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Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

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getbakainyourjimjams - can I ask you something?

4 replies

sphil · 01/02/2006 18:05

I was just doing a Google search on the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme and it led me to an old thread on here (2003) where you talked about your son with verbal dyspraxia. I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions, if you can cast your mind back that far?

My three year old has ASD with verbal dyspraxia. So far his SALT has been pretty useless, to be blunt. We had a Family Service meeting today where we were pushing for more SALT for him, as he is just starting to get the hang of using language to communicate. The Nuffield Dyspraxia Symbols were mentioned as a possible tool to help the clarity of his speech.

I'm pretty new on here so don't know how your son has been doing, but would be very grateful for any useful pointers you've picked up over the last three years. How is your son doing now? What did you find helped the most? Did you ever manage to get him more speech therapy (and if so, HOW??!!) Apologies if all this has been covered hundreds of times in more recent threads and really hope you don't mind me approaching you directly like this.

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getbakainyourjimjams · 01/02/2006 19:29

Which son?

DS1 was originally thought to have verbal dyspraxia with ASD, but it's now clear that he is severely autistic. We paid for private SALT for a year or so, now he's in special school he gets a lot anyway.

DS2 was diagnosed with a speech disorder- possibly verbal dyspraxia- but with a wait and see how he develops proviso- and he decided to talk properly in the course of a week (went from completely incomprehensible to talking clearly in sentences in literally a week), so the SALT decided he must have been copying ds1.

I can recommend apraxia kids - a US based webiste- and Nancy Kaufman's website for help. Nancy sometimes gives UK seminars where she teaches her system- well worth attending. We used her cards etc with ds2 for a while which he liked. She'll also give advice based on video analysis.

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sphil · 01/02/2006 19:47

It was the son who was four in 2003. Would that be DS1 or 2? I think it may have been DS2 as you talked about the Kaufman cards.
That's amazing about DS2 talking in a week! How old was he then?
Sorry - one more question. Did you find it difficult to get a private SALT? I've contacted every one in our area (via the SLT in Independent Practice website) and they're all completely booked up. One has offered us a place on her waiting list - about 3 months she thinks. Was it worth it for DS1?
Thanks

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getbakainyourjimjams · 01/02/2006 21:54

It was ds1 then. We thought he was autistic (but higher functioning than he is- he fooled lots of people). We got the cards for him, but he never paid any attention to them really.

We were lucky with our SALT- as she was veyr specialised. She was also for a while the only sensible input ds1 had (until we started ABA- his tutor was excellent too). She was invaluable at the time, but if she hadn';t been as specialised she could have been useless.

Ds2 was 2 in the January and started talking properly at the end of August of that year, so he was a few months short of 3.

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sphil · 02/02/2006 17:23

Yes, that's what we want - a specialised SALT. Our NHS one is very nice, but I feel that she's a bit out of her depth with DS2. It's like she's been given training in 'how to help an autistic child' and just applies that to him without considering his individual needs.