Speech delay

[Millersgirl21]

Hi i am after some help/advice/reasurance
Sorry this is a rather long post
My dd is coming upto 3 in November. She was developing normally with her speech early last year then she wasn't saying anything new. We later discovered she had glue ear and finally had grommet inserted in December. She has finally been given the all clear and had two sessions of nhs speech therapy until they told me I should prepare for the worst and my dd could be autistic,have a global development delay or a genetic condition. My dd has great understanding, her pyschial development is perfect, she understands feelings and will play well. She currently only says 9 words. I'm really struggling to know what to do to help her. She goes to nursery two mornings a week and they aren't concerned with her. I have researched everything from autism to fragile x and apart from speech she dosent fit any catorgry. I feel like the nhs just want to stick her a label on and put her in the clinical bin.Any advice is welcome. Sorry for the long post

Is there a follow up so that she can be diagnosed?

The nursery sound ridiculous if they aren’t concerned with a child approaching 3yo and only saying 9 words.

There are speech therapy coarses inline, you can download the program and work with her.

She may just burst into life!!

Does she try joining in singing?

I don't think that they would say that lightly. My dd had a speech delay both receptive and expressive and had 2 years of speech therapy before being diagnosed with autism. Having said that, right at the first assessment session, days before her second birthday the salt said 'There is definitely something high functioning going on there'.

There must be things that they see that are red flags to them.

She has finally been given the all clear and had two sessions of nhs speech therapy until they told me I should prepare for the worst and my dd could be autistic,have a global development delay or a genetic condition. My dd has great understanding, her pyschial development is perfect, she understands feelings and will play well.

I get you might find the possibility of any special needs scary, but autism or a developmental delay isn't "the worst." Did a professional actually word it that way? If they did that's incredibly insensitive and offensive of them. Also all of the things you mentioned don't preclude any kind of special needs.
A child can have special needs and all of those things can still be true.

I feel like the nhs just want to stick her a label on and put her in the clinical bin.

Wow, well that's a pretty offensive thing to say about a potential diagnosis of a developmental disorder. Children with a diagnosis of autism aren't "put in the clinical bin."
The point of having a diagnosis is to identify the child's needs, to open avenues of support and any help that might be required at school. Oh, and they don't "stick labels on children" either.
A diagnosis of autism is just that, a diagnosis. Are there any other medical diagnoses you think are "labels stuck on children?"

I would ask your SALT whether s/he has considered developmental verbal dyspraxia. It can be difficult to diagnose but is one of the possibilities to take into account if other areas of development are age-appropriate, such as play and understanding. There's a good link here:

dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Developmental-Verbal-Dyspraxia.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1_7IimMLasjAOknit1lKsA7qNeFT039PxEHJSbBxum7DGVdohIf3AEkMw

She has only just started at nursery just over two months ago. She does enjoy nursery rhymes and songs. She will sit and listen at story times.

Yes her slt did use thoes exact words that's why I was unhappy.
In no way did I mean anything by saying autism or any form of special needs is a bad thing of course not. Nor did I mean anything by saying a label or clinical bin. I suppose I'm just trying to say that from the service we have recieved by her slt it's been like they want to diagnose her with something that she isn't so it dosent reflect badly on them. If my daughter had any form of special needs I would of course choose and get her the best help possible. I have friends who have autistic children and I have a friend with a severly disabled child. In no way am I saying anything wrong about them. I came here looking for some support or helpful advice as i have been so low recently, felt numb and hopless. I didn't come here to be made to feel like I'm against special needs children or I'm oblivious to the fact my child has speech delay. I obviously came to the wrong place.

Honestly the SALT don't need to diagnose her with anything. It really won't reflect on them either way.

You seem really upset and I remember how blindsided I felt at the beginning.

Do you have a follow up appointment with early years or anything?

If you're concerned, take your daughter to the GP and ask for a referral to a paediatrician. Tell the GP what the SLT said. A paediatrician will get to the bottom of any issues. Also ask nursery to refer to Early Years and see what they say.

It doesn't seem very fair for the SLT to drop that on you and not tell you what to do next!

Op, I completely understand how you feel.

I have a very similar dd and in some areas an autism diagnosis means no salt will be given. To be honest I therefore totally understand what you mean by “ feel like the nhs just want to stick her a label on and put her in the clinical bin.”

I say this as someone who has a dd awaiting a HFA dx!!

There is an amazing Hanen book - you get it from the Wilmslow Press (much much cheaper than amazon) called More Than Words - Hanen are a Canadian Speech Therapy Charity and this will give you ways to help her now

It is suitable for dc with speech delay where autism is suspected but I’ve also used it very effectively for my NT dd who also had glue ear

Can you afford private SALT? We did this in the end and it was very good!

I would push for referral to a developmental paed as well

Your dd will still be your wonderful dd and all you are doing is looking for the best way to help her. I’ve found unfortunately professionals can make very strong comments very bluntly with no guidance on what to do next and often great insensitivity in how the news is delivered

My perspective is slightly different.

I am not sure from your post if it’s a speech therapist or a paediatrician that has told you to steal yourself for there being a longterm problem. My experience with my late-talking DS - and that of friends whose children have talked late - has been that some well-meaning speech therapists can err on the pessimistic side.

I was told my DS ‘might never learn to talk’ by a speech therapist. He did learn in due course but the speech therapist’s words made me paranoid about his development and I wish I had realised that what I was being told wasn’t set in stone.

I suppose the feeling must be that parents should be prepared for the worst and then they can be pleasantly surprised if things turn out better than the worst case scenario.

If you are very in tune with your DD, she may not feel the need to use words much because she can convey her meaning in other ways and has been habituated to doing so during the glue ear period.

Accept all help and testing offered with gratitude, but try not to let worries about speech development crowd out enjoying your DD's precious early years.

You need a referral to a developmental paediatrician who can then order a multi disciplinary assessment. An assessment by a SALT will form part of that assessment.
The SALT sounds very blunt but she will have an understanding of speech and communication disorders and tbh a loss of skills (which you describe if your dd had normal speech and now only says nine words) is a red flag for autism.
What plans are there for further speech therapy? Only nine words at 3 is a significant delay. Can you afford private speech therapy? If not you can approach Cerebra and the Caudwell Trust for a grant for more SALT.
No professional is going to diagnose ASD or any other disorder without being certain that is the case and for ASD in particular it is diagnosed by a team of professionals rather than by one person.
Go to the GP and get the referral. I'm concerned that the nursery isn't concerned tbh as they should be referring to SENCo and even the LEA to secure support for your child.

FWIW my ds has autism and learned to speak at seven and my daughter who has autism and spoke like a BBC newsreader age three. Coincidentally the Community SALT who saw her said she was definitely not autistic six weeks before the multi disciplinary assessment at age just two diagnosed her with severe autism.

Did the slt give you homework to do?
Seems odd they said that after two sessions. Look up "Babytalk" by Sally Field. I am sure that there are other books - I liked that one. You basically play with your child in a methodical way for half an hour every day. Iirc she says it has to be the same close relative as the child can get used to your voice, your accent, and you know what the child is interested in and understand the child's attempts at speech. Sally Field is great about how if kids feel pressurised to talk they will keep quiet. Big hug. Hth

I suppose I'm just trying to say that from the service we have recieved by her slt it's been like they want to diagnose her with something that she isn't so it dosent reflect badly on them.

They won't do that, whether a child gets a diagnosis or not doesn't reflect badly on them. Professionals don't push parents toward a diagnosis unless one is warranted, actually they often do the opposite. They often ignore parents very valid concerns and tell them all sorts of misleading things.
Speech therapists don't diagnose things like autism anyway. They are a part of the process but that's all.
If you're worried about your child being diagnosed with something they don't have, don't. You really don't need to worry about that. The assessment process is very thorough.
Did a speech therapist tell you to prepare for some kind of diagnosis?
I ask because speech therapists aren't really qualified to make pronouncements like that, and in my experience they frequently say things to parents they shouldn't.

In some areas there is a motivation to put dc into ?ASD pathway as then they don’t have to provide SLT. So I think op might not be a million miles off on “I suppose I'm just trying to say that from the service we have recieved by her slt it's been like they want to diagnose her with something that she isn't so it dosent reflect badly on them.”

Thank you for all the replies. We are going to go for a private speech therapist. Apart from her lack of speech I'm not concerned at all about her development. It just upset and shocked me that slt would say and suggest such things. Honestly I have researched everything from autism, Rhett syndrome and fragile x. I have researched the son rise programme. I know and I believe she will talk when she is ready, she went months without being able to hear and I over compenstated for that by just doing and giving her what she wanted. She has an older sister who does talk for her. My dd is a very happy and clever little girl. Would people recommend that private speech therapy is good. I'm happy that she can do and understand what We say.

In case it helps op we were also told dd might never talk and she caught up and she DOES talk - no one has a Chrystal ball and research has shown early intervention is golden

Yes private slt was amazing for our dd. Some slts are offering remote sessions at the moment as well

Just to give you a slight bit of reassurance...my son was speech delayed and the speech therapist also told us to prepare for ASD or some kind of social disorder. He had an autism assessment earlier this year and was discharged with no follow-up appointments. He’s also now speaking at an age appropriate level 9 months later.

More than words is an excellent recommendations ASC or not. Something else to try is a little makaton signing children who take off with that tend to be more likely to be dyspraxic instead it's good as a differential diagnosis to ASC. SLT here

And no SLT should diagnosis ASC or developmental delay other than as part of a multi disciplinary assessment it's outside our skills and remit. Saddened ASC equals no support from SLT in some areas

Yes private SALT was worth every penny for us. Can I ask OP how does she indicate her wants and needs? She has had 9 months to pick up words since the grommets went in. Has she had her hearing checked again recently?