Should I try and get a SALT referral now or wait?

[Whenisitmysleepytime]

Ds is 3 and a great talker. Loads of words and long sentences.
But he is missing sounds like c and g and s (and others but my mind is blank). They are replaced by d usually eg dat for cat. Dold for gold etc.

I work in a school as today the SALT visited for te first time to reception children with awful SAL delays. They were referred in September!!! (although at least one was referred earlier I think)

So do I speak to HV now about ds now and try and get him in the system as it were. even though his speech is way clearer than a year ago so he still has plenty of time etc etc.
But if I wait till then I don't want I have to Fight the system for him to be seen in good time.

WWYD? :)

try to get him in the system, waiting times can be long...

I had to wait 14 months for an assessment. Get him in the system...

get in system asap, it takes ages

Not sure. Is he just 3? DD is 3.5 and her sounds are much better now but even 6 months ago she was missing a fair few. We did encourage her with quite a few- repeating correct versions back each time she missed them and this seems to have helped. DS 5.5 is not perfect either mind you...... his is so slight though, no one outside has flagged it up, and I'd rather not have the experience a friend had with speech therapy (am sure a lot is good .

Yep, get him in the system now. Then when you see a SALT you can either have your mind put at rest or she will want to see him.

Thanks all!
He is just 3 so I know he can easily correct them in time. but I was just so shocked.
I cover yr at our school once a week and one of the children seen for the first time tidy has v little speech and is very unclear. I get about 10-20% of what he's saying. Even his class teacher and TA struggle to get much more. And this was the first time he's been seen despite being referred in september and already being in the system due to a sibling issue! Sadly his family are not what youd call proactive so he probably won't get enough support there. :(

Do you think the HV would discount my worries because he has so many words and such lengthy sentences goes on and on
Dh is more inclined to wait and see.

Hi there. Don't know the answer to that question. I would just phone up the HV, have a chat and get an appointment if necessary. Good luck!

have you tried buying him a phonics game in the meanwhile? we have Leapfrog's 'fridge phonics' and its really good, they don't even know they're learning something but my little 'un (2.6) was quite unclear but he plays with his fridge magnets toy every day and repeats all the letters after the voice on the game and now all his letters are really clear :) worth a shot?

Brighton - is it British or American? So many talking toys are american -voiced so not quite right IMO.
He hears plenty of correct pronunciation but if you ask him to say c for cat you get d for dat. I'm not sure he can make the sounds, although he has progressed from muh-mi to monkey in the last 6 months. His key might be more like a gee though.
still torn.

From my experience nhs salts won't really work on speech sounds till they a 4. There is no harm getting into the system and getting a review and if they want to discharge ask them to keep you on the caseload and review in 6 months.
In the mean time if you pick a couple of sounds your ds finds difficult and target them when you a playing it will really help.

If you Google speech sound development chart it might help.
'g' develops between 2-4 and dropping the 't' of cat is in top end of normal from what I have read. I am not a salt so may be incorrect.

hi, its a British thing, and the phonics style is that they say the letter and the different ways you can pronounce it, its helped my little one become clearer. I bought it on amazon uk. my DS was saying dat for cat before this toy as well. :)

OP, I'm an Early Years SLT and it sounds like your little boy doesn't need referral right now. It's normal for children not to have their 'c' sound until three and a half to four years old. Don't worry about phonics toys either - the most useful thing for him is you (and other adults at home)!

When he says 'dat' for cat, just copy back to him what he said but with the correct sounds - so for example:

DS - 'look mummy, dat!'
When - ' oh yes, a cat!'

Don't ask him to copy or repeat words after you, he's just not ready to say all his sounds yet. Children don't get all their sounds until they are about 7, although 'c' should start appearing in the next few months. I would recommend that you go along to your local Children's Centre where you can get more advice

Just stumbled across this thread. My DD2 is 4 in August and can't say "c" (comes out "t") or "g" (comes out "d") but all my previous reading just suggested this was completely normal. And his keyworker at his (excellent) nursery has had training in spotting speech and language problems and has never raised it as a problem. Maybe I'll ask her about it.

Get his referral in now. If his speech takes off, then you just need to cancel the referral. It's no loss.