How long does it get to actually get speech therapy??

[Jannt86]

I think my just turned 3YO is behind with speech... not content as such but pronounciation. I thought I was getting somewhere initially with nursery as they told me they agreed it could be clearer and said that they'd do an assessment in the next couple of weeks. This has now morphed into 'we will be doing it in September when it gets quieter and she's next due a check They also asked me to speak to HV and today when I spoke to nursery about it she also said 'we're waiting to see what the HV says' which I got slightly irritated at because I already told them the HV said she'd refer for a hearing test byt otherwise they should crack on and do their assessments. So I also feel like I'm going to end up stuck in a limbo land between HV and nursery now AIBU or is this too long a timescale? I just think if they can't even be bothered to make the referral until September then there's going to be a long wait before she actually gets speech tx and before we know it she will be starting school quite possibly behind which is precisely what I DIDN'T want.... I don't know whether to push nursery to do something sooner or whether to go for private speech tx. Has anyone used private speech tx that can share experiences? I realise there's a pandemic but I just don't want my dd to be left behind

I'm not sure why the Nursery are doing an assessment ?

However, a 3 yr old with good vocabulary and good understanding wouldn't even meet the criteria for Sp&L Therapy in my authority. I mean, waiting lists are long, but from what you describe, she wouldn't be put on the waiting list for therapy after an initial assessment.

Always worth getting a hearing assessment though to rule out any issues there, but (again, in my authority - these things do seem to vary across the country) Nursery can't refer to audiology, that has to come from Health.

Who SHOULD be doing the assessment then if not the professional body who spend by far the most time with her? I don't see why SLT wouldn't be involved as there's evidence that some of her speech errors are red flags for long term weakness in phonological awareness which is presumably going to massively hinder her at school. Tbh this is why parents become so frustrated... because professional bodies who are meant to give a shit about their child don't understand the system themselves or understand it but try to manipulate it. Meanwhile the child and parent are left to fend for themselves anyway. Has anyone had private SLT who can share their experience?

Hi, I haven't had private or any kind of speech therapy, sorry. My district (in Scotland) does have a speech and language advice phone line however which I've used before. It is on twice a week and you get straight through to a speech and language therapist for tips and they gave information about referrals etc. Is there any chance your local health Trust might provide something like this? Our speech and language department have a twitter l page, which is where I found out about the advice line.

I have contacted a couple of private speech therapists in the past too but didn't end up using them. One sent me lots of free information and basically said that therapy wasn't needed as yet.

It sounds like the health visitor and the nursery are both passing the buck a bit here. I think id be tempted to chase up the HV in the first instance. They probably won't do much until the hearing test, we waited about 6 weeks to get one through.

At the moment there are absolutely massive delays in SALT. Im an send teacher and we are over a year behind in our input now. It's absolutely shocking. It may well be that since she is talking and has the means to communicate that she may not be able to be assessed due to the delays at the moment.

Thanks all. I've spoken to a private speech therapist who agrees she could do with input and going to do an initial assessment. I'm not prepared to wait until she's already at school and struggling to keep up before her private nursery who I pay a good rate to and her HV have decided she's worth worrying about

@Jannt86

Thanks all. I've spoken to a private speech therapist who agrees she could do with input and going to do an initial assessment. I'm not prepared to wait until she's already at school and struggling to keep up before her private nursery who I pay a good rate to and her HV have decided she's worth worrying about

Sounds like your best bet as I know for a fact that nhs services are pretty much broken at the moment.

I didn't mean by the way that I don't believe you that she needs help when I said she wouldn't be assessed. I just meant that with the delays as they are if she is actually speaking it may well be that they can't prioritize that right now. I didn't mean I think you're wrong.