speech therapy advice for dd 2.4 years

[MissPricklePants]

my dd had a salt assessent and the therapist is referring her for a detailed assessment for understanding as dd didnt react to any questions and didnt engage much with the therapist or react to her name much. What does this mean?the therapist had to go quickly to another app and said that everything would be explained at the next appointment. Im worrying about it!

don't worry about what she said, think about how dd interacts with you. if you ask her to get her shoes/ pick up her toy, does she understand you?

why was she referred in the first place? this will give you some clues - is her speech delayed/ unintelligible or completely absent?

if you say 'milk or juice'? does she understand and make a choice (whether verbally or otherwise?)

at home, if you use her name does she understand that it refers to her? does she understand that you are 'mummy'? - if you play peekaboo, or hide and seek, and say 'where's x/ mummy' does she know if you are looking for her, or if she needs to look for you?

what are your concerns about her speech or understanding?

is she usually shy with strangers? sometimes an assessment is affected by the context (complete stranger saying 'x, where's the puppy?'), whereas if you asked her the same thing at home, she might be able to tell you. (sometimes it works the other way too - dd2 had an ep assessment and was answering questions i had literally no idea she would be able to)

try not to worry - the fact that she is in the system at such a young age is really very good news, and the slt is obviously keen to follw up, so think through what you want to ask at your next appointment, and write it down, so that you don't forget.

difficult to say what she's getting at, but you know what worries you have.

dd has a few words not lots though!she babbles lots and doesnt always respond to her name but usually does. If i ask her to get her shoes she does, she knows im mummy and if i give her a choice e.g juice or milk she will choose. My concerns were lack of words and not really repeating new words that she does like others of her age, not putting words together etc. I had no concerns over her understanding but i do now

if you had no concerns over her understanding then that is a great place to start! you will be more aware of it now, so will have a good idea if she has any gaps in understanding by the next appointment, so you will be really well placed to discuss the slt's concerns (whatever they turn out to be )

she's still very wee, and intervention of any sort will only help, not hinder. the earlier the better if there are any problems - but try not to panic too much - she's exactly the same kid she was before the assessment, and may have been affected a bit by the new face/ environment!

when is your next appointment?

does she like picture books? play 'where is the.... /can you find the.....' with her a bit, too. in books and in real life, so you can see if she gets the item/ picture thing. you'' get a good idea of whether she understnads the vocabulary too... and if that's easy, you can expand it a bit by saying 'oh, it's behind the x!' or whatever. or ask 'ooo! what's that?!' and leave a long gap to see if she will attempt to answer. (we used 'owl' with dd2 - observe, wait, listen - to see if there was response to questions etc)

she loves books so we do that sort of stuff already but she doesnt often respond. I will obv keep a closer eye on her now and if she needs help with it then as shes so young it is a good thing. The next appointment hasnt been made yet but slt said sooner rather than later.