Going to the SALT, what happens?

[Paula71]

Ds twins (2 1/2) have an SALT appointment on August 2. I had taken them to see the HV over certain aspects of their speech.

Anyway, to cut a very long story short their first appointment is now set and took only a couple of weeks which I was suprised at. So what happens at these appointments?

I am a little worried I may come across as a "bad mother" for not preventing the twin talk beforehand or not encouraging them properly or something. It isn't about me, it is about them but don't the parents always get the blame?

Not a lot happens- usually history taking then the SALT will attempt to get a measure of their speech. Usually by using pictures etc. Depends what she's assessing though. If she's assessing language will probably use a very boring black and white book (its a standard test). Will also probably use toys and bubbles and lots of things like "ready steady go".

Not sure parent's always get the blame. Only had one bad experience with a SALT (and I've seen a lot of SALTs). The only problem with SALTs is that they vary a lot. Our current private one is excellent- really knows her stuff and I really trust her advice. A lot of the community SALTS I've met have been a bit clueless really.

She'll probably just send you away with an ideas sheet.

At ds1's first appointment the SALT asked me questions while also watching ds1. The questions may vary depending upon why the referral was made but the SALT asked about things like: when did he start babbling, what did he do if he wanted something, what was his general development like etc. She was also watching to see if he could do things like use a straw, lick his lips etc. We had been seeing her for 6 months by the time ds1 was finally dx'ed and at no point did she so much as hint that it was our fault. We've heard that it's highly likely that she will still be ds1's SALT when he starts school and we are absolutely delighted about that. I really couldn't have asked for a better SALT. Btw she is an NHS SALT.

I did a parent referral about a year ago because I was very concerned about ds's stammer, and we had an appointment very similar to what jimjams and coppertop describe. We copied the ideas sheet to ds's nursery too, and I did all the exercises with him and tried to do whatever she had suggested. We had a follow-up appointment a few months later and the stammer was much improved and she was going to discharge him, but agreed to keep him on the list, as it is so hard to get an appt here, and he still had some problems. We recently had an appointment with the new therapist, who had reviewed his file and got in touch, and we agreed that ds's speech difficulty is "better" now, and we had a chat about what to do if it comes back again, and she explained what community options there are for stuttering, and how to find a good private therapist, which I had asked about. Lots of children with nice mummies have speech therapy, and unless your twins have a more serious problem, you may be able to "cure" it quite easily. You are lucky that they got referred so young. I got asked about family history of stammering (we didn't have one) but there was no suggestion that it would have been our "fault" if it was in the family. Hope it all goes well for you.

Thanks all.

I had been told from other "friend of a friend" type story that speech delay is blamed on what the parents have done. I am very glad to hear otherwise.

I shall see what happens and hope for the best - all the advice I have found in the books is for singletons, this SALT deals a lot with twins.

We too were never blamed for ds's late talking. He had a dummy, and, although she did say that it can cause delay in speech, she did not make us feel bad for his having one. From my experience with ds, he is going to achieve all his motor skills late (crawling, walking, talking, eating with cutlery, potty training), and I have to accept that. I try to make a big fuss of him when he manages another step towards a goal.

Anyway it is unlikely that your twins will go to school not talking. Do they attend any pre-schools? My ds' speech improved a lot when he started his.

Hi Paula - I'm sure you and I chatted on another thread about late talking twins some months ago -cos I was worried about my twins too.

My ds and dd are 2.10mths and I finally succumbed to a SALT appointment which we attended in May. It was at my request, as I wanted to get to the bottom of a 'problem' if there was one and felt that leaving things would do them no favours in the long run.

I admit I had put off doing this though, because like you, I was conviced blame was on the cards and coming my way. I knew we'd done all the usual things to encourage proper speech with them, but, there they were, not talking too well, so it just HAD to be down to me. You see, I'd already done the honours and blamed myself!

Before we went, I felt extremely defensive about it all - some nosey professional was going to haul me over the coals for failing to be a good enough mother. I admit I got uptight about it all in a big way because the last thing in the world you want to hear is that your parenting skills aren't up to scratch.

The appointment went pretty much as JimJams and the other posters describe - and to my surprise, there wasn't too much emphasis on the fact that they are twins. Each child was assessed as an individual and the 'twin language' side of things and the fact they're together so much was touched upon but not flogged to death.

The SALT lady seemed to know her stuff (we may have been lucky there though as I guess these things can vary, as JJ says) and..she didn't blame me, or any one else. She just said that, yes, they were a little delayed - not much. They'd almost certainly catch up - especially at pre-school when they start in Sept. Their understanding of words was fine, but that their speech would improve in time (and it is, although we've still some way to go on occasions, I think). She gave us some tips - commonsense stuff which we were already doing but with an emphasis on some things that they were a bit weak on. We have an open appointment to go back in December if we wish - no pressure -but she did not detect a major problem at this stage.

I'm hoping things will continue to improve and of course I'm still watching them closely, but not in quite the anxious way I was before because I feel more supported with this. The thing is though, despite my anxieties I didn't come away criticised, but reassured and happier about it all than when I went in.

I really hope you come out of this feeling reassured too, and that everything can be sorted out easily and quickly. You certainly don't come across on MN as a bad mother in any way - quite the opposite. Lots of luck