How can I get a diagnosis and the help my daughter needs ?

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi my 3.5 year old daughter has a severe problem with speech sounds. Her actual knowledge of language and her vocab are very good but she is mostly unintellegeable, because she has to make the words out of what limmited sounds she has.
Her speech therapist has mentioned Verbal Dyspraxia as a likely cause. After loads of research, I have no doubt that this is what she has.
How do I go about getting her a propper diagnosis? She has recently had another assessment but that is to show how she's getting on more than anything.
I feel that once she is propperly diagnosed we should get her a statment so that she can be entitled to the help she needs.
The speech therapist is brilliant and the nursery are trying to do all they can. She has one to one sessions with her teacher every day which is fantastic.
The problem is there is not enugh communication between the SALT and the nursery. Which meens that the nursery have no guidence and therefore can't really help her.
Do you think I could get a private SALT to visit the school once a week?
I'd be soooo greatful for any advice.
Everyone is trying so hard to help her but there is a communication problem I feel.

It sounds to me as if they need to involve the local authority educational psychologist, but hopefully someone who knows a bit more will come along.

Thanks a lot.

Our SLT goes into pre-school and sets targets for IEP, provides Nuffield Dyspraxia worksheets for 1-1 etc etc. Happens without a statement. Your SLT will be the one who dx anyway, so ask SLT to set up regular nursery visits. I'm a bit baffled how SLT can be brilliant but not have already set up liaison with nursery? DD should be on School Action Plus as there are outside agencies involved in her development/education. Termly reviews of communication targets on IEP. If she does not meet SLT set IEP targets with nursery support, then your nursery should refer to LEA for additonal funding for 1-1 support or statutory assessment.
No idea why you want a private SLT to go into nursery, unless you are totally loaded - nhs responsibility. Some areas where nhs provision is rubbish or non-existent, then parents find private SLT necessary, but if your SLT is brill, then ask her to do her job.
It may be that she is taking it slowly because she thinks your dd is developing and that statementing etc will not be necessary - what does your most recent SLT report say? Nursery should have a copy as well btw.

that sounded a little terse - not meant to be

Verbal dyspraxia is a bit of a nightmare to get appropriate treatment on the NHS. If you can afford to go private regularly I would. Private SALTs can certainly go into nurseries and schools.

(Is the SALT you'\re mentioning in the OP private or NHS?)

For further info on verbal dyspraxia do look at apraxia kids (apraxia being american for verbal dyspraxia).

Romy-Thanks for that. No I'm not loaded, (I wish) I'm just desparate. The SALT is very nice and gets the best out of Lucy. I just really want her to visit the school. When I explained that they were trying to get her to say Good Morning over and over, She said she'd give them a ring. She only works 2 days a week so it's a bit limited.

have they got an IEP set up etc? perhaps she could send some stuff through and discuss on the phone with dd's keyworker to get some targets set...
i'd quite like to be loaded, too. make life muuuuuch easier.

I've never heard of an IEP. What is this?

You need Moondog to talk to you about speech.

would have thought your NHS Salt could diagnose this, ask her, as if she can't, she should know how your local system works, and who else can diagnose.

IEP is an individualised education plan- a formal written plan with targets for Lucy to achieve at school with her pseech.

IEP is an Individual Education Plan with set targets and reviews. Not sure nurseries have to do this without a statement tbh. Howevr form what you have wirt4en ehr and eslewhere I'd question whether that nursery is the best suited to her needs at present . Doing complicated phonics with a preschool child with a verbal disorder is probably not necessary at this point. When does she start school proper.

She is 3.5 and will start primary at 5.

Or 5.5 if she stays at the school she's at. The nursery is attached to a school.

Where are you then , most of UK start in the September or January before they turn 5, except Scotland. 5 1/2 would be considered very late otherwise. Who referred you to SALT, can you go back to them for a further assessment ?

After a long battle with H.V's Doctor etc I refered her to SALT myself. I went to the clinic and asked to speek to her directly. She was very angry that the H.V wouldn't refer her and has since called a meeting about it.

Can she not push for a fuller assessemnt then ? The danger is if she still needs help by school age she won't already be in the system and it could be delayed .

If she stayed at her current school, they go into what's called transition at 4.5. That is based in the nursery but they go over to the junior school for some lessons. It's like a half way house. They wear a uniform in transition too.

ah that sounds like the equivalent of Reception - it is still part of the Foundation Stage curriculum so can sit with nursery.

Liz, That's what I'm worried about. I want to get everything set up so that things go smoothly for her and she gets all the help she needs.

dd2 has had an IEP since she started nursery. children on school action or school action plus can have them - no statement required. if children do not meet the targets set on their IEP consistently this is one of the pointers that suggest further intervention/ help is necessary, ie statutory assessment (potentially resulting in statement of sen). LEA are unlikely to support statutory assessment if there isn't already a paper chain of why it would be appropriate from the nursery/ school pov. that's not to say you can't ask, but you'd probably get a letter saying not enough evidence of need. i'd go with asking the slt to recommend targets for IEP and programme for keyworker to implement (this can be the 'how they will work towards meeting target' plan.

Do I recall correctly that it is a private school nursery she's at? If so be prepared for LEA/NHS to be less than helpful as regards providing therapy and assessments. Statements don't really apply in the same way.

The slt is definitly the person to diagnose verbal dyspraxia. She should also be able to liaise with your dc's nursery to give them guidance. Maybe you could give the nursery teacher the slt's name and phone number and ask them to call her - it would be harder for the slt to ignore a message from the nursery.

How long has your dd been seeing the therapist? Maybe she (the slt) is reluctant to make a diagnosis until she has had some therapy. I think the severity of a child's communication problems is sometimes not apparent until the therapist sees how they respond to input.i.e. a child with a seemingly severe problem may respond very well to therapy and a child with a seemingly moderate difficulty may take a longtime to improve iyswim.

The slt is also the person to discuss whether your dd's education is likely to be affected by her speech sound difficulties. You could request an appointment without your dd to talk about this and ask whether the educational psychologist should be involved.

I haven't worked for a long time so i'm out of the loop, so to speak, but this is what used to happen!

hth (a bit)

if it is a private nursery that take the nursery education grant off the bill (ie ofsted registered) the SAP/SAP+/statement of SEN is exactly the same, as is access to the Area IncO/ Ed Psych etc etc. no different from a state nursery.

The nursery is private but does take the guvornment grants so we get money off untill she's 5. It is attached to a private school too. We had decided to keep her at the school, as she's got loads of friends there and would do detter in the small classes etc. It would meen soo much work for me to keep her there and loads of sacrefices. If she wouldn't get the speech therapy she needs then she would be better of at a state school. We would have to look in to this,(and soon as she dosn't have her name down with any state schools).

Hi, we were advised by a friend who has worked both state and private that it is easier to get help for children with SEN in state schools as they are requred to provide the additional help by law, whereas at private schools if it is determined that your child needs additional help then you will be expected to help fund it. We had to resort to private SALT as NHS are so rubbish here (it took 18 months for assessment to finally happen, and are still on waiting list for actual therapy after a year ). However, when she started school she was given an IEP straight away and referred to the language inclusion team which is a multi agency approach combining speech therapists, SENA's and educational psychologists, and they work with the child and the school. We have been really pleased with the progress that dd1 has made, and they have not just focused on her speech but things such as confidence in talking to staff and interacting with her peers etc. I don't know if this is national scheme or local to our LEA.

One advantage of private SALT is that they will go to school to do sessions with the child (providing the school as space) and is then in a position to have regular contact with the teacher.

Glad that your SALT spoke to nursery about 'good morning' (form your previous thread), have the nursery been supportive of what she said?