Development delay

[Sia09]

Hi, my 3 1/2 year old is being referred to a paediatrician she is slightly speech delayed and has an understanding delay excells in everything else has anyone had any experience with this? It is a year waiting list, am I able to go private? And does anyone know of anything I can try to help her besides the obvious asking questions giving choices etc x

I don’t have experience of this I’m afraid but didn’t want to read and run.

I presume they’ve investigated your daughters hearing and she’s seen SALT?

You can go private for this whilst you await your NHS appointment which personally I would do.

Best of luck OP x

My daughter is 3.5 & was referred for speech therapy on the nhs October last last by her nursery. At the time it was at last a 12 months wait. I haven't received an appointment yet.

We decided to get a private assessment & have had semi regular sessions to monitor her progress. There's been a huge improvement in this time. We've very proud of how far she's come & really pleased we got the ball rolling.

Who has referred her?
It would be unusual to refer to a Paediatrician if it were merely concerns about receptive and expressive language. (speech and understanding).

Has she been assessed by a SaLT (Speech and Language Therapist)?

She has been referred by my health visitor, hearing is all ok and she has not seen SALT, I think the concern is more about her understanding delay, example she can’t tell you what her favourite item is or tv show/charactor is, she won’t answer people’s questions 80% of the time, if I tell her that she is a sister and that Ben is her brother she looks at me blank, but she can count 1-10 in English and Welsh she can say all her alphabet but she seems to copycat most things she says from myself or tv. When I have read up on things I am more drawn to a receptive language delay, she really does excel in other ways and is socially great and loves playing with her friends. I don’t want to be waiting year to get started on things, does anyone have an idea on price for anitial assessment and session's going forward? X

You can book an appointment with a Speech Therapist from
I Can which is free, and is a very good starting point.

(I mean, you could always make a donation at some point in the future if you were able to).

I would recommend taking a look at the speech delay app Pippin. It teaches you how to help your child at home with speech. Might be worth a try whilst you are waiting for your NHS appointment.

https://www.pippinspeech.com/