1st SLT appointment coming up - what to expect/what should I ask?

[cheapFlower]

Hi,

we have our first SLT appointment coming up.

What does usually happen during the first appointment? will she be assessed?

I am full of questions etc but wondered if there are any questions I should definitely ask when we are there. have been waiting for appointment quite a while and want to make the most out of it.

TIA

PS. DD(3) has s&l delay - no sentences yet/2-word combinations yet despite a big vocabulary, also IMO receptive delay.

Hi, it all seems to vary from area to area and who you get!

DS was seen at 2.2, very bright but less than 10 words easily and certainly NONE joined up. no Mummy no daddy nothing. BUT he had NO receptive delay at all.

I got to see a fabulous lady who was very interested in him and asked lots of questions about him as a baby and now. He was playing on the floor with a student but the SALT didn't miss a trick with him and had him sussed quite quickly.

She had him back 2 months later and referred him for an expressive language group which was a waste of time for a few reasons!

If you think she has receptive delay, go armed with examples - in fact that goes for any aspect of her delay, go armed with your info. I hate saying things in a way as I have been lucky and I know that and one persons experience is so so different from anothers - DS has verbal dyspraxia and is now 3.5 and has one to one SALT every week. He is hopefully going to a speech unit in September. My friend (in diff part of country to me) has just had first salt appt and it was useless and the woman was very mamby pamby - my friend is a teacher, she was not impressed! But her son is slightly different in that he has hearing loss and gromits.

Has she had a hearing test? Has she seen anyone else?

Hi cheapflower - our dd has just had her first SALT appointment last week.

Not sure if the format differs by age of the child, as my dd is only 10 months old, but for us the appointment lasted about 1.5 hours during which the SALT asked lots of questions about what she could & couldn't do. She then spent about 30 minutes playing with dd, singing ryhmes, getting her to try and copy her actions / sounds / games and then gave us an assessment of what development stage she was at (for us this was an early stage communicator). We were then given some sheets with suggestions for helping dd develop, some key words/signs to work on for the next month & told of some evening courses that are available for parents to help their dc become more effective communicators.

Because we meet with her other therapists every couple of months and they all update each other on a regular basis, our SALT knew quite a bit about our dd before meeting her. As a result our session was fairly informal, although this could also have been because dd is still very young, so for the most part it was just a case of "keep doing what you are doing for a few months & we'll reassess then", I'm sensing if your dc is older then it may be a bit more structured.

HTH

thanks!

yep, hearing fine. I pushed the GP for a referral to the paed. as well - just in case there is more behind her speech delay.

DD seems to be a bit immature with her behaviour in general, massive tantrums, not really playing with other kids but very affectionate otherwise. she is also pointing, good joint attention...

cheapflower you sound like you have your head srewed on - glad you have paed referral too. We have been referred left right and centre for everything. Feel a bit more settled now though back with the paed on Tuesday.