2.1yr old SALT appointment advice needed

[LleytonsMummy]

Girls,
Only just found MN so hopefully someone can help me..
My DS who is now 2.2 yrs old had an appointment with SALT last month as he sees a consultant about his extreme fussy eating and texture phobia and he referred him ( another story he has been like this since weaning def not a phase )Anyone the appointment didn't go well he is still young and doesn't like performing to starngers ... she was asking him to brush dollys hair or put cow in tractor and he really didn't want to do this for a stranger.. I admit he doesn't speak in sentances yet but I do feel at home he says the approx 200 words ..But as she didn't hear him speak much and he didn't do her commands she wants to see him regular
My friends have said SALT shouldn't see a child b4 3 and DH says they are just trying to label him rather than except he is a fussy little devil..

Advice would be appreciated as I am really stressed thanksxxx

Forgot to add he had his hearing checked a couple of months ago and that went great so its not that xx

There are a few SALTs on here I believe, who should be able to advise you, I always thought mainly children weren't referred until they were a bit older.

Exactly! imo he is still too young speech is only developing, what do they want a full adult conversation!, my 3 year old dd does not perform for strangers, but she speaks when she wants on her terms. If the SALT asked my dd those things then she would shy away.

I think that they expect too much too young, you could keep an eye on it, read to him and take him to different toddler groups or Surestart centre. I am not a professional just my opionion.

Hey

My DS has a SALT. He's 10 months. His is more for the eating side but he has a hard cleft palate and Pierre Robin sequence so that's why she's involved. At present he is making all the sounds he should be - baba, mama, dada, gaga, ooooo etc - but he is sometimes muffled. That will change in time and with therapy/ops.

Don't worry. Your DS sounds perfectly fine to me with 200 words and who likes performing on command anyway? Especially to a stranger? Maybe as he gets to know her he'll talk but if you really don't have any concerns about his speech why is she involved, is she more of a food SALT? Can you raise this with his consultant?

Thanks girls no it has nothing to do with food, she said that he is behind on his understanding and the words associated with things .. if that makes any sense

Anyway I thought too it was a bit young I feel like I should keep going as don't want them to think I don't care.. I have friends that all have girls and have noticed their speech seems alot more developed but again I wasn't sure if a general rule is boys are a little lazier .. thanks

please don't panic - I disagree with your friends - SALT can see a child from birth onwards depending on the issue - SALT on the NHS in this country don't tend to see children before 3 as a fair few children are late talkers - i.e will start speaking absolutely fine by 3 without any help, and as funds are limited, it's one way of cutting down spending!. SALT aren't IME interested in putting medical labels on a child, but in figuring out where they need to progress. A few ultimately unnecessary SALT sessions will do no harm at all. Hopefully when he sees her again he will be more relaxed with her, and do the stuff he does for you. Without your DS carrying out the commands, SALT won't have been able to see for herself that he understands simple 2 stage commands, she's just doing her job wanting to keep an eye on him.

I am a SALT and in our service we call this 'therapeutic investigation' e.g. the SALT knows very well that she hasn't seen the full extent of what he can and cannot do so is going to do a few sessions to tease that out a bit further. She will be aware that, because of his age, he may not perform in front of strangers and that she needs to become more familiar to get a better picture.

I will say that we are trained to know what children are able to do at different stages of their development from birth, and I have certainly seen children as young as 18 months in my clinic (and given therapy to children from 2 onwards). The aim of assessment is to find out where the 'faultlines' are so you will see a SALT undertake tasks that seem pointless and menial.. but the idea here is to isolate language from context to get a better idea of understanding.

Don't worry about it, go along, see what happens. As others have said, if it's unnecessary it won't prove harmful so you have nothing to lose. If the SALT does isolate areas that may benefit from some targeted early intervention, that will be good too.

Good luck!

Also wanted to say that as this is a Paed referral, a primary aim of the assessment will be to inform the Paed about speech, language and communication as the Paed will need this information to enable him/her in identifying the best possible route to address your son's fussy eating. It may be that the SALT finds nothing wrong and reports that back to the Paed, but it is still not wasted time as it aids the Paeds care plan.

Thanks Mrs Bean great to hear direct from SALT, I think I was getting all stressed as I didn't really understand what they would find in someone so young. She did give me feedback and said that he was behind so I need to see her . I hate with a passion my paed consultant who the whole time barely mentions how to help him with food just at one point that he was too active .. he was 21 mths at the time! then he said he didn't hear him say a word ( thats cos he is shy ) then he starts comparing my son to his 2 yr old daughter who could do x y and z at this age.. TBH i was just dreading him being told there is yet another problem with ds