3.6yo and speech, what should be happening?

[BearFrills]

DS is 3.6yo and the youngest child in his nursery class. His teacher commented that he has some trouble with certain words/sounds but that this was likely just immaturity. She referred him to Speech and Language and said he would be assessed then we'd take it from there but either way she'd let me see the report from SALT.

SALT came into school yesterday but didn't see him or assess him, apparently she will be back in the school after the Easter break and will be taking small groups of children out of the class to do support work with them but not to worry anyway as most children are fine by reception age.

I'm a bit puzzled about why he'll be taken out of class for support work when he hasn't even been properly assessed as having a problem (and, if he has got a problem, what the problem is). I've rang SALT and left a message asking for a callback. I'm also a bit confused about why I don't seem to be very involved in any of the process. No one has really told me what is going to happen or asked for my observations about my child.

Is this normal? I'm not sure how the process works.

The sounds he has trouble with that immediately spring to mind are words like spider ("byder"), star ("tar"), Joseph ("Joe-fifths"), potatoes ("tayto"), number ("nump-per"). There are others but I can't think of them off the top of my head. He also drools a lot despite having all his teeth and has very waxy ears, at times he goes selectively deaf, he dislikes loud noises though and clamps his hands over his ears. I don't know if they're related or not.

Does a SALT referral have to go via the school or am I able to ask my GP to refer me directly to the service? I'm just a bit lost and uninformed l.

your health visitor can make an assessment and refer him to SALT but you need to consent and sign the form, also your health visitor can make an audiology referral to rule out hearing problems first.

Really? I didn't think they would with him being over three. Then I was worried the school would be pissed off that I'd gone and gotten my own referral even though they've got SALT involved already.

I think I just want to deal with them directly rather than via the school as the school seem a bit airy fairy about it. I'm not at all an overbearing parent but I at least expect to be kept informed, you know?

The nursery MUST have a named SENCO (special educational needs coordinator). Ask who she/he is and speak to them. If they are discussing your child in the light of S&L you must be informed of what's being said. They should produce observations to back up what they say.

However....it may be that the nursery are exceedingly lucky (unlikely) to have a SALT who can spare the time to do some lovely speech and language activities with children who might just need a bit of support which would be great (this kind of things goes on in school, though not with a SALT.)

You do not have to go through the nursery but it sounds as if things are already moving so I would pursue the nursery for a bit more info. They should have asked you for your input, but maybe they will...(sits on fence and doesn't want to badmouth nursery.)

I've just rang HV :)

Turns out they actually do have a SALT who can spare time to come in and do activities with the children who've been identified as needing a little bit of support, then if he's stifling need of support come September or isn't improving by then they'll do a formal assessment. Apparently doing this extra support with small groups of children who might need it lowers the numbers needing a formal SALT assessment at reception age, like a preemptive strike to give them the little language boost they need.

Still a bit peeved that no one told me this but satisfied now with the reasoning behind it.

Thanks for the replies :)

health visitors look after 0-5/pre school. Once your child gets to school they are under the care of the school nurse. You have an allocated health visitor until child is 1 years but after this you can still contact them. Most people dont bother with health visitors after 2 year check but they can be really helpful (I'm a student health visitor!) I have done home visits and discussed parents concerns, assessed the child and then made a referral with the parents consent. To be fair pre schools are well placed to pick up on speech and language delays and we all aim to make sure that children are school ready so that they have the best outcomes. However you should be kept in the loop, I would be cross if that happend to my child.

Bear my DS is the same age. He does all the things you have listed - he's been assessed for various things but it always comes back that there is nothing to worry about.

He can, however, say all those words "properly" and he was relatively slow with his speech development compared to his friends.

I would speak to your HV and see what they say. And find out why the nursery are keeping you out of the loop.

DS is exactly the same age and therefore also the youngest in his class. He had hearing problems until grommets sorted him out. His still consistently says words wrongly ("potorpike" for motorbike, strangely, and "spickit" for biscuit). He also has a slight lisp but I figure that's not unusual at his age. He did see a SALT for his speech when his hearing was bad but got signed off when he started speaking and they didn't feel he had a problem.

Am interested to hear that a SALT is involved for your DS. Was wondering if I needed to push for further help for DS anyway and your post has reinforced that.