Speech therapy

[Itscurtainsforyou]

I'm not sure if speech therapy falls under special needs, but thought this maybe a good place to start.

I've posted on the education board about my 7yo not being able to retain spellings (despite us using the squeebles app to help him learn in the short term, they don't stay in his head).

I've noticed that some of the mistakes he makes mirror his language - e.g. He can't say R or TH sounds, so often writes the words with an F or V instead of TH. it's like he can't hear the difference between them.

We've tried to help him with speech in our amateur way, but think it's time to get professional help.

Does speech therapy sound like the best way to go?
I've heard that there are long waiting lists in our area (south Manchester, Trafford area) so might have to bite the bullet and go private - how do I go about finding a decent speech therapist? Any recommendations??

Any help or advice would be great.

I think you're on the right track. My son had speech therapy when he was a bit younger than yours and it was a huge help to him. At least get him evaluated privately.

In our case, the local school district provided the speech therapist (I'm a Yank) and there was no wait to get one. I'd go to the agency that provides them in your area and ask them if they can refer you to someone. Or ask his pediatrician, he or she should know of the private ones in your area.

Good luck with your son, and good on you for being on top of this.

Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice. (ASLTIP)

Their website gives details of the people you want, and can be searched by area. You can normally have a chat with the SLT before committing to a full assessment.

My son has SALT as part of his EHCP. A lot of the work is phonetics and breaking down sounds and syllables, so yes sounds as if it might be worth a go. He did have NHS therapy when he was little, took over a year to get a referral and even then they could only offer a short block with other kids so it wasn't very effective (he was pre-school then) once he was at school we decided to pay private. Be warned it's expensive. Where we are it's in excess of £1000 per term for a weekly 1:1 session. You can start off with a full assessment and go from there. They may be able to write a plan that a TA or teacher can deliver which can bring the cost down if the school is supportive.