Not to pay for a speech and language therapist?

[Falcon1]

My DD is 3.5. Her nursery has recommended that she be seen by a Speech and Language Therapist for assessment as she struggles to make certain sounds (e.g. 'y', 'th', 'sh) 'and starts lots of words with the 'd' sound. I get that they see more kids than I do and have more experience of this kind of thing. but my instinct tells me that she's a normal three year old, She is articulate and bright and has no problem communicating. Her speech could be clearer, but very few adults start lots of their words with 'd', surely she'll grow out of it?

I've made a self-referral to an NHS SLT anyway but the waiting list is long. The nursery said I should consider going private as to delay might make the habits DD's got too ingrained. But the cost of this would be £135 for an assessment, and £80 per session thereafter. Not cheap.

So, AIBU to ignore nursery's advice and just wait for her to be seen by the NHS? We could afford to go private but it just seems like a lot of money for something I'm not convinced is necessary. But would that make me a terrible mother? Could I be doing her harm?

I'd love to get views on people whose kids had any kind of speech problems. If you think it sounds like it really is necessary for DD to be seen as soon as possible, then I'd like to know. Thank you!

She sounds within the normal range to me. An S&LT would not be overly concerned and would probably just give you some exercises. Have you had her hearing checked?

Ask to receive the training yourself, many health care commissions/councils run classes for education professionals and parents to attend, for some aspects of SLT, maybe look into that?

I think that if you don't think it's very serious you should not be wasting the NHS's time and resources.

You know your kid. And you are only using the NHS because it's 'free'. Which in reality means people like myself are paying through the nose in taxes.

My son was language delayed, which is more serious problem than what you describe. A speech therapist was vital to helping him get going, and even then it caused problems down the road in learning to read.

If the money is not a hardship I would pay for the assessment and then decide if therapy is really warranted. You may be told based on the assessment that therapy isn't needed or could wait.

Personally, I’ve had two with Speech issues. They’re both autistic and one has a severe language disorder. I wouldn’t go private at the moment but take advice from the NHS when you get seen. Decent SLTs are hard to find and it is expensive. I’d start by modelling the correct sound. My husband can not say th correctly and says things like barf for bath. Drives me insane. My eldest who had a mild delay (no Sen) did the same but over time we’ve managed to correct it. Personally I’d wait.

Oh and some areas do SLT drop ins. Might be worth investigating that.

What is her language like? Can she talk and understand what you say to her? In multiple parts eg, go upstairs, put on Pjs and do your teeth? Whether she dies it or not is not the issue, does she understand what you want her to do? Is it just the articulation of those sounds that you are concerned about?

I’m not a sLT but an education professional working v closely with SLTs and children who have language delay and disorder.

Pay for the assessment. We did (although DD has severe speech problems) and by some miracle once that was done, a slot opened up months earlier than usual with the NHS SALT.

We still pay the private one to supplement the NHS sessions but most people have zero clue what DF is saying, even though she's speaking in full sentences.

If you can afford it, then pay for it, at least a professional assessment will let you know if there's really a problem or not.

I had a speech impediment as a child that became obvious at age 3. My Mom ignored it because she thought the way I talked was "cute" and that I'd grow out of it.

It wasn't cute, I didn't grow out of it, and it made me an even higher priority for bullying along with being the smallest in class and having a stupid, weird first name.

My great-grandparents paid for private speech therapy when I didn't want to go to school anymore because of the bullying. I didn't get rid of the speech impediment until I was 13, I think it would have been much earlier had I gone when I was 3.

YABU. If you can afford to go private you really should be paying rather than milking the system. No wonder the NHS is so shit.

Agree with poster above about the hearing test, SLT would want this ruled out anyway, private or nhs. It's within normal range not to have all sounds at 3.5. If she's understanding well and has good expressive language in sentences. Can she hear that those sounds are wrong, e.g. I you show her a cup and say, 'is it a dup?' would she say yes or no?

Sorry, just seen the ‘no problems with communicating’ part of your OP.

If it’s just articulation I would leave it for the moment. Model the correct sound to her every time she makes a mistake but don’t ask her to repeat it correctly.

Make sure she drinks from an open top cup, through think stress, esp fun curly wurly ones, blows lots of bubbles through and wand and eats a variety of food that she needs to chew. All this things help the muscles develop in the mouth which may be all she needs.

If it’s no better in 6-8 months then maybe start looking to see someone.

Would it be worth seeing her doctor or health visitor first and if necessary they can make a salt referral.

I'd wait (NHS speech therapist here, but not paediatric). i'd agree she sounds normal from what you've said but I would keep her on the list for the moment. Talking Point website for ideas and advice

Hi Falcon, I work in SEN and the errors you describe seem very developmentally typical to me. There are some good guides online for what you can expect at each stage of development, such as:

childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/speech-sounds-developmental-chart/

It's totally up to you whether you choose to go private and I can understand that reassurance would be helpful, but I second the suggestion of checking out drop-in clinics for NHS SALT - your local Children and Family Centre should be able to advise you.

My advice is to call the central helpline and ask how long the wait is or where your daughter is on the waiting list. Our son was referred by the nursery and I knew there was a 12 week wait approx but when I called it turned out that the waiting list was for the unit closest to my house and 5 mins further down the road there was a space available a few weeks later. It was crazy that there were about 5 s&l centres within a 15 min drive but we were just waiting for a space for one of them. We have had the assessment now and he is scheduled for 6 sessions back at our 'local centre' cue long wait again.

We looked at going private as well. Very expensive.

There may be a lot more to it than just speech sounds, but you won't know till she has the assessment. Even if they find a problem, she may still grow out of it though, so unless it's more than a few months, honestly I'd wait (my DD has problems understanding people but nursery always say "she sounds fine" so they didn't spot it)

Christ alive, it is not 'milking the system' to have an NHS appointment with a speech therapist for a child!

My daughter spoke exactly like this at 3 (also often used a glottal stop type thing instead of consonants). I thought it was normal. Her reception teacher was concerned and referred her to SLT who came to school and assessed her. They said she was perfectly normal and made pp’s recommendation of modelling the correct sound. She never had any speech therapy and grew out of it quite soon after.

I'd wait for NHS. My son had problems with similar sounds, he was referred at 8 to SALT, and he has no issues now, so we hadn't left it too late.

I dont think an nhs salt will work with a child that has no problems communicating.

Shouldn't nursery be making an nhs referral if they think SALT is required?

I would suggest cough up and go.
Yes it’s only a couple of sounds, but honestly mixed up phonics, bad habits and being misunderstood/corrected by other children will not make for a happy early school experience and are bad news for early literacy.

No you don't need to go to SLT and I say that as an SLT! What you have described is normal for her age. Those are later developing sounds that often don't come until 4. We don't recommend input for pronunciation under 4 unless it is causing big issues (child getting upset at not being understood etc). Just to clarify my advice would be different if you were worried about vocab, sentence construction etc but her pronunciation sounds in th normal range.

At 3, I’d wait for the NHS SLT. Both my D.C. had speech therapy older than that. with my eldest we had a class to get us started then his individual assessment and sessions started when he was 4. Before speech therapy Dh and I were the only people who could understand him as he couldn’t make s, t, f, g, c, p, v, l, st, th sounds at the beginning, middle or ends of words. He’d either miss them completely or replace with a d. His speech is perfect now.

Youngest, I tackled most of his speech issues myself as he didn’t have as many as his older brother and I knew the process well by then. But he struggled getting the sounds into everyday speech despite being perfect when I practiced with him. Even though most could understand him his teacher thought he should have some speech therapy so we went to a drop in. He was referred and had a few speech therapy sessions when he was 5. Speech is perfect now apart from a slight lisp which they don’t tackle until after they’ve got their big front teeth.