Private Therapy for Possibly Autistic Son

[TJO123]

DS is 2 and a half. Displays many traits associated with autism and ASD. He is on the waiting list for an assessment but over 8 months on the NHS!

I’m aware that early intervention can be very beneficial so fell like 8 months is far too long to wait.

I want to get some help privately but don’t know where to go, or who to see? I’ve managed to see a private speach therapist (NHS waiting list was 5 months!) but wasn’t particularly helpful.

Any ideas on how to go about getting support privately, or even just finding books or online resources for stuff we can start doing at home whilst awaiting NHS input

What did you find unhelpful about the SALT?

2 and a half is very young for a diagnosis, many children that age will ‘catch up’ (or however you want to put it) once they are at nursery/ school.

But, if you’re worried, I’d research holistic approaches to autism. Depending on the behaviours there’s a few things you could try -stick to routines for things like morning routines/ bath time/ toileting etc, ignore behaviours and praise as much as you can, make activities easier if LO is struggling and make sure they know they can achieve.
You can pay for private support workers - get someone who has experience and you feel a connection with. You’ll hopefully be able to find a counsellor in your area who works with young people, play therapy is probably most common for such a young age.

Good luck @TJO123

Your local authority should have a portage team (google it) who can work with you and your child.

You want to stay away from ABA therapy which is often pushed by people who might talk about early intervention and so on. Many older autistic people have spoken out against this type of therapy and said they found it cruel and humiliating.

I would suggest Hanen, More Than Words book for play and interaction strategies you can use to support the development of his communication skills.

And use ASLTIP website to find a better independent SaLT

Private interventions to try.

Private speech and language therapy from a therapist who is trained with Autistic children.

Hanen programme

Makaton

Sensory integration therapy

Music therapy

Occupational therapy

Social skills group

Intensive interaction

ABA therapy gave my son language. No speech therapist has ever given a single bit of help to my son, none of them could even get his attention.

His beloved ABA therapist has enabled him to speak, toilet independently, dress himself, learn to read and attend mainstream school successfully. She did this by playing with bubbles and games and helping him kindly and compassionately and with considerably more expertise and knowledge than any speech therapist or specialist teacher has ever managed, and they have had plenty of opportunities.

Other things ABA has taught my son
How to count. How to add up and subtract.
How to play games and take turns.
How to answer questions.
How to ask for what he needs.

Not knowing how to do those things would have impacted his entire life.

@secular39

Excellent suggestions!

Makaton/ sign-a-long courses are great for parents/ carers to do, and their websites/ google have a whole bunch of free resources as well. Salt should have suggested this - but not holding out much hope if OP was unimpressed with them.

I think ABA has changed a lot over the decades. Specialist SALT helped us but although the paediatrian and GP thought at 2 my son had autism it was actually a speech and language delay

Speech and language therapy works. However, it does require dedication. If you did 20-40 hours per week of SLT (as that's the rough time estimated for ABA) you will see progress.

ABA works because of the intensity, breaking down key skills and using errorless learning or forward/backward chaining techniques- which are proven to work for adults and children with learning differences. I don't think ABA is good for language and social skills. Many of the children I've seen, who have ABA, have lots of language but their language ain't functional and are usual missing that social elements. However, I am not against ABA.

Well in some ways I do agree with you secular39 - my son cannot participate in happy social conversation with his peers BUT he does have language to express his needs and wants, to articulate his emotions and to understand a great deal of what is said to him about what is going on. Without VB MAPP skills breakdown and the skill of his therapist he would be non verbal and have no receptive language. Conventional speech therapy did nothing, despite regular sessions in the specialist language unit he attended. He learned nothing from them and would not communicate with them.

Sorry OP, I have derailed your thread somewhat, it just made me cross to read that I had been abusing my son.

One thing I would suggest if you have speech and language issues is to do a search on cerebral folate deficiency, there is some interesting work going on in identifying children with FRAA status and supplementing with large doses of folinate.