SALT assessment for prob AS ds - what do you think?

[Peaceflower]

As part of his CAF, ds (8) was seen by a SALT therapist two weeks ago and I have today received the report. I would love to have your thoughts on it.

DS could only say a few words aged 2, phrases around 3, and sentences by 4. Although he has sort of caught up with his peers, his speech is unclear, and tends to tail off into a mumble at the end of most sentences.

He rarely engages in conversation, and when talking about his fav topics, speaks in a mumbling monotone.

Now I quote his SALT report:

ds's understanding and use of language was assessed using one subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals and he scored in the average range for his age. His spoken language was assessed using the Renfrew Action Picture Test which required him to describe a series of pictures after listening to questions worded to encourage the use of specific pieces of information and aspects of grammar. The quantity of information used was relatively limited but in my opinion, this was more to do with reluctance to engage fully in the process rather than any specific difficulty with vocabulary. His grammar is developing well, although is still to consolidate irregular past tense. For example, DS said "catch-ed" for "caught". This is common in young children and is likely to resolve naturally. Overall DS's understanding and use of spoken language is in the average range for his age.

DS has difficulty with social communication which is being addressed at school.

I do not plan to see DS again but would be happy to review him should concerns be raised again in the future.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, and would appreciate any thoughts/experiences.

I would tbh, expect them to have a review date of at least 6 months time for a child who is 8 and obviously having some issues, especially at school.

However, I don't understand all of the other help /assessment you will have because of the AS.

Seems strange though that my ds who is only 6, has had regular sessions for a very mild speech problem since he was 3 and your ds who is 8 isn't being referred to any.

Perhaps they feel it isn't so much his ability to speak than his willingness not to speak and so may have further support for that from another area?

Sounds like you are being fobbed off. Getting therapy is a bit like getting golddust though and you have to fight all the way. I would talk to the school and ask them to ask for some therapist input in school to help guide the staff better with his extra help in school.

Did the therapist actually talk to you at all about his speech? I think it is wrong of them to assume things without asking you directly and certainly you should challenge the report directly with the therapist where it makes incorrect assumptions.

Did you get the chance to meet with the therapist after they assessed your child? For DS2's assessment, the process was that we met with therapist, then therapist assessed DS2 twice, then therapist met with us again to discuss further and ask any other questions that they needed to clarify anything. So it gave the therapist the chance to basically tel us what was going to be on the report, and it gave us the chance to ask questions further.

If you haven't had the chance to speak to them, then I would ask for a meeting with them to discuss things further.

Thanks for your replies. I didn't even know the assessment was taking place - it was done at school without my knowledge. The Senco mentioned it to me a week later .

I have a Caf review next week, so will discuss this before calling the Salt.

Or should I do it the other way round? [confused emoticon]

CAF can actually turn out to be a lot of hot air with nothing being done re schooling.

Would apply personally for a Statement of special needs from the LEA, has anyone ever mentioned the word Statement to you. Statements are also there to address social/communication difficulties.

Attilathemeerkat DS is undergoing assessment by CAMHS for ASD at present. The dx has not been formalized yet as DS refused to do any part of the ADOS. The paediatrician is discussing with a clinical psychologist the next step. A referral has also been made for a sensory assessment. The EP has not seen DS but has discussed him with me and school. The clinical psychologist has also been asked by the paediatrician to undertake cognitive assessments, as the EP won't . DS is G&T in 5 areas, according to school. autism outreach has also been consulted re classroom strategies.

So there seems to be a lot of surface activity but not much else, maybe it's the hot air you're referring to .

Meanwhile DS is getting more and more disheartened and struggling . I was hoping to give things a chance to work as I'm already fighting the LEA about dd (tribunal looming].

Also I'm not sure LEA will agree to assess as DS has 100% attendance, is in all the top sets, and G&T!

Hi Peaceflower.

Did the SALT include any information at all about social communication (other than the short line towards the end?) Did she observe him at school? Has she commented on what his strengths/needs in relation to social communication are?

I think it would be reasonable for you to ask her about what she thought of his non-verbal communication: eye contact, facial expression, understanding and use of gesture; conversational skills; pragmatic language: inferencing, predicting, reasoning, knowing when it's appropriate to say something VS when it's not etc. I think it would also be reasonable for you to ask for an indication of the level of impact his social difficulties are having (mild or significant).

It may be that she feels that the social support the school are offering is appropriate to meet his needs (it is possible if it's a good school who have had staff trained to implement social skills programmes). However, I think it would be reasonable of you to ask more specific questions about exactly how the school are meeting his social needs. What are they working on? What strategies are they using to help develop his social skills? How do they know when he has achieved his targets? Do they know what targets to move on to once previous ones have been achieved?

Hope this helps

butterflysally that is extremely helpful. Thank you for setting out so clearly how and what to query.

In the meantime a very kind school mum who's a Salt has invited me to coffee to discuss the report .

Hopefully I can make some progress now.