Would you delay reception for a child with a non-trivial speech delay?

[PeanutButterCrumpets]

DD will be 4 this month (June) and due to start Reception this September. Her speech is roughly that of a 2 year old. If it helps to know, didn't say a word prior to 3. Her expressive word count now is around 150 - 200 at most and her Receptive understanding can stretch to "can you get mummys keys please", or "leave your hat in the car" for example and she understands straight away. She is stringing mini phrases together (cold outside, big dog, help mummy, daddy working) and we are working on her pronunciation which is quite slurred - its difficult to determine what she is saying most of the time. Apart from her speech we have no suspicions of any other SN's and she is a cluey kid with a great memory and good attention span. FYI I was denied an EHCP assessment (not a compelling enough need they said) and separately DD has a mild high frequency hearing loss and is aided in both ears for this. Our speech therapist who has only so far spoken to me and not worked with DD is virtually ordering me to delay her purely based on her speech delay. It's thrown me right back into doubt as I was all set to send her into Reception this September. Nursery disagree about delaying her but i'm wondering what happens after reception (year 1+) when theres less play and more focus on academics. Maybe she'll have caught up by then... but maybe not. So my question: Did your DC have a speech delay and how did they fare in school? Did you have to hold them back during any years following Reception?

@Newmomma2705 If DD has an EHCP she can receive direct SALT provision in MS. You can get experience, training, qualifications of staff written in to F too.

Your daughter seems to have a speech delay because she is hearing impaired. The hearing impairment is the disability-not the speech delay. With regular sessions her speech will catch up. If you supplement your NHS SLT privately, always choose a therapist who specialises in deaf children.

I am surprised she was denied an EHCP given the deafness. Is she wearing hearing aids? She should also be allocated a ToD (teacher of the deaf) who will be guiding you/her till adulthood.

Often hearing impaired children have an exclusive TA helping them throughout primary school and beyond. (It is subject to the LEA though. Provisions vary). It is therefore important to push for that EHCP. The ToD will help you.

Do not delay sending her to school. There is no need. PM me if you like.

I’d be less worried about the speech (there is a child in DS’s class who barely speaks, but he joins in games and the other children just seem to accept that “James doesn’t speak”, he is fully included in friendship groups and parties).

I would think carefully about the receptive understanding - even though reception is play-based, they are doing a lot of phonics and maths, and there are rules to follow/routines to stick to. They will be sitting on the carpet listening to stories and being taught to write letters. They will be being asked to count things. DS’s non-speaking friend is very bright but just doesn’t talk (I assume either speech delay or autism, not sure which). If your daughter is unable to follow those kinds of instructions and explanations, she may be better waiting a year until her speech has caught up. June birthday is very young still.

I would say (I posted earlier on the thread and I'm now a SALT (but I don't work with kids) that it would depend to me on the quality of special school provision in your area - there are some out there which would be amazing, and some which would really struggle with a child who just has speech sound difficulties as a result of hearing loss (which is fairly common - if you can't hear all the frequencies of human speech sounds well - you're going to struggle to pick them up) but is functioning well in terms of understanding and generally.

Ideally you want a SLT who will spend some time basically teaching the TAs who are delivering the interventions - and depending on how your child's EHCP is worded there should be some provision in there (I know - we can dream cos some EHCPs are vaguer and woolier than my eldest's excuses for not doing homework) for that to be delivered to them. I'd also be pushing for a specialist SLT who works with the hearing impaired (and you should have access to a ToD as well) as it's really quite a specialist area.

For my own daughter it took until midway through about year 1 before her speech really started to fly in terms of clarity - but the speech sound issues really did mask issues with receptive language and auditory processing as well which came to light later on as the language demands increased when she's got older. She still just about holds her own academically though but I sometimes wonder if she'd have coped better in the year below - but she had a superb reception teacher who really did amazingly for her.

@Newmomma2705 my own speech delayed DS doesn't start reception until this September. However, what I would say is my experience is that both of my older two seemed to stall developmentally over the autumn term in reception. They get so tired from the move to 5 days, and the learning to deal with the constant social interaction every day. DC1 I can't say what would have happened over the rest of the year as he stopped school in March (first lockdown) but DC2 did slowly move into making progress after about February half term. How tired is your DD?

Thank you for your replies everyone. She has an ehcp we have just had the review and i am trying to push for it to be reworded so thanks for telling me I can also talk about staff qualifications and that in it she definately needs more than the untrained TAs. I currently pay a private speech therapist to go in and train staff because NHS provision is so awful. However I still don't feel like this is enough as someone who has specific speech qualifications. And @CrabbyCat she is so so tired. She did till 1215 for the first term because couldn't cope. She now stays till 230 and is a bit better no falling asleep when I collect her. So thanks for that maybe after the Feb half term I might see some progress cos at the moment she's learnt nothing and speech has stalled. Xx

With an EHCP you really don’t need to pay for private SALT to train school staff. You can have that training written into F, and if DD requires ongoing direct SALT that can be written in F too. Then if the LA can’t or won’t provide it the LA must commission independent provision. This should happen whether you stay in MS or move to SS.

Hi @Newmomma2705 I'm happy to say pressing on with school for DD was without a doubt the absolute best move. She has positively thrived. Her teachers have been so supportive and her confidence has grown so much. Six months in now and we only just had our first nhs SALT session but i'm grateful for anything we can get given we don't have an ehcp. We've been through 3 private Speech Therapists over the last couple of years - its been difficult to find a satisfactory one let alone a good one. DD is speaking so much more - I still find it hard to understand her sometimes but she tries hard and uses broken english and to be honest it works and people generally understand what she's trying to say even if it takes a few goes. The progress from where she started is immense. She's writing her name and other words and doing great socially. I couldn't ask for more and am happy I ignored all those around me urging me to delay her. The school said to go ahead and an Ed Psych said to go ahead and they were so right. She recently had radio aids fitted for her high frequency hearing loss. If your DD has an EHCP, is this not providing the support she needs?? Surely the SENCO should be policing this for you? xx

So sorry I just saw your update! Great news on the review and fingers crossed the ehcp is reworded more usefully for your DD. Re: tiredness, my DD is also extremely tired after school. She'd somehow hold it together at school and come home ridiculously tired. We'd sometimes have complete emotional meltdowns at home. Thankfully this is all much better. I didn't catch if your DD has hearing aids. My DD's hearing aids were just last week fitted with a radio aid for the classroom and she loves it - DD can hear the teacher crystal clear directly in her ear.