Special phonics group + SALT referral = anything?

[letsblowthistacostand]

DD is 4 and in reception. She knows all her sounds and can blend and decipher when pressed, but she's been put in a special group (extra tuition and things to do at home) because her writing is abysmal and she can't really hold a pencil effectively. She has also been referred to SALT but we haven't had an assesment yet--the teacher's description is that she can't always get the words out properly, especially if she is telling a long story or is very excited. I don't have trouble understanding her but strangers sometimes do.

Does this add up to anything? She's always had motor issues, walked late, gets tired easily, that sort of thing. Just tell me if there's anything I should worry about or if it's normal and she'll catch up.

Personally from your description I would be implementing a motor programme rather than a special phonics group. She's young and SaLT should identify any problems early and correct difficulties if they exist.

The special group is addressing motor skills as well--it's more of an all around literacy group (90 mins once a week, parents invited) and she also does extra fine motor activities in the classroom.

I just don't like this waiting! The waiting time for SALT is months here. I would have never thought she needed an assessment but there you go! Now I want something to research.

Can I say 'google dyspraxia' without alarming you?

Not saying at all that she has it. Just that it's possible she does....

Thanks for the link. That could be a possibility, a friend who is a SN teacher mentioned dyspraxia as well when I mentioned the referrals. Parents' evening is coming up after half term so I will ask all about it then!

sounds like it could be dyspraxia.
My ds2 is dyspraxic / dyscalulic and since junior school has had lots of intervention.
It sounds like the special group she is in, includes fizzy, which is a programme for fine and gross motor skills. It' excellent, a really good, fun programme.
Your school sounds like a really good one, really on the ball, which is half the battle, and of course your dd is very very young, she has plenty of time to catch up on any difficulties. I wouldn't worry too much about the SALT referral just yet.
Ds2 has done fizzy for years now, he's 9 and you can hardly tell he he had quite obvious difficulties at 6

I would suggest a trip to your GP and ask for an Occupational therapy referral so she can be checked for her motor skills and if appropriate some help given (writing grip, exercises to help improve muscle strength and control etc). Does she have an IEP in place? Sounds like she should and the school should be going through this with you when it is set up or updated to keep you in the loop of what is happening and the outcome of the help they are providing too.

Thanks everyone. Beautifulgirls, I am going to ask about all of that at parents' evening. She is very young and I think the school have been assessing her until now. The question is, when do motor skills delays become dyspraxia? At what point do we decide how much help she needs to catch up?

The school are really good, they've got a lot of special programs in place. The phonics/literacy group is fab, you go and do all kinds of fun activities with your kid and then they give you lunch! And they've been doing fine motor activities with her all along.

I think its a bit premture to discribe a four year old's writing as abysmal. My son had no pen control whatsoever until the END of reception. If there is a concern about speech then its best to investigate it.

What is fizzy? Do you have a link?

The question is, when do motor skills delays become dyspraxia? At what point do we decide how much help she needs to catch up?

This is kind of the wrong question.

Dyspraxia, like most things, is on a spectrum.

So image if you're at '30' you get a dx of (mild) dyspraxia, and at '50' you get a dx of (moderate) dyspraxia.

But if your child is '25' or '35' or '55' you should probably be doing similair things with her now.

However if she is '25', then you do a few things with her at 4, and it resolves itself. Whereas if she is at '35' then you have to do things with her at 4, 5 and 6 to get to the same place.....

And if she's at '25' and you don't do anything with her at 4 it will probably also resolve itself - but later, and with less good results, than if you'd done something specific to help

Does that make sense?

IndigoBell that makes perfect sense. I would guess she's in the 25-35 range. Will talk to her teacher and google for things to do at home.

My advice would be don't try to "diagnose" anything yourself - she is very young and may just be taking longer to develop in some areas. My DD1's (June birthday) reception teacher was concerned about her social skills (wouldn't interact in first months of reception) and referred her to SALT, and also concerned about her motor skills (falling over a lot and poor pencil control).

But it's all worked out over time.

SALT confirmed that she's just shy and needs encouragement in group situations - school do small group work to help social skills (plus lots of playdates have helped).

Her writing went from being a concern at March parents evening to suddenly clicking in April and being ahead of the reception target by the end of the term.

So after all that waffle, what I'm trying to say is the very young ones sometimes need to catch up developmentally. So don't panic and just take all the extra help the school offer (don't take offence as I did at first!), recognising they need a little help is great and means the school have their best interests at heart.