Speech and language disorder

[HighFiveThenSquidAway]

Ds is nearly 4 and has speech and language disorder. I don't know much about it or anyone else with a child with it. I'd also love to hear from an adult to hear some success stories to keep me going.

Is there anyone anything around that could help. I'm a bit lost with it tbh

[Anomia10]

Join Afasic - members get a newsletter, which sometimes has success stories by parents about their grown up children.

If I recall correctly, Melinda Nettleton has a son with a language disorder and dyslexia. He went to a specialist dyslexia school, on to university and got a MA in philosophy?

There is also a book "Rachel, the Write to Speak" by Sandra Capelin, although it might be out of print now?

[AYearofMinorMiracles]

DS1 has expressive specific language impairment and DS2 has both expressive and receptive specific language impairment.

When DS2 was 4, he was largely non-verbal: probably had about 50 words and didn't understand much. He went to a SLU for two years, which was wonderful. At 11, you can't shut him up now - he can talk for Britain about anything video game related. His understanding is still a bit wobbly but he copes really well.

They both have improved beyond belief - largely because of direct SALT.

Have you heard of Hanen? I found both their books and Mr Tumble really useful.

[adrianna22]

DS, 5, has ASD and oral and verbal dyspraxia. His speech has improved but you will not be able to understand a word he says. He will be going to a specialist speech and language school

[Chocolate2015]

My little one has a Speech Disorder and has Autism, Finally we are making some real progress, He still can't answer questions with multiple answers but his vocab is expanding every day.
Tips I used to support his language
If he is playing with his train, I try to limit my language so for example if he goes over the bridge I would say "up and down" as the train goes up and down the bridge, If he is going round the track I would say " round and round" I found my little one picks up more language when I limit it as he finds it easier to take language in.
I encourage him to ask what he wants, Rather than just make a sounds or gesture for example.
If he wants a drink, I would repeat back to him "drink please" I then allow him to time to repeat back and regardless of how clear his response I praise him for trying or repeat it back to him.
I brought the Sookie and Finn collection of DVD's which really helped when he was little.
My little one is very visual so have printed and laminated pieces from Sparkle box (Free downloads) and used free resources from Twinkl.
I read to him every night and encourage my little one to fill in the missing words, The book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" is really good for this as it is really repetitive.
If my little one says something to me, I always repeat it back to him so he can here the correct way to say it.
Nursery rhymes are really good, Ready steady go games, Puzzles where they can name animals/cars etc is really good for expanding language.
If we are out in the car we will talk about vehicles we see, Such as Tractors etc, use language such as big wheels, small car, big van etc.


Hope this helps :)

[Bilberry]

My ds has a speech disorder and dyspraxia. He is now 6 and has been attending a language unit for the last year. His speech has come on massively and he will probably move back to mainstream sometime next school year. His understanding has always been fairly ok but he has struggled with social interaction. Even with good understanding they learn a lot through interaction so not being able to hold a conversation puts them behind. One thing I found vital to shake off was the suggestion he had global delay - he is bright but tests seemed to require speech or motor skills to 'pass'. We nearly missed out on the unit place because of this.

What sort of support are you getting at the moment?

[Chocolate2015]

zzzzz
My little one is now 4 and will be starting school in September, He has Global development delay, speech disorder, fine motor delay, sensory issues and all the fun and games which comes with Autism which includes so pretty explosive behavior.

[Handywoman]

dd2 at nearly 4yo had the understanding of an 18 month but the expressive language of at 2.5 yr old - disordered language.

She had private weekly SALT for a year and was then massively better.

She's now still a bit quirky with her use/understanding of language (and in other ways). She now has a diagnosis of ASD and is doing ok in mainstream aged 10.

[AYearofMinorMiracles]

Both mine are statemented - DS2 at 6 and DS1 at 9. It took tribunal to get the right provision for both of them at some point. Getting SALT appears to be nigh on impossible without a huge fight here, at least.

[Chocolate2015]

My Child does not have an EHCP He will be starting School in September, Do you think this is something I should be pushing for and can i refer him myself?, As he has a speech disorder I do worry his needs won't be met as he cannot communicate or say what he wants.

[Chocolate2015]

the same as another Child his age would be able to.

[HighFiveThenSquidAway]

I really appreciate everyone's posts, it felt like we were on our own. I'm making a list of everything referenced so I can look into - not heard of any.

No help here, just private SALT which in 4 months has gone from not being able to answer a question, to having a simple dialogue. Still would need a statement. Nhs SALT may start September. Glue ear and currently has hearing aids.

He was seriously ill as a baby, and I do wonder if the GA affected him. There are questions around autism though I suspect it is all down to behaviour related to lack of language.

[Handywoman]

No ECHP here. I live in an LEA which has been found guilty by the ombudsman of 'vexatious litigation' and value my sanity and bank balance too highly.

[Handywoman]

I'm not wealthy btw - I'm a lone parent and get by (just to clarify)

[Bilberry]

ICAN also do some interesting fact/discussion sheets that may be worth a read.

zzzzz it does frustrate me that so many of us seem to have missed out on important early intervention or this has had to be paid for privately. I know some children with cerebral palsy/downs/etc. so I can see that there is help out there (sometimes) for early intervention. The problem for us seemed to be that rather than treat the emerging problems experts preferred to wait and see if the ds would develop 'through' his difficulties. It was only when it became obvious he wouldn't (and we started making a fuss) that he got treatment/therapy. But, you are right, speech delay impacts on so much; social interaction, behaviour, self-esteem, learning opportunities...

[adrianna22]

Yes Chocolate please I beg of you, apply for an ECHP plan. DS had his plan when he was 4 and I regret it not doing it earlier

[Lovethesea]

DS (5) has a phonological disorder so he pronounces some sounds incorrectly though his vocab and grammar are good.

He had severe bilateral glue ear which distorted the sounds he could hear and meant he couldn't hear some at all - s, f, ch, c etc. He didn't seem deaf as he could hear other tones and so responded to his name and could understand you.

His speech didn't develop when it started, ie bus stayed bu even though it was a favourite thing to see out and about.

I got his ears checked, glue ear diagnosed, waited for the confirmation then had to wait for the grommet operation. So it took a year between raising his speech to having grommets in so he could hear again. He was nearly 3 when he had the op. It took 20 minutes and the grommets are still in over 2 years later with no side effects.

With his distorted hearing it was painful to be in loud acoustic halls and the grommets stopped that. He has never had an ear infection or any sign of trouble with hearing at all.

The speech therapy was able to start once he could hear and he was referred to a speech and language unit for starting reception which he went to last September. He has done 3 terms and has one more to go and has made a lot of progress.

He attends his MS school one day a week to keep contact.

It took a lot of pushing to get him looked at, they nearly didn't do grommets though his speech was already badly affected by the hearing loss, but I felt he wouldn't improve speech without clear sound.

The SLU was a fantastic placement for him and I was very stressed about the lack of alternative if he didn't get a place from the panel, he couldn't access phonics or group work in Reception as he couldn't make an s sound at all so any sounds and blending approach would be useless without tailoring.

He talks non stop and has great storytelling ideas.

[Bilberry]

I think SALT's effectiveness depends on the problem. I believe it might be less helpful for receptive difficulties. One of the criteria for our language unit was the dc speech problem had to respond to therapy so I suppose that is an acceptance by SALT that they don't all....

Love our ds had glue ear too and like you he could hear and didn't get any ear infections (just a lot of colds); everyone around me seemed to think glue ear meant deaf and lots of infections.

[Lovethesea]

I was really surprised when they said moderate hearing loss on both sides with the glue ear.

In some children it comes and goes so their speech catches up between bouts, in DS it was thick glue and always there so no chance to ever hear the sounds correctly. The ENT surgeon mentioned how bad it was after the operation.

They did offer hearing aids but since the distortion of sound was causing the speech issues (and he had no other infection or any weakness in the ear canal) I pushed for grommets as I thought it would be clearer sounds for him to unlearn and relearn than hearing aids, which I know work better for some children.

The once a week salt for a year made very little progress. Once he started the SLU with ten kids, teacher, TA, and salt he started making real steps. A lot of his progress was unseen by us initially as it happened in 1:1 salt in single words long before it became part of his new everyday speech.

[Lovethesea]

Oh and we used the Sookie and Finn DVDs too from Amazon, they were boring to me but DS loved them and repeated words with them quite happily.

I feel a lot of salt it like physio; you can assess a problem in a session but it then needs intensive bursts of it more than once a week to actually change patterns in the brain and unlearn and relearn new pathways of sounds and speech.

[TheBeekeepersDaughter]

I'm another one with a child with SALD. DS has severe verbal dyspraxia. He is 3 (4 in 10 days!) and starts school in September. We were offered a speech and language nursery last year but it was almost 20 miles away and they wanted him to travel in an unescorted taxi! I have DD to get to school and I work, so the logistics were just not practical. I fought for early years funding and he received some one to one support in nursery, supported by regular (private) speech therapy.

Progress is happening but it is slow. I think that my son is still unintelligible to anyone who does not know him well. He is going to attend a very small private school with weekly SALT and some additional help which we will pay for. There's no point for us getting EHCP, as they won't routinely fund help in private schools. I don't know if we are making the right choice, but the school is being very supportive and he will be learning at his own pace in a caring environment (it's a Montessori primary). He would meet the criteria for the local SLU but the school is not great.

It's nice to hear from others in similar situations. I worry about my son's future schooling. We are thinking about keeping him back a year in the foundation stage, as he was so ill for so long (chronic infections, tonsils etc. now thankfully gone) he has missed a lot of opportunities already.