Speech therapy referral - what will happen next?

[ohbugrit]

DS's preschool have referred him for a couple of reasons - I have a concern that his tongue tie is troubling him with 'th' sounds and they feel that a referral may be helpful in getting the GP to take his ongoing ENT troubles seriously. They are very supportive and recognise the impact that constant illness and poor sleep are having on him, while the GPs we've seen have fobbed us off repeatedly.

I'm just wondering what will happen next? He's due to start school in August (we're in Scotland).

[madwomanintheattic]

In all honesty, probably nothing for some time.

Most areas have long waiting lists for SLT. In some areas, the actual 'assessment' is carried out quite quickly, so that the needs can be prioritised, but there is usually a wait for actual therapy.

I would be tempted to get a second opinion from different gp, tbh, whilst you are waiting, especially if the issue is due to an ongoing concern that you fell hasn't been adequately dealt with...

[ohbugrit]

Thanks :)

We don't feel the speech is a huge problem - developmentally normal according to the preschool teacher - but just trying to get some help for him one way or another.

We've seen a number of GPs at the practice and while I can see their point that I'm always presenting them with a child who is fairly bright but has a cough/cold/poor hearing/whatever the problem du jour is, he is constantly unwell and exhausted as a result. The staff at the school have offered to give me a letter for the GP in our support. When they're picking up on this issue out of a year group of nearly 50 I'm assuming he's pretty obviously struggling.

We have another appointment tomorrow but it's with a locum. Whether that will work in our favour or not who knows.

[LittleAlbert]

Try
Www.afasicscotland.org.uk

They also have a Facebook group where you can talk to other patents going through similar. Good luck!

[ohbugrit]

Thanks :)

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

DS2 has been assessed by the SLT team and we are waiting for an appointment. They will probably give you some indication / strategies to work on in the meantime if he needs help.

With DS2 he had a hearing test as part of the process as they need to check if the speech issues result from poor hearing so that may pick up some of his issues if hearing is a problem. They also looked inside his ears to check for signs of glue ear.

In DS2's case his speech problems are probably linked to the fact that he had chronic tonsilitis from a baby until we finally had them taken out when he was 2.10. His speech improved noticeably in the 6 months after but there were still a few issues to iron out.

[ln1981]

Hi, my ds2 is under SALT, and we are also in Scotland. It was the nursery staff who refered him, no involvement from the GP at all. It took 6weeks to get an appointment, in which he was assesed and I gave some background. Within 3-4 weeks we were seeing the therapist he is under regularly, although that has now tailed off to once every couple of months at home, and/or school.
He was originally referred as his keyworker felt his speech was immature, but his assessment showed that his vocabulary was great for his age, it is the language and processing of words that he finds difficult. I really do think that SALT are worth their wait in gold, as he has flourished and improved so much since they became involved.

[roadkillbunny]

I have been through all of this both with dd (now almost 7 and Y2) and now also ds (just turned 4, starts school in September) although for different reasons.

My dd sounds a bit like your ds, she had big problems with speech, she was very delayed in speech and then struggled to make herself understood, she dribbled non stop, she has tonsillitis and throat infections all the time, she was very small for her age and not growing much and snored like a trooper. Until we saw and ENT consultant when she was 4 we had no idea all these things were linked. It turned out she had a complete tongue tie and enlarged tonsils and adenoid. This was causing her problems with speech and dribbling, the infections and she was also suffering from sleep apnoea due to all this which was a huge part of the other things I mentioned. It is worth knowing that she had been under speech therapy since she was three, they had never even looked in her mouth let alone think about looking at the reasons for dd's speech issues, when I questioned them about it later they claimed it wasn't their job.
I am just saying this so you don't put all your eggs in the SALT basket. If you want more details and info about my dd's case we ended up going to Embarrassing bodies kids to try and help her after I was getting nowhere with out GP and the speech therapists. I think at least part of the information about dd is still on the shows website.
Two years on from surgery dd still needs speech therapy, she has it in school now. She still has a tie as it was so bad one surgery couldn't get it all at once, so she still can't lift her tongue.
My dd has no problems being understood now but the aspect of this kind of speech issue that we didn't see coming was that of reading and spelling. As she can't reproduce some of the phonic sounds correctly she struggles to decode and spell words containing her problem sounds. It has been a very, very long slog and we are not there yet but we have managed to get from her failing to meet the EYFS goals for leaving reception in reading and speech and language, still being behind through Y1 to now, coming to the end of Y2 and she is working at a level 2a in English (the only thing holding her back from a 3 is spelling) and maths and just touching a 3 in science. These problems are not the end of the world but without the right support I am really not sure where dd would be so it is worth pushing and pushing for an ENT consultation and correctly targeted speech therapy.

My ds again very late speech (even later then dd) and now he is starting to speak his clarity is appalling however his issues were caused by bilateral glue ear that reduced his hearing significantly but was self resolving by the time I managed to stamp my feet enough to get an audiology referral and SALT referral. Ds is very much on going and still battling but not relevant to your ds I feel and this post is already way too long! If you have any questions do ask of send me a PM and if I can help I would be glad to.

It is a tough road to travel for the child and the parents and funding issues do mean you have to push and push and stamp your feet, I still find it incredulous that I had to go to a TV show to get my dd the help she needed.

[morethanpotatoprints]

My dd now 8 was referred by nursery as she had clusters of sounds she couldn't say. I was so worried but after a few weeks she made huge progress and by the time she started school was fine. Her reading is brilliant and she was a level 3 at the end of ks1. I know it's easy to say but don't worry, at least your dc has been identified and will get assistance. We were told as most people know that kids develop in different ways. My dd never spoke until she was 2.5 and came out with a full complex sentence. My dh and ds's were amazed, unfortunately I wasn't there.

[ohbugrit]

Thank you all :)

DS had an adenotonsillectomy last year (sleep apnoea) and flourished afterwards. But since before Christmas he has had a chronic cough and then a month ago he had a cold which set off all the familiar signs of snoring and night sweats and exhaustion. He's slowly improved but the GPs are convinced it's asthma and won't refer. At the moment we've just doubled his inhaler doses even though the cough has gone and come back during the time he's been treated. The only thing which has really helped was the antibiotics he got last week for an infected finger . I can't seem to get through to them what an impact this all has on him.

His speech other than the 'th' sounds is excellent but we know his hearing is rubbish at times just now so the referral will be good from that perspective.

Really interesting to read your stories so thank you for sharing them. roadkill I am horrified that you had to do that :( it is so frustrating when nobody will listen. I feel very lucky that we're getting such firm support from the staff.