any speech/language therapists around to translate this for me?

[southeastastra]

my ds(5) has been seeing a speech/language therapist for a couple of years now. his latest report has this:

he does however continue to have significant difficulty understanding abstract/linguistic concepts and 3 part sequences. as well as having severe expressive language difficulties (particulatly relating to word retrieval).

i really can't understand what they mean and can't get hold of them to ask! i'm v worried

anyone?

hELLO! aM A SALT.

rIGHT.....

(Oops)

Abstract concepts are just that. So,stuff like friendship,warmth,anger,sadness,things that are hard to define and quantify.

Linguistic concepts.
Hmmmmm..
Well,linguistic concepts are things like verbs,nouns and adjectives.
Meaning here is unclear.
Do they mean he cant come up with examples of each when asked or that he has trouble with using them? As languagae is entirely comprised of linguistic concepts,that would basically mean he has trouble using and understanding language.
This needs clarification.

Three part sequences would be things like 'Go and get yuor coat,put it on the peg and then sit down' as there are three parts to it.

We divide language into comprehension (understanding) and expression (generally,this refers to speaking)

So your little boy seems to have difficulty using language to express himself and in terms of retrieval,is often unable to locate the word/expression that he needs.

Does this help?

There are fairly standard observations btw.

thanks! yes he does have trouble with finding the right words, it's the words on the report like severe that worry me! the report says:

he continues to struggle to understand more abstract/linguistic concepts which will undoubtedly affect his ability to follow instructions witin the classroom and access to the national curriculum.

and he needs to develop his understanding of the concepts first/next last.

i suppose i'm just looking for reassurance that most children do catch up eventually and i find the report quite hard to understand!

I can't lie and pretend that all children 'catch up' but a realistic appraisal of their areas of need (and more importantly,useful strategies on how to deal with them)is an essential starting point.

I would ask the salt to go through it with you.
We are meant to write reports that can be accessed by people who are not necessarily salts but sometimes forget that even simple terminology is difficult to decipher unless you use it day in and day out.

thank you for replying! i'll go through it with her at the next appointment