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!

Why don’t you get an assessment done? At least that will confirm things one way or the other. Many of these things are best tackled early and an assessment will at least tell you what your next steps can be.

I have a baby who was born prem. he’s been developmentally fine but I have had one private physio and one private OT for him because he doesn’t qualify for anything on the NHS. They offered me a few tips and exercises but in the main reassured me that he was fine and didn’t need further intervention. I paid roughly 200 for both (120+80) in London and it was definitely worth it. They picked up on tiny things that would help him and a few weeks later even I could see the difference.

My son was speech delayed, then from 3 onwards had an explosion of language. But his pronunciation is still not great and we're going private again at 4.6 to hopefully help this before school starts.

I sort of think that speech isn't something you hold back on to be honest. Worse case scenario is that they reassure you and you're £135 down. If you can afford it, I'd do it.

I’d wait for your nhs appointment but in the meanwhile research online what you can be doing at home to help her with her articulation difficulties. I found activities on a speech therapists website that I used with dd who had language delay and we did them daily and by the time her appointment came she was no longer delayed. Most of her therapy will be activities given to do at home anyway.

How long is the waiting list for NHS? Unless you’re planning on taking her for assessments for reception year then I’d wait for NHS SALT. In the meantime have a look at some mouth strengthening exercises online- things like drinking through straws and blowing games can really help mouth muscles.

Don’t underestimate the need for clear pronunciation, it shouldn’t take many weeks of sessions for you to notice a big difference.

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.

My children can’t afford anything so I don’t mind them having NHS appointments.

My daughter did well with speech therapist at 5. The sessions at 3 and 4 less so. There needs to be a desire from child to crack it. I'd leave it for now, unless you are awash with money.

Go private. There is no time to waste at this age. We've spent thousands on private SLT and don't regret a single penny of it.

Wow, a real divide of opinion here! Thank you all for you replies and advice.

In answer to some posters, she has no problem communicating at all, her vocabulary is excellent and she does recognise when a word is spoken incorrectly by someone else. I've got absolutely no reason to think there's anything wrong with her hearing. It is purely the pronunciation.

Really interesting to hear from the SLTs among you. You seem to be saying that I should just wait so I think I probably will. To be honest, when I read the guidance about normal language development on the local NHS SLT website, I did think I'm possibly wasting their time even referring. Still, will be good to get it confirmed one way or another. They wouldn't give me an indication of the waiting time but did say it was unlikely to be months and months.

Thanks all.

Late to the party but just wanted to add my ten cents worth of reassurance. I paid for an independent SLT to help my late talking 2 year old (now 4 and fully caught up) and I generally evangelise about the merits of early intervention, but even I don't think you need to rush to the SLT with your daughter. You describe a discrete issue with pronouncing certain speech sounds. If you Google you will find lots of information on the normal age range to acquire the different speech sounds (can't access the handout our SLT gave us from my phone) and will see that s, th etc are among the later and trickier sounds, and that your daughter is well within the normal developmental range for speech sound acquisition. Nursery may not be fully informed, and therefore taking a precautionary approach, or they may be focussed on the looming early years goals for literacy and therefore keen to push your DD's speech sounds along a bit faster in case it affects the speed at which she learns phonics. But you can't really rush normal development?

What a load of shite. She’s 3!
If she gets to 7 and still can’t make the ‘th’ sound, then start looking into SALT.

we had terrible experience with nhs. our dd had real speech issues and a stammer. nobody could understand her. we eventually went private and she started school. the 2 things helped.
nhs is so chronically under resourced i wouldnt bother if you dont think its an issue and can pay privately down the line if you need to. we could afford to pay, genuinely it never occured to me to go private until a year and a half down the line.

If you can afford it pay it. Early intervention, so you won't be analysing everything

y, th, sh are normal errors at 3.5 yrs, In fact if the 'th' is going to a 'f' this is the latest sound to develop and can be as late as 8yrs old! . The 'd' sounds like a process called 'stopping' and is a delay rather than a disordered process. Just model the words back to her, without getting her to repeat them. So if she says ' I lost my dock' You say, 'you lost your sock?' with a slight emphasis on the 's'
I think you are fine to wait for NHS SLT.