Verbal behaviour approach

[Sassyfrassy]

I've been looking at The verbal behaviour approach for my daughter. She is 3 and doesn't speak apart form 3 words but uses makaton to communicate.
The book seems geared towards children with autism and I was wondering if anyone has experience of using the approach with children who do not have autism.

I feel a real need to do something, not just wait and see. The SALT has given the nursery school things to do but has been very vague with us about things to do at home.

Withholding wes the best thing I did - but I did it early - I had been babying her a bit too much and by the age of 2.5 I was still holding her cup for her etc. Then had a brilliant SALT who showed me the error of my ways, and that it wouldn't hurt her to ask a few simple questions and force her to reply by witholding what it was she wanted (eg milk or juice?). Therapies were all focused on ensuring that she did things and took responsibility for what she did (passing the ball, putting on the right shoes, etc etc.)

Since then I have been much more able to encourage her to learn independently. Having said that, at 11, she's still way way behind all the other kids. The one thing she doesn't need now though, is me at her elbow prompting her to do stuff.

Please don't take this in any way that I'm criticizing the way anyone does anything on here, our children are all so so different it isn't really possible to advise anyone correctly - but this has been my experience.

My Dd spoke lots early, then when she lost speech she gained severe verbal dyspraxia, so don't feel I can withhold from her as she physically cannot speak, am glad you found something that helped though :)

That's really positive fanjo.

I'm sure we'll be withholding a little realhw - if we're targeting verbs (which we will be) then we'll want 'eat' or 'eat sweets' rather than sweets from the communication aid - at least initially while he's learning to use it.

But there's no point withholding for something that is physically impossible - that's all I'm saying and if you suspect verbal dyspraxia it's wise to be cautious or at least not push it - especially if they may have other issues-. as if you suddenly start ignoring the one communication system a child has they may well completely stop trying. I was told by quite a few people that I was making it too easy for ds1 but they were wrong and they did not understand his problems producing speech. for a severely autistic child ds1 has excellent communication skills - he doesn't stop - constantly commenting and requesting and teasing. None of it involves speech - and I think has we ignored his communicative efforts in the early days he might have given up (also has a v detrimental effect on behaviour when he's not understood).

Sorry Fanjo, I did miss your question. We have been using some picture support, but not pecs and Katie isn't very keen. She seems to prefer signing. I am still really new to the world of SEN though in a parental capacity and need to get more information and educate myself. So I really do appreciate any suggestions and ideas.

We do a lot of withholding, but we accept signs as a response. She didn't start signing until I withheld biscuits until she signed biscuit. We had a go at imitating sounds this evening and she can do m, b, s, d. For the rest she will have a go but produce one of the four consonants she is able to do.

saintly - your ds sounds like my DD in a way, she is very communicative in her own way, without being able to speak.

Sassy, that's Ok, I didn't mean to sound huffy! :)

No problem =)

Have you read the verbal behaviour approach book, it's very good, just finished it today.

We are doing VB with DS who is 2 and he has just started saying a couple of words, not sure if it's coincidence or not! :)

Sassy, read about Nuffield dyspraxia center. I think you can self- refer, but I might be wrong. Most of the private SALTs use their programme as well. If you decide to go private, then I think Jackie Harland from London children practice is eally good. Ask your DD if she can lick her lips, move her tongue- I wrote about it in my previous post.

We did take ds1 to the Nuffield but he was very uncooperative. The consultant there got the ball rolling for the autism dx though (having prevously been told he couldn't possibly be autistic). I can't remember the name of the people we saw (a consultant and a SALT) but could look it up?

I did meet someone who had a very good experience with them. Her dd had verbal dyspraxia, nothing else and she saw the SALT at the Nuffied regularly.

We have tried the Nuffield system with ds1 but it was too difficult for him (he really can't produce pretty much any sounds on demand).

Fanjo - it does help if the wish to communicate is there. DS1 is driving me mad at the moment - I am meant to be working but he is lying next to me constantly going on about taking the dog for a walk and going to granny's house and surfing.

oh and my car being broken but being fixed tomorrow. All done with sign and vocalisations and a whole dose of shared knowledge!

Paribus, we had a go before bedtime and she can lick, move her tongue from side to side, stick it out and have a good go at trying to lick her nose, so tongue control actually seems good.

I had a look at the nuffield centre and she doesn't fit their criteria for referral as she only has 3 words, but I do appreciate the suggestion.

Sassy, that's good news! I still would try to get her assessed- may be privately? May be ask to be referred to another SALT if current one doesn't help too much?

We did manage to get seen at the nuffield even though ds1 had fewer than three words. I think because he was trying to speak and say more. Although in a way it was fairly useless as he clearly wasn't their target child as such.

They did have full on facilities for testing hearing though (puppets and electronic equipment) and although i'd never suspected hearing problems it was useful to be able to wave the results at later assessments when they were still banging on about hearing.

We have done VB with Ds2, whose speech is very indistinct. We did it via Growing Minds, and their consultant showed us how to shape his speech, which is like a gradual process leading to withholding, rather than withholding straightaway. Eg. Ds2 was saying 'dicker' for 'tickle', so we would start with a full prompt: ' Say tickle' , enunciating the 't' very clearly. If he then said 'ticker' with an attempt at a 't' sound he would get a tickle and lots of specific praise ' You said Tickle - well done!' After he'd done this a few times we started fading the prompt, either by just saying the 't' sound or by pausing for a second. Then we gradually faded the prompt until we just gave the puzzled face. Then once the 't' is secure, we moved to work on the 'le' sound at the end - same process. It's all very high energy and exaggerated - the aim is to keep the child interested because its fun. And it does work - obviously the child has to have the ability to make certain speech sounds, but Ds finds it very very hard to make some sounds and it works for him. You have to keep it up though - we got 'tickle' very clearly after a few sessions but as soon as we moved onto something else he went back to 'dicker'.

Oh and I forgot - you start by prompting most to least ( ie full prompt, then faded) but then after a break prompt from least to most ( smallest prompt first) so child doesnt become dependent on the prompt.