What do they do at a speech therapy screening?

[CharCharGabor]

DD2 (21 months) has an appointment on Wednesday for a screening for speech therapy. I asked for a referral as her understanding is very poor and up until a week ago she had not progressed in speech or understanding in over 6 months, after gaining and then losing a few words. Since I asked to be referred she has started using one word which she uses for ball, book and poo. The only development that has occurred is from us signing the word to her over and over or showing her a picture, she has picked up nothing spontaneously just from hearing us say it. We have worked really hard with her over the last two months and slowly she is picking up things but her understanding is still very limited.

Anyway, is anyone able to give me an idea of what to expect/what they will do/ask? I'd just like to be prepared to answer anything. Thanks :)

They will speak to you first and gain your view of what the issues are. They will also ask questions re medical history (e.g. has your child had hearing tested).

Then they will engage with your child and ask age appropriate questions e.g. with my 3 year old, they conversed with him and asked him to describe items on pictures.

Then they will make an assessment of your child. In our case, our child was assessed as being age appropriate and discharge

Thank you for your posts, they're really helpful :)

When DS had his it was a group session. I think 6-8 kids, 2 speech therapists and an assistant. The room was set up with toys etc. The speech therapists spoke to each parent individually, but in the main room. The speech therapist spoke to me about DS's other milestones (e.g. did he walk, potty train normally etc.), about what the problem was and asked for specific examples.

She then played with DS, testing his attention by getting him to focus on a task, his understanding by asking him 'can you put the brick under the chair?', 'which tower is taller?', 'put the giraffe on the elephants back' etc. She asked him questions, engaged him in conversation and then did a more formal assessment asking him to name pictures in a book and marking down which sounds he could/couldn't make.

It was very thorough and I was happy that they assessed him accurately. With DS his problem was pronunciation (understood everything and very chatty, but couldn't understand a word he said!) and he was reffered for one-on-one therapy which made a massive difference.

Hope you get the help you need for your DD :)

Thank you dittant :) that's really helpful. I am not sure whether DD's is a group session or not but only one therapist is named on the appointment letter. It sounds like they are very thorough and I hope DD's is the same :)

We had same experience as suebfg.

All very positive and got referred for 1 to 1 therapy.

Ensure they refer you for hearing test - ours highlighted glue ear though we thought hearing was fine.

my experience was very similar- DD was 23mo, understood lots but barely spoke and olny ever single words. THey asked me lots about things ( she'd had a hearing test so they knew that was ok) particularly about other milestones and then showed her some things and said eg - give the fish to mummy, put the bear under the table -they were tsing how many key words she could understand within a sentence. she laso gave her flashcards with a pic, each time she said the word ( rightly or wrongly!) she was allowed to post it in a special wooden post box. she laso watched us 'chatting' a bit. DD was diagnosed with an expressive delay, i have been on a courser for parents to help encourage lang, SALT has visited nursery to observe and give key worker activities to help, and we are soon haivng 1 to 1 session.

hoep that helps.

Thanks guys :) am nervous about tomorrow but hoping it will go well. Dd has had a hearing test and passed it so hopefully her hearing is ok. Guess I'll just have to wait and what happens tomorrow :)

How did the appt go, Charchar?