Surprised by Speech referral nursery 2 years old

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I’m wondering if anyone can help or offer guidance/ advice. I’m a ftm and I’ve just been told this morning that nursery want to refer my little boy to speech and language therapy which I was shocked about.

He’s 2 years 5 month and we’ve not long had our health visitor check about 2 weeks ago who wasn’t concerned about his speech.

I don’t have any concerns at home however I don’t really know any other children his age to compare his speech with.

Like I said it was a bit of a shock for them to mention it to me but I said if you think that’s best then yeah refer him. It was the manager of the nursery and his key worker who spoke to me and the key worker said he doesn’t communicate when he’s there but they understand his quirks.

He does only go to nursery once a week for a full day so I’m thinking maybe that could be why he doesn’t feel as confident there.

At home he’s always talking, naming his cars, animals, he can say all his colours, he can count to 10 and says sentences like “put shoes on” “wash your car” (a game we play) he says “you” “me” and his name.

Obviously hearing that they think he needs this upset me this morning as I’m thinking have I missed something and could I of done more?

They did say with Covid at the moment it’s taking 18 weeks for a referral so they’re being overly cautious as they wouldn’t want to wait and have to wait longer. So he may be fine in 18 weeks.

Has anyone had any experience with referrals? What they entail? If it does take 18 weeks it’ll be around 3 months until he’s 3.

I’m just questioning everything and tbh just a bit upset.

Edit*

I have rang the nursery for more information and they said he takes his key workers hand to where he wants to go rather than communicate it and sometimes his speech can be unclear.

I said he counts and says colours at home but she said at nursery he does that put only if prompted.

Sorry you are in this situation, but I think it's really positive that the nursery are being proactive about this just in case it's something he needs help with in the future.

Have a Google for 'selective mutism' and see if it rings any bells for you?

Our little one is the same age as yours and was referred to SALT, too.

We had an assessment appointment through within a few weeks, saw the therapist and he decided not to actually refer him at the moment, as he's making progress. He's a little delayed, but nothing to worry too much about, he said.

We've been provided with some material and given tips on how to support him best.

I can totally relate that it came as a shock, but it's wonderful they're being so proactive. Rather that, than the other way round. :)

Yes my son was referred at that age and it was great that he was. At the first speech language session the therapist called it correctly as a hearing issue and he was then referred to ENT and continued with speech therapy as well as having grommets and adenoids removed.

Mine was the same just saying words rather than full sentences.
The worst that happens is you go and the speech and language therapist says it isn't needed

My son was referred at a similar age as he didn't speak at nursery but talked perfectly well at home.

He was diagnosed with selective mutism at 3. He could talk fine if we were there, but as soon as we were away he didn't speak. It was something we'd never have known about if we didn't leave him at nursery. Finding it then meant there was lots we could all do to help him. The issue likely would have become apparent when he started school if he'd not attended nursery / preschool before then.

3 week before leaving preschool he spoke for the first time at preschool - BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. He now talks freely at school.

Try not to worry and see what the SALT says.

He isn't speaking as well as my slightly younger 2 year old. Although I was under the impression that they'd have to only be saying single words in order to be referred.
If the speech therapist isn't worried, they'll just say your son doesn't need it. No harm done.

You have absolutely nothing to lose here. It's great that the nursery is so on the ball. If the SALT is happy with him when he's assessed, you've lost nothing. But if she thinks that some extra intervention would be helpful, then you're ahead of the game, which is brilliant. There are lots of mums who would be envious!

That said, I know it's worrying that someone thinks there's a delay. But it doesn't sound like a serious one, and any help is great.

I feel I am vaguely evangelical about this but I so wish somebody had told me that the first thing to suspect about unclear speech is a hearing problem. My son fooled many people including a speech therapist who never suspected his speech problems were because he couldn't hear properly. She thought he might be developmentally delayed or worse. The GP missed the glue ear problem. It's not that the child doesn't hear anything and they may hear enough to understand but not so well as to enable them to develop clear speech. I felt very guilty about my son who obviously picked up visual clues and perhaps had taught himself some rudimentary lipreading. I am not saying your son has a hearing problem of course but it is something to be aware of. I recall my son getting kitted out for the test with the instructions of putting the marble in the bowl when he heard the noise. He obviously made sense of the instructions but I could see the face of the tester as she was repeatedly cranking up the sound because his hearing was very poor. He got grommets and speech therapy but it initially did hold him back. A not very reliable test is to be behind the child - don't give any visual clues - and offer him a food item that he adores like a chocolate bar. My son loved the stuff and didn't get it very often. When I stood behind him and asked him if he wanted chocolate bar there was absolutely no response because he hadn't heard a word of it.

If there is a hearing problem try to get down to his level and face the child straight on, ideally without background noise. We were lucky that thanks to a cancellation my son got to a specialist and got grommets within the week. The specialist told me afterwards that he had a particularly bad case of glue ear. The only odd thing is that when his ears cleared up he was revealed to have very acute hearing and can hear conversations from rooms away.

My two year old only had about 10single words at two. We got a referral and by the time it came through (about a month) he was talking full sentences. So he may well catch up quickly.
I'd take it as a positive that the ball is rolling if he does need help. And if not no harm done.

Take the support if it’s offered. My 5yo is getting salt therapy at school and people are quite shocked as she’s very verbal and confident with her speech, child that’s ahead of expectations etc . School put the referral in and I was a bit shocked as I’d not noticed an issue (then felt bad about not noticing). She loves her sessions with the SALT and I’m glad she’s getting the extra help with her pronunciation.

I've experienced many mixed emotions about speech and language referrals, however in my opinion if the helps there then take it. I had the opposite experience as I was concerned about my sons speech but everyone kept telling me he was fine, I continued to peruse it and eventually got him referred. Lots of work at home and nursery did bring him on so when they eventually saw him 2 years later, the major concerns had been fixed, they did still agree to meet with him, where they agreed with me that he had some minor word finding difficulties and sentence structure issues. It didn't warrant one to one support, so he took part in some group interventions in nursery, it's not fixed his problem but he's learned few coping strategies now and is no longer frustrated. I think people assume that speech needs to be very delayed to seek further support, when infact speech is made up of many areas, and any difficulty warrants a referal. I would take it as a positive that the nursery are being proactive, as he might not have difficulty at present but could develop further into his education.

I'm a FTM although my child is a bit older than yours is now. I've been advised to get a few different assessments arranged. I think initially it can be quite a shock but honestly I'm now looking at all of the positives:
-his school is proactive and looking to diagnose if extra support is needed
-things can be quickly picked up if there are any issues and support arranged
-there's absolutely no harm done if he has assessments that show no concerns

I'm trying to take it as a win win.

Op I’ve been there and I get that it’s a huge shock so first of all sending you some

I get that he is actually meeting his main recent speech milestone which is such a good sign - he’s speaking two words sentences. That’s such a good sign.

Nursery are actually acting in the gold standard way by doing this. It’s often very hard to get a referral and I’ve experienced teachers being slow to see a problem. Best approach is to be delighted they are onside.

In the meantime there is loads you can do.

First of all I would go to gp and ask for a hearing test referral, or pay privately for one. It turned out my dd had blue ear. She could hear loads but the problem is they can sometimes hear a bit but not at the usual level and hear some frequencies but not others. So I would push for a test. Grommets are a simple op and radically improved my dc’s speech 2-3 weeks after the op.

I would also buy a Hannen book from the Canadian speech therapy foundation. They were recommended by my speech therapist for practical evidence based home activities to help you get your child talking more. More Than Words is very good - you can get it from the Winslow Press website because it’s.v expensive on Amazon for some reason

Glue ear not blue ear(!!)

Mine got referred by the health visitor at his 2 yo check. The speech and lang therapist did a home visit, about 5 mins in said he was absolutely fine and they wouldn't need to come back.

I'm sure it's a shock if you're not expecting it but it's actually really good of your nursery to pick it up so early. I've been going to speech therapy drop in clinics trying to get my DS seen by a speech therapist since he was 2.5years. He's now 4 years old and they've said he'll be on the waiting list for at least another year. The nursery didn't pick it up at all but school did in the first week and checked we'd been referred. It's been such a long wait and I'm doing speech therapy at home based on exercises I've found on the internet. If he doesn't need it then no harm done they will do a thorough assessment, so you don't need to worry. If there is something to work on they've picked it up early which gives him the best chance.

You have absolutely nothing to lose here. It's great that the nursery is so on the ball. If the SALT is happy with him when he's assessed, you've lost nothing. But if she thinks that some extra intervention would be helpful, then you're ahead of the game, which is brilliant. There are lots of mums who would be envious!

This ^.
It is great that they have picked it up and are able to make a referral.

I'm sure this would be a shock BUT it may be that he's communicating differently at nursery from how he does at home. They will just spend some time with him and soon tell you if they are not concerned. Keep talking to him at home in the meantime. Hope it goes well :-)