Opinions of the best SALT in the country?

[flossyfloo]

My DS (4.5) has a speech disorder. There is no name to what disorder he does have as his speech development has been quite unique. He has no other special needs.

He has 1:1 SALT (NHS) and has had this for the past 15 months. His speech has improved a lot in the past 6 months and although I would like to think this is because of the SALT he has been having, I'm not entirely convinced of this. He has seen a few different speech therapists now and not one really knows what they are doing as they don't have a full understanding of my DS's speech problems. Each therapist tries something different every time but there doesn't seem to be one particular approach that works better than others. There just isn't any continuity.

My DS normally has a block of 10 sessions then about a 12 week 'consolidation' break before being re-assessed and then another few weeks before the next block of 10 start. You can imagine how frustrating this is!

Anyway, after finding out that the 12 week break is more than likely going to be about 16 weeks this time due to the SALT department running behind schedule for their assessments, I have decided to look into private SALT's. (The fact that he will start primary school in September is also on my mind). My lovely GP's have offered to pay for any speech therapy he needs anywhere in the country, no matter the cost.

So, now I am asking for advice/opinions/recommendations of the best SALT around! Have you seen or heard of anyone that excels at treating children with speech disorders or is the best in their field? I am more than happy to travel anywhere to have him assessed. If not local to us, we would then need the SALT to hopefully recommend someone local and liaise with them for future therapy. We really want to help him before it's too late.

TIA x

[gettingsorted]

I'm an NHS SLT, and I don't know where you live so it's hard to give specific advice on who the "best" SLT is near you!
I would just say that the lack of service you get locally is due to funding, and highly unlikely to be due to the SLTs not knowing what to do! All NHS SLTs have to be registered as fit to practice and maintain their professional development. What is not acceptable is giving blocks of therapy with long gaps in between - there is no evidence that this works, it is simply so that services can "rotate" children and see as many as possible. You could write a letter of complaint to the local SLT manager, and if no joy, go to your MP and the newspapers. They should offer your son what he needs, not what fits in with the service plan.
If you want to go privately, contact the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice to find someone either local to you, or who specialises in speech disorders.
One last thought - if his speech is severely disordered then you need to think about whether he will need some support at school, and could make enquiries with your LEA about assessment for additional support. Does your LEA have a specialist unit for speech and language disorders?
Hope this helps.