My child has a speech and language delay thinking of changing schools good or bad idea???

[Nointhemood]

At moment he's at a school with a big intake and very few there have special needs. Theres a nearby school which is out of our catchment area but has an excellent offstead, and only two classes and also takes children with hearing impairment and other needs.They have speacialist teaching support and it just sounds like a very caring environment.Ds is 5 and I want to do the best for him but i dont want to upset him or make things worse.

Tough one (both my boys have/had S&L delay).

If you're confident that this will be the very last change, I would go for it. You obviously wouldn't be researching alternatives if you felt his needs were being met, and if they're not being met in reception, it's unlikely they'll be met in later years. He's 5, so it's not so likely that his needs will fade completely, though I'm sure they will become more subtle as the years go by.....

Those used to working with deaf people would be good at adapting their techniques for a S&L delay, I'd have thought.

You don't want to change again in a year or two's time though, do you?

hmm thats what i was thinking.Think i need to speak to SALT as still have questions not answered. Lingle can I ask how your boys are getting on? Did their S and L affect their schooling? Apparently ds not reaching the levels he should be for his age

Do you know what is causing S&L delay issue? One of my dd's had glue ear, another had hearing impairment that was cured by johansen therapy - the low frequencies were too sensitive and the high frequencies were very very poor, she now has "perfect" hearing - a lovely curve instead of a flat line!

Here is a link about it

www.soundlearningsystems.co.uk/id13.html

My children were at a small school but both of them had the same fantastic teacher who is also the school SENCO. What are they doing at his current school to support him? With my youngest one (whose speach is coming on amazingly now she can hear properly) the teacher gives her a warning that it is going to be her turn to talk and they do a small group work with 4 dc that have speech "issues". So that is 4 children in one class who need/are benefitting from extra work focussing on speech and language. YOur son can't be alone in such a large intake!

does the nearby school even have spaces? are you happy with his current school - what sort of support are they giving him if they think he's behind for his age? in what way do they think he's behind?

I'm sure your boy is different to mine. You might wish to describe his S&L issues, and the teacher's attempts to address them, in more detail.

DS1 outgrew his issue by the time he started school at 4.9 - they didn't affect his ability to access the curriculum. So it was a true "Delay".

DS2 is still very behind - he's 4.8 but his comprehension is very similar to that of our "typical" neighbour's girl who's 3.6. Fortunately, he doesn't have to start reception till 5.0 (he was due to start at 4.0 but that wasn't feasible). He is on school action plus. The headmistress comes to my nursery "parents evenings" which last half an hour and also involve the school SENCO. So we have a good level of service.

With DS2, staff are very on top of his language in the school nursery. Now that he can answer some (only some) questions, that gives them a useful diagnostic tool to see what he has and has not understood. Staff are also on top of his progress in terms of socialising with his peers, which is good.

Ds2 is a strongly visual learner. Teachers really struggle to understand this (I suspect because most people going into teaching are very strong verbal learners). The SALT comes in to "train" them but unfortunately there is rivalry between the two professions so the teachers don't really "take ownership" of the idea of supporting visual learners - they see it as something to grow out of.

Specialist teaching support - in my case, someone who could draw pictures to help DS2 understand what the teacher was saying - would be my dream. However, before contemplating a move as you are doing, I would ask to be a fly on the wall in the new classroom and to watch the classroom assistant work with the kids who have needs.

Much sympathy, it's a tough thing.

well to be honest im really pissed off. According to SALT ds is behind and not meeting standards and so they are trying to bring him up to scratch for when he joins year 1. However she can't explain which areas over the phone so its only because ive rang her a few times this week to find out what exactly the problem is and how we can help etc that she said it would be best to meet and explain the report.

The thing is not one of his teachers has said anything to me with regards to him falling behind??? I found out last week from SALT when she said 'developmental delay' obviously i was shocked and couldn't ask a single question so have been trying to ring her all week to ask what did she mean especially when she's saying he's behin in his schooling. She could of just said he's got a speech and lang delay!!! But now ive got a bit more clearer idea i can no have a word with the teacher tommarrow but im wondering why the teacher has'nt addressed me about him falling behind!!!! Im so confused to be honest as they aren't giving much information.

So it sounds like he could have a receptive language delay, that he doesn't understand what is said to him as well as expected of the average child his age. It sounds like you need to insist that he has a proper assessment to see if he can be statemented so that he gets some one to one support????

I would go over the the SN board and ask about how you go about him being statemented. It may well be that the other school will be better for him but I think the first issue is for you to get a clear diaganosis of what the professionals think the problem is.

I'd be really angry too at the way they're handling it. My dd was on the register from September and I have a meeting once per term about her SEN in addition to usual parents eve and she has an IEP to they are monitoring her progress or lack of.

SALT are being very general and saying he's failing in area's but not sayig what. I would of spoke to the teacher last week but i needed to be sure of what SALT had said. SALT were going to speak to the teachers too but not once has the teacher approached me. Yet my friend has been approached by her teacher about some issues even though he hasn't got any sn. This is my first child so i have nothing to compare him with to me he's normal its only now and then that my instinct will say this can't be right.Surely i should be getting input from both.

oh lord no wonder you are pissed off. it could be that your DS is slipping through the net if he is able to do the basics for reception - count to 20, knows the phonic alphabet etc - but that's still not right of school, as if SLT feels there's an obvious problem, school should have some inkling! hopefully the meeting with SLT will make things clearer.

I would ask on SN what steps to take to stop him slipping through the net. With S & L it could be that he was just a little late at one point but although he's progressing he's getting furter behind IYSWIM.

Sadly you need to be proactive and quite pushy sometimes, a lesson I have also learnt the hard way.

how maddening. good luck getting to the bottom of these vague statements.