told us she suspected ASD but we'd have to wait for the review meeting after the multidisciplinary. Paed got in a strop as apparently he was meant to say that (we didn;t care and had known 100% ASD for at over 6 months by that time and had suspected for over a year).

thanks yurt. so should joint clinic have had a clin psych rather than an ed psych?

clin psychs are definitely above in pecking order. ed psychs shouldn't really diagnose ASD (although I know some do). A paed dx is the most robust though.

Ds1 was diagnosed as part of a multidisciplinary team which included a clinical pyschiatrist/psychologist (I forget which) and an Ed Pysch. There was also a SALT, an Occupational Therapist, a Physiotherapist, a Social Worker and a Nursery Nurse attached to the Unit all giving their individual opinions.

so basically services in your area are somewhat better than in mine Bullet. The lack of DX happened after only an hours appointment, so hardly seemed the most thorough of processes....

It does seem that the 'services' in your area are poor even by the standards of the system. They seem to be sending you from pillar to post with no result in sight. We got a diagnosis in less than an hour at our local hospital but the professor has over 30 years experience with autism in childhood research/diagnosis. The multi disciplinary approach is time consuming and possibly is used to avoid anyone having to take personal responsibility for what is a devastating dx - though most parents will have been well aware of it looming from about 18 months onwards when NT children forget ahead making the oddities of the ASD child more apparent.

forge ahead - not forget ahead!

It does seem as though you are being shunted around TC. They could be right and your ds has a language disorder as opposed to ASD, but a brief meeting is not going to help establish this.

on the upside, if DS needs to go to a language unit it will probably be easier if he doesn't have an ASD diagnosis. ho hum.

oph yes definitely. Happened to an old neighbour of mine. They uhhmed and ahhed, he didn't get ASD dx, but he did get language unit and has done very well there. With ASD dx he would have either got MLD or mainstream. Language unit was a much better option.

At the joint clinic it was felt that DS should do a term or two in reception, then they would look at whether or not he should go to a language unit. Since he isn't starting a new school for reception I can live with that. Atm it seems to be felt by school and private therapist that he is doing too well to need to be at a language unit (and I do trust private SALT, as she has been honest thus far).

I was told by one SALT that DS couldn't go to a language unit if they found any LD other than language problems - seems she was unaware that the city has an MLD language unit .

We were in the same situation wihtout the HFA outcome, we were expecting. Ds is 'coping' with private salt intervention, but it is a delicate balance, between adequate SALT intervention and a teacher that is prepared to have visual cues along a verbal curriculum.If either tips, the child gets left in a very frustrated in a place, where he feels he isn't able to communicate.

The correct amount of TA support is vital and it must be appropriate support for SLI/disorder/delay. I hate this end of the year, when we anticipate going over everything all over again with a new teacher ready for the next school year!

It is so bloody tedious going over the same stuff with different people over and over again.
Have you thought of making a Communication Passport?

We do a lot of these and they do get read and passed around (esp. if nicely produced with lots of family pics. for people to nose at) far more than dull old reports which are often never read by teaching asssistants at all as noone thinks to pass them on.

Effective dissemination of up to date info. is vital but unfortunately not often done.

(The spiel with my link says it's for a non verbal person but in fact useful for anyone with comm. problems and a great way for paretns to pass on the stuff that they know mattters.)

thanks for the communication passport idea, will look into that, had a brief whiz through your link MD. and thanks TC.

That is a fantasic idea thanks moondog

new salt is doing a home visit next week prior to doing a nursery visit. so maybe I have been unfairly suspicious, fingers crossed eh.

Yay!!!!!