Really upset with my sons' primary school.

[Snowwhite83]

I found out today that DS (5) primary school are no longer letting his speech and language therapy into school for sessions because of space issues. I have been told previously my son who has low muscle tone affecting his speech is not bad enough for an ECHP but there is no NHS provision for SALT so we have been paying this ourselves. For information it is quite a large school and his therapist has offered to be extremely flexible about the times she sees him (was visiting in the afternoon when the school is less busy). Myself and my husband work fulltime so this means he won't be able to access therapy. I do not know of any therapists that work evenings or weekend and it was hard enough finding ond as most have long weight lists. Is this fair? They didn't even contact me and just told the therapist which I thought was poor. Is there anything I can do?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

This is a really key point here. To be effective speech therapy needs to be followed up regularly between sessions by parents and/ or school staff. If no significant adult is attending with your child then how is this being done effectively?

An ethical private therapist should be making this clear to you. I do find many don’t though and this sceptic I’m my wonders whether this is because they know how much longer therapy will take (more £££s) if it’s not regularly followed up.

Ideally you need school to provide both a room and an adult from the class to attend. If this can’t be facilitated I really would find a way to move the sessions so that you can attend instead. It will save you a lot of time and money in the long term.

I have worked in many schools. The OP says it is a large primary. If there is genuinely nowhere to do a one hour 1.1, fine. However I think this is unlikely. OP I would ask to meet to resolve this. Could it be done after school or during say PE where the classroom will be empty? If they are unable or unwilling to help I would make a complaint.

As a speech therapist you will be able to understand that you aren’t privy to the inner workings of every single primary school in the country. I can open my mind enough to see that there may be the odd school that will be unhelpful when they could make more effort, but on the whole I have enough respect for the teaching profession that I don’t believe they will regularly deny children support just for the sake of it. It benefits them when children get the right support.

Considering OP’s school did facilitate speech therapy in the past, I’d believe that they are telling the truth when they say they can’t do it anymore. If they were going to be obstructive for no reason they would have done it from the start.

In my school, it would be a genuine struggle to provide a space for an external professional to use because every available space is already used to capacity. We already have enough children in school with 1-1s that use the spaces and there are other staff fighting over spaces in the afternoons when they need to do interventions. In the mornings we have small groups of children working in corridors there is that little space. There simply isn’t a suitable area in the school that we can guarantee will be free every week. We can’t prioritise private therapy over providing the extra support we are obliged to give children ourselves.

It is not fair or accurate for schools and their staff to be criticised for things that are genuinely beyond their control.

Outraged, trying to get an SLT is so hard , your child could be supported in the classroom which would enable observations with her peers and teaching staff to occur , advice in the form of reports and exercises to support her language discussed in teams or phone, this wouldn’t comprise staffing or make her stand out .A good SLT will blend and not make her feel silly. Please view the SEND policy/ communication and language policy/ working in a multi agency capacity and working with parents in partnership. If you get no joy then as an earlier post suggested then talk to the school SEND , then Head, and finally after exhausting all avenues the governors. I hope your D.D receives the identified support she deserves

Comprise?

Why and how would a speech and language therapist ‘blend and not make you feel silly’? They aren’t TAs in the classroom, they need to work in a room 1:1 with a child. If there isn’t a spare room, it’s not going to be possible.

There is no such thing as a ‘school SEND’. If you mean the SENCO, then that’s a good idea-have a chat in September and find out what’s going on with the rooms. If there’s nothing possible during the school day, is there a room that could maybe be utilised after school?

My DC, TA and SLT managed to do it successfully in a corridor!

Sorry acromined out , apologies . But the greater point rather than my inaccuracies is as you point out this can and should be facilitated for this young person .

Sorry, I’m not sure what acromined means.

It should be facilitated-where this is possible. The OP obviously needs to have a chat with the school to find out what’s changed with the rooms and what’s feasible.

One SaLT involved with a pupil in a previous school demanded a private room with a closed door for morning slots. We couldn’t facilitate that so it didn’t happen in that way. We have recently facilitated use of the ICT room after school and the parent came in as well.

It seems we are having the same view , this child should be facilitated . To do with acronyms a a mind field for example SLT means speech and language therapist , on the other it means senior leadership team . But let’s not loose the rabbit on this . Agreed that’s this young person should access support

Ah, we would use SaLT and SLT, so it’s easy to distinguish between the two.

It would probably be good for the business of private child counsellors/SaLTs/therapists going forward to work outside school hours some days-early evenings/Saturday mornings etc. If parents are paying, but work 9-5, it allows much more flexibility.

I'm a teacher and to be honest when we have someone come in and do 1:1 it feels frustrating because the needs of that one could are put above a group or groups if the space would be used for interventions. To try and work in a staffroom with children having work carried out is so hard because you can't concentrate.

In our school you'll find teachers having their planning time in the main school office sometimes crammed next to the secretary because there's no space! We have groups of children sitting in a corner of the hall trying to do extra phonics- there's no space!

If you knew the gargantuan effort that probably went behind getting that 1:1 in place for that child, you might not feel so put out. <eye roll>

There is a difference between the ‘gargantuan effort that the school has made’ (normally hours of paperwork and meetings by the SENCo) to get a 1:1 for a child-who is an LSA within the classroom with a child needing no special room-and a parent paying for private therapy but wanting it done in school by someone external who wants a private room in school regularly allocated for them.

The second can be much harder for the school to accommodate if they are a small school.

My granddaughter's nursery was very helpful in accommodating my DGD's private speech therapy. But it took both a side room out of action and a nursery assistant out of the main room for an hour a week. But after a few months it just got too difficult and the SALT had to work in a (not so) quiet corner of the main room, and with the NA popping over occasionally.

That just wouldn't work in most schools. Most primary classes don't have a TA to lose in the first place, it would be impossible to provide SALT in the classroom, and morally, should the other children lose a TA's input, to provide for one child's private therapy?

Yes ideally we would work 24/7 to offer as much flexibility to families but unfortunately we have children of our own to look after/ just have a life outside of work and quite a lot just don't want to work evenings and weekends! I've got so much work coming in at the moment I can afford to work when I want to work (as a result of the poor state of the NHS).

Obviously 24/7 isn’t possible 😂. Some external providers might like the flexibility of working eg a Wednesday evening 5-7 or Saturday morning and then not working eg Thursday morning-especially if they don’t have kids themselves.

It’s about flexible working which might be a good business model to support the kids of parents that work.

Surely if it means so much to you, you can take time off work and prioritise your sons speak therapy, and go to see therapist elsewhere???
that’s what I did when my child had to go