What does a good SALT look like?

[StarkAndWitchesWillFindYou]

I want to hire a private one. I need one to understand about autism, but not assume that we have to work on joint attention and initiating interaction.

I want someone that can help sort out ds' disordered language at a time when he is desperate and motivated to talk and help him understand the grammar etc. and the complex pronouns.

This is my weakest area of knowledge, so I could be talking complete nonsense and joint attention is in fact what we really need. I don't know.

Has anyone got anything to add or help?

I think you set an objective, so 'click fingers'.

Objective met would be 'thumb and middle finger connect and 'click' is heard'

error would be 'fingers don't connect or 'click' is not heard'.

You'd then chart how many times your DS could click his fingers in 1 minute, and also chart how many 'errors' he got.

Then you'd see an increasing rate as he got more proficient, and a decreasing error rate.

But hopefully Moondog would correct me if I haven't got it right.

I guess what threw me was trying to figure out what functional skills anyone would need to do 500 times a minute to acquire.

But I guess the minute was just an illustration. It could be how many sums done in 10 minutes or how long it takes to button up a coat etc.

No, I think the whole thing is that fluency comes with repitition, so you work on increasing the rate the task is done at, so that it becomes second nature.

There is a document here which is guidance for Kent teachers on precision teaching with sound work.

They use methods like:

"spat without the s"
"That without the t"
etc.

So the idea is that the child gets very very quick at changing the word, then that brings fluency, I think.

Oh dear. I didn't understand THAT document much either.

This is for fine motor skills - but so clear

Why fluency is important

Achieving Fluent Mastery with focus on Special Education.

Thanks Lougle, that second from last one was particularly helpful.

I can't answer for Moondog, but I suppose in this context the reason why isn't much taken into consideration. I suppose you would work with her purely on trying to increase performance alone at the task, and then once she appears to have achieved her best, alter ONE thing in the possible reasons for difficulty category and then test that out.

So, if it was her fine motor skills thing, then once she has got a skill with a normal pen, try a fatter or round one or one with a grip and run the 'programme' again to see if you get a better outcome.

I think the focus is on performance rather than why, but you might hypothesise the 'why' and test it against the baseline you have created.

Does that make any sense at all?

And Leonie, - very funny!

Ahh, makes sense, Star, thanks

Lougle, re this
,say I wanted to teach her letter formation, how would I know if she was not getting it because of her LD, or because her hands just can't do the stuff, for example?,

It;s actually irrelevant whqt causes her not to ;get it;. The fqct is, if you practiced a lot she probably would get better/ I work on similar things all the time using a combination of TAG and Precision Teaching: The progress one then sees is staggering: I,m about to do one of the three or four tasks my kids do evetyday. Will take me ten minutes,glass of wine in hand.

Doing saying random numers up to 5 digits long in a minute. to spped dd up on getting this stuff straight away.

A lot of people set good targets but opps/ to practice and improve are too few. I,m embarking on some really exciting fine notor stuff at present with a teacher and an O/T. If you are interested in that, google .the big 6 and PT/

Nice links Lougle and yes yuo are pretty much on trqck/ Binder is the GOD although there are others, of Precision Teaching qnd fluency issues: His articles are cleqr qNND EAsy to reqd too:

Docunent Lougle linked to of 22. 26 expecially good albeit old photostat.

Anyway, - back to me

I found a SALT who chatted to me for ages on the phone. She suggests a series of direct therapy and assessment as she goes to be phased into consultation once she has got to grips with ds' needs and my strengths and ability to deliver her recommendations.

She also wants to contact the school NHS SALT to ensure the therapy complements what he is learning in his nursery setting.

Sounds fab. I hope it is worth it.

Oh Yes, Moonog -the Big 6+6