SALT - does anyone get any from NHS?! Help please!!

[missworld2010]

OK I can't believe it's taken me so long to get to the point of blowing my top about this, but just wanted to ask if any other lovely SN mums out there are getting a good service from the NHS SALT - and if so, where are you?! I may move.....

We (self) referred our DD2 (was 2 then, will be 4 in June) for SALT back in July 2009 and she was then diagnosed with ASD (but is borderline on the 'scale').

Since then we have only had 3 nursery observations and 2 home observations. That's it, no direct therapy i.e. no-one has sat down with her 1-1 and tried to work or even play with her. Now I know she's not one to willingly comply anyway, but surely somebody should be trying? Her speech sounds are very unclear, and whilst her vocabulary has grown a lot, she now uses a lot of learnt phrases, and her understanding doesn't match up to her language.

Just feel so useless at the moment and like we're not giving her any help at all - and of course frustration at not understanding or being understood is leading to more meltdowns...

can anyone let me know what they receive, if anything, and maybe I can use this as ammunition when I do shortly 'express my views'?

(sorry had to repost this thread - can those who posted first time please reply again so I know how rubbish this is?!)

My DS1 has SALT needs. He is 7. NHS SALT is non existant by the time they get to school age. Basically we pay for an hour a week with a private SALT who works with his teacher and the school work with her. The school know how bad NHS SALT is and try to encourage other parents to go private

The NHS SALT have at least 30 schools on their list and only come to each school 3 times a year, when they discuss all the children with SAL needs.

Sorry nothing but bad news. All I can say is get therapy as soon as possible as early intervention is essential. Don't rely on the NHS.

We are in E Sussex.

Your old thread is still there, just has your message withdrawn.

Hi, my Ds (2.4) was self-referred at 21 momths, paed referred at 23 months and was seen at 2.1. Basically was told he had significant delays but that they could not really offer any help other than what we were doing with him (i.e repetative naming of objects, talking to him all the time etc). Was really cross because he was displaying ASD traits and his receptive language was 6-12 months behind too.

The "follow up" consisted of a phone call a month later to ask if he had improved at all , during which I strongly expressed my concerns re ASD. I was told I would be sent a questionnaire to fill in and would then be called in again to see SALT to discuss the results (they didn't want to see DS again). That was 5 weeks ago and I'm still waiting for the questionnaire to arrive.

Basically, it was inferred I should not expect any actual input until my DS turns 3. I know they are very short of SALTs in my area (and cutting back on the services they have), but I still expected some expert help.

I would say that by 4, your DD should definately be getting some 1:1 SALT by now and it is terrible that
you've had no direct therapy. What have the nursery said about it? Did they give any indication of why they were not offering 1:1 when they came to do the home observations?

we've had such little contact from them that I have no idea why they aren't offering 1-1. My guess is lack of resources, but I'm also afraid that they don't really have anyone trained in autism. Am just about to post letter to find out...!

DS hasnt seen a SALT since August. He has a speech delay of 3 years (according to his assessments) yet the appointment system our authority runs cannot be overridden apparently. We are looking into a private SALT.

We had good contact when I managaed to get us a place on the 'More Than Words' course but that was over a year ago and since then we have seen a SALT twice. We wont see one again until the summer term.

Im sad to say SALT input just seems to get worse after they turn 5, ours just visits school once a term to assess and advise school then it depends how good your school is and if anyone has done any training. We were told for long term issues, dd is 5 ASD, this is normal. All I can say is keep in touch by email with your NHS SALT, ask advise, ask for more input, ask for training for staff...it is a case of shouting loudest!

We had success in other ways so Ill pass on my good bits too, (not all doom n gloom me!), we emailed a SALT who lectures in Uni to ask advice, (google search result), she and her MA student now see DD once a week for 2 hours...for free! All as she is studied and documented but it has made a huge difference, she also consults for NHS so they work together on targets. :) :) :)

Also choose your school carefully, we are transferring DD as everything is an uphill battle with ours...long story but not ASD friendly at all. The new school is very supportive, inclusive, has a sn unit from year 3 (only with statement in place), and I got an email from DDs NHS SALT saying they have a SALT who visits once a week who has already booked DD in for an appointment! :O We dont even start until after Easter!

Good luck on your mission! :) ...(sorry good news has gone to my head! )

I have fought and fought for DD#1 re therapy for nearly 2 years now. Even more frustrating is the Green Paper that has come out that holds up our local area as a good model example of how a service can be transformed. In reality my daughter is still getting no speech therapy despite all their lovely plans and re-organisation.

What I have done, and what you can try:

• Find out who is overall in charge of SLT in your area and get in touch with them, hassle and hassle but do it in writing as much as you can so you leave a paper trail. You may however need to follow up with phone calls to chase replies if they are anything like our area. Make it clear it is unacceptable under the SEN code of conduct to leave a child without appropriate help when there is (by their assessment) an identified need.
• Contact your local MP and hope they are more use than a chocolate teapot (which sadly mine is)
• Make a formal complaint to the NHS (again with a paper trail) about the lack of provision
• Take the complaint further to the NHS ombudsman if you do not get anywhere with the formal complaint or the head of SLT.

You might also like to check out your local sure start childrens centre. Some of these have therapists available for children before they start school, not linked to the local NHS service as far as I understand it.

Have you considered looking to get a statement in place for her? If you can then this will place a legal obligation on the LEA to provide what is detailed in a statement.

Also worth considering private speech therapy if you can afford it. At least it would help you to have something to work on at home even if you can not go on a regular basis.

Our Authority wont give SALT to children over 6 :(.

Don't move to Hillingdon then...

We have had lots group therapy which is nigh on useless, 4 sessions of individual therapy to teach him PECS (which he had learnt after session 2) and a couple of assessments. No 1-1 despite a lot of hassling.

They have told us that direct speech therapy does not work for children with ASD and hence will not provide it. I did what beautifulgirls suggests and complained up high within the NHS and asked them what their evidence was that 1-1 therapy doesn't work (given that ASD is a "spectrum" and every child is different) and they said "clinical practice". The only thing we haven't done is go to the ombudsman. If it weren't for the fact that DS1 has now got a place at an ASD unit from September where there is a SALT on site, I would be taking it as far as I could. Otherwise he would have ended up in MS school with 1 session of SALT per half term.

We have effectively given up on NHS SALT completely and are paying for private SALT. He is coming on again in leaps and bounds so it just proves that the NHS are talking utter bollocks about it not working.

Our school is very supportive, and our NHS SALT works through the school (or is assigned to our school area?). We're currently doing a bit of a dance around this issue, as we've been told that doing the direct speech therapy will not be effective until his attention span is improved. DS2 has ADHD/ASD and I haven't seen ANY improvement since October in his attention span and god only knows when this will occur. His IEP review is coming up and I will be pushing this very hard next week at the meeting, and insisting that things start being put in place for the direct speech therapy. They're generally willing to listen to parents and can be fairly reasonable, so I'm hoping this will remain fairly positive.

Cerebra give vouchers for SALT- I don't know much more than that,but you could look on their website.

triggles hate to say it, but that's what our NHS SALT said too to fob us off (as I found out later). Once his attention span had improved a bit, I tried to get them to give him direct SALT and we got a different story again....

Our pre-school service has been quite good. We were referred last june and saw someone in August. Were intially given work to do at home but then invited to some one on one sessions as someone else didn't want them!! They were once every other wk from sep-dec. We then went back for wkly group sessions for 6 wks through feb-march.

Ds is starting school after easter and SaLT will go in once a term to assess. The work will be up to me and school to do with him and i suspect i'm going to have a fight on my hands to ensure the school do their part.

There isn't a NHS SALT in this area of the county for school age children.

We paid for 2 yrs for DS to get help. How he would be without it I dread to think.

Because there isn't a SALT about and because it's in DS statement provision our private guy delivers it and the LEA pay him. Win win for us. Not so good for those without it as statement provision or the funds for private therapy.

missworld, hope you get something sorted soon. my 10yo ds has severe autism. had so many speech therapists ive lost count. everytime i think im getting somewhere slt leaves. he goes to special school is non verbal (cant say even a single word), class teacher using PECS with him. at last review was told he's on waiting list for slt, i nearly had a fit. but was told basically they've given him all the help appropriate and he's not come on any so not much else can be done. now on list for future in case improves any will get reviewed every now and then. i put in complaint letter and was told as its a special school teachers work with slt and so they are trained same as slt and know whatr to do. basically hitting head off brick wall. for me, my son being 10, and not talking or communicating should be a priority bus obviously slt think theres no point as he doesnt seem to respond to anything. however, if they had been consistent from age 4 then perhaps by now i'd see results. Hope you do get help you need. Dont move here, lol. north lanarkshire, scotland :)

loueytb3 I rather suspected it was a bit of fobbing off, which is why I have been subtly preparing them for me to push the envelope at this IEP meeting. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the statement application, as we're awaiting the results for that. But I am absolutely going to be pushing this aspect of his care very very hard at next week's meeting. I want less "oh well we'll wait and see" and more direct care. And I'm fully prepared to push for it. I honestly haven't had to push for much, as the school has been great, so I'm keeping fingers crossed that I won't have to get too many people upset over this. It's much like a "look, I'm not FOND of rocking the boat, however, I'm happy to keep rocking it until I get results... I can swim, so I'm alright to keep rocking it..."

Ds is 4.3 and has cp. He still doesn't talk. NHS SALT very limited - general advice (i.e. buy Hanen book and talk slowly) and assessments only. Useless. Found a private SALT when ds had just turned 3. Could tell the difference very quickly even though there's a long way to go. Now gets weekly 1:1 SALT on statement. Even that was challenged by NHS "as no evidence base" (took a while to get statement implemented). Crazy. In our area there are hardly any SALTs and long long waiting lists. They can't even offer the most pressing cases anything.

ok Im in same area of OP, and we know each other in RL too, but not 100% if we ever discussed full ins and outs of what my DD2 gets.

She was self referred after 2 year check as she had lost some language skills. She was seen after about 3 months wait.
So far she has had 3 assessment sessions with normal SALT, 1 obsevation from autism Salt, 1 advise visit to school from specialist salt, home visit from specialist salt, a 2-1 word group, a -1 word group (6 weeks each) and im on the hanen course.
Seems so mad we live in same county!!