What happens at SALT?

[piglettsmummy]

We have been referred due to my daughter not being able to eat much solid food (Infact barely any) but will wolf down blended food. The referral hasn't been explained though what happens ?

Intrested in this because we have a SALT appointment for ds2 in a couple of weeks about his speech. He has a tongue and lip tie which I think is hindering him.

Struggling to eat solid food can also be a sign of tongue tie piglettsmummy. What else is going on with your dd?

She is complex needs affecting her breathing control we were told many months back that blue spells during eating/ drinking could be attributed to her breathing condition and that she just couldn't kinda grasp breathing and eating at the same time . But her apatite for solid food hasn't grown she will pick at food but that's it she cud sit with a proper meal take an hour to eat what she does and then turn it away because she doesn't want any more , then jump at the chance to eat blended food if it's offered. She isn't tongue tied or has any other issues with her mouth as far as we were aware the doc only mentioned about her facial muscles? God knows how that will work?

Im not qualified but am training as a SLT. Basically speech and language therapists should really be speech and language and swallowing therapists. It is a SLT who decide if a person has a 'safe swallow' and can eat/drink without the food/drink going into their lungs.

The therapist will probably take a detailed case history and talk about your concerns and may ask to see your child eating.

Hopefully after they have assessed her they will be able to tell you why this is happening and give you strategies/a plan to work on. This could be a special diet/ changes in the way you feed her or something else.

Does that help a bit? I know it can seem really strange to be referred to a speech and language therapist for feeding problems.

littleducks thanks that's great!! More than wat neuro explained!! Is that all down within one appointment or several? X

mawbroon, DS1 had a SALT assessment last week re his unclear diction & excess dribble, and the therapist showed him a book with lots of pictures, asking him what they were to see how he pronounced different words / combinations of letters.

I am an SLT, and was about to write pretty much what littleducks said. One appointment may be enough for her to make recommendations (although I sometimes like a second just to be sure), but then she will probably want a review appointment to check how things are going and whether the advice is working.
I actually work with adults, so can't really comment on your DD, but I do work with swallowing difficulties a lot. In general when breathing is difficult it can be hard to coordinate with swallowing as when we swallow we actually have to close of our airway briefly. Coordinating chewing food with breathing can also be hard as we breathe through our nose when we have food in our mouth.

I imagine the SLT will look at some of these issues with you, but like I said I'm not a paediatric SLT so there might be other things to look for too.
How unhelpful of your neuro not to give you some basic info!!