Would we get funding for private speech tx?

[Jannt86]

Following on from a couple of posts about my 3YO's speech I've decided just to get her private speech tx as I'm fed up of being fobbed off by nursery/HV and realistically she'll basically be at school before she gets any input. I'm just wondering if other APs think there's any way I could claim this as part of her adoption support funding? I suspect not but just wondered. TIA xx

If you mean the Dept for Education Adopton Support Fund then I'm afraid no, speech therapy is not included.

I've seen your other posts. I completely get that your annoyed. I had to fight last year for HV to take me seriously that my LO was more than just "settling in". He actually has GDD. With this comes a speech delay. It's so frustrating when you feel like you're the only one who cares. Especially when our children have already been through so much.

We had an initial review with SALT about two months after the referral when they agreed to take him on and then our first appointment about a month after that. We have a telephone review every 6-8 weeks. The SALT doesn't do any work with LO. They tell me activities to do and I do them. This works for him as he wouldn't benefit from working with them over zoom. I think SALT is a complete postcode lottery for timeframes.

Sometimes you have to be a bit cute with these things. Find the details for your local SALT NHS service and call them. Say you've had a referral from the HV and haven't heard anything and want to check up. Then you can talk to them a bit over the phone. People are willing to help a lot more if you call them.

Being a previous LAC may mean your LO gets seen quicker so I would mention this.

As PP said the ASF isn't the right thing. If you're not comfortable with the timeframe your only option is SALT privately I'm afraid.

I am an NHS SLT and don't be fobbed off by the HV or Nursery - you can contact/refer your LO yourself.

@thistle52 thanks. In a nutshell she has a pretty good vocabulary but still doesn't speak very clearly. Lots of words with first consonant missing eg 'yellow = ellow' and makes an uncountable amount of errors and struggles to say anything clearly that involves more than 2 consonants together and simplifies eg sticker= dicker. And she blends most words that are more than 3 syllables eg elephant = ephant. Do you reckon realistically she'd even be eligable for NHS SLT?

Most of these sound like normal 3 year old speech processes. But it feels like if you could get some advice it would make you feel better. Look them up and see if they have an advice line or arrange an advice appointment. I’d refer anyway but, possibly, to help ease your mind but it sounds all along the right track.

Check to see if your SALT team offer a helpline service, ours does and it’s been invaluable even if it just reassures you that her speech is developing normally. It’s not unusual for 3 year olds speech to still very much be developing at that age, a helpline type service will maybe help you work out if there’s something else at play that needs attending to.

In our area there was a drop in for pre-schoolers and further action was then taken if needed.

Thanks all. A bit of googling gave me a number to call for my local NHS ST service and one of the ST's who covers my LO's nursery is going to call me to discuss. Between that and the private assessment hopefully we will get somewhere

Suggest could be a good idea too contact your LA's Schools statutory disability team . explain child's issues and concern's explain child is an ex looked after child ( should be afforded priority) ask if child can be referred to Local Community disability out reach team and be placed on a observation Pathway plan for assessment this should bring on board support OT , Speech and language and more. also training may be " Total communications course. Have too be firm and push. will still be a bit of a wait around 6 months or so. can work in conjunction with nursery our nursery was afforded extra funding as a result. wish you all the best

Wow! I spoke directly with the NHS therapist today. 5 minutes conversation and she's put her on the waiting list tbs hopefully in about 3 months. Lesson learned... cut out the middle man

Great news, well done