speech therapist coming to my house

[Aefondkiss]

my ds is 2.10 and has been observed by the speech therapist a few times, they offered me a course but because it was in a town 20 miles away(2 buses) and I don't drive, I would be there for a morning and afternoon session, at one of these sessions ds would have to be elsewhere, and I would've had to arrange for someone to pick dd up from school twice a week for 6 weeks... I didn't go.

So on Friday the SALT is coming to watch him eat his lunch - why?

my ds does talk but not clearly, a lot of "jargon" and I think maybe "echolalia"? his speech seems to come and go, some of the stuff he was saying a year ago he no longer says...

can anyone here give me some advice, what help should I be getting? what can I expect? I asked for handouts from the course but the salt hasn't got round to giving me these (I thought I could do some of the work from the course myself)

[Edmond]

Dont quote me on this, but I think they watch them eating to make sure there isnt a physical problem for the lack of speech. i know with my daughter she eats weirdly with her tongue!

[Aefondkiss]

So edmond, is your dd getting speech therapy?

[Edmond]

yes but my daughter is alot older

cant they give you salt sessions at home?

[Aefondkiss]

maybe, I am not sure, this will probably be a meeting to discuss what we are going to be doing next, the thing is the SALT has been going to the playgroup he goes to,has "observed" him there over a one hour session but he is pretty much not interested in engaging with her.


so has your dd had salt sessions for a while, do you see an improvement through her getting them?

[pansypants]

i thnik the eating thing must be to check jaw/muscle movement and alignment.
good luck

[mummytosteven]

My son (just turned three) sounds similar to yours. Only had a private SALT session, still on NHS list. If the course they are recommending is a Hanen course, you could ask if they could have any copies of the book accompanying the course that you could borrow, or failing that, see if your local library has it in, or look on ebay for a copy of the book that goes with the course.

[Aefondkiss]

mumtos, what did you think of the private salt session?

[moondog]

I'm a salt.
I often do home visits.

I couldn't say for sure,but she may want to check out that there are no swallowing difficulties.

A lot of salts specialise in this field now.

Fedding difficulties of this sort are know as dysphagia.

[Aefondkiss]

thanks moondog, would it be apparent to me if he had this?

[Aefondkiss]

oh and do you have any general advice for having salt, are there good useful questions I should ask?
and what else do you think salt might recommend?

[mummy2aaron]

Sorry for jumping in but, Miindog my dd twists her tongue and has difficulty saying anything but gaaaa daaaa and da apart from hiya. We have been referred for salt but I didn't know it could be done privately, do BUPA ever cover it? She is 21 months and DS2 age 4 has asd.

[moondog]

Maybe not.
A lot of people have undiagnosed feeding problems (for example elderly folk who are aspirating liquids,which means they are dribbling into their lungs and are likely to cause a chest infection.)

Not trying to panic you btw.

I'm sure she will explain all.
It is often much less stressful for everyone if you have a home visit.
If you have any questions,write them down beforehand.
It is often hard to remember them when you are in a face to face meeting.

Good luck.

[moondog]

Ah,more questions since I started typing.
I don't have enough info to go on for either of you and it is night impossible to offer advice without seeing the child.

Not sure if BUPA do cover private salt....however most reputable register for finding a private one is this one.....

I'll link.

[moondog]

Here

[mummy2aaron]

Thanks Moondog i'll have a look.

[Aefondkiss]

cheers moondog, ideally everyone who as ever had salt would tell me their experiences on this thread, then I could get a general over biew, not asking much am I?

[moondog]

AFASIC promote support for children with communication impairments.Lots of useful info. on their website

[moondog]

Useful information to download from site.

[Aefondkiss]

thank you moondog, some useful stuff there

[mymatemax]

Hi, my ds2 SALT asked loads about his feeding history & how well he coped with solids etc, although never observed him eating.. it sounds like a good service though. DS2'S speech delay was due to a combination of GDD & low muscle tone. His SALT gave us loads of exercises like liking plates & lollies & playing blow football & tongue wagging noises etc.
i think this was to try to get his face & mouth moving a bit to help with speech sounds etc, (not very technical but as it was explained to me).
IME SALT provision varies hugely from area to area we had no courses available but the SALT did provide loads of homework for us.

[Aefondkiss]

mymatem what is gdd?

[mymatemax]

Global developmental delay, basically delayed in all areas such as language, motor skills etc.
He was 3 months premature & also has very mild cerebral palsy (mainly effecting his legs) & some autistic type behaviours.
We can't keep him quiet now though & as soon as his speech improved we have seen improvements in lots of other areas, for him it was certainly the key!!