ASD DS - speech and language assessment

[WarmAndFuzzy]

I don't know if there's anyone here who knows something about this? My DS2 (aged 6) has slurred speech and talks quite fast so he's very difficult to understand, a lot of his classmates shun him purely because they don't understand him.

I asked for him to have a speech assessment and they showed him some pictures, got him to say what they were (eg. umbrella, flowers, bridge) and because he could say all the sounds, said he was fine and they wouldn't offer any speech therapy for him.

He is noticeably different from even much younger children and he doesn't speak much at school unless it's to friends he feels very comfortable with, partly because a lot of kids just ignore what he says because they can't understand him.

I don't believe that there's nothing wrong, and I do think it affects him. We have treated him privately by an OT for fine and gross motor problems on the advice of the school and it's been incredibly good for him (he's gone from bottom of the class to above average in handwriting for instance).

My questions are:-

If he has dyspraxia in other areas, would it be affecting his speech as well?

Also, should we fork out for a private assessment or would it just be a waste of money? Is it just something developmental which is going to go by itself?

Hello WamandFuzzy Reading your post just makes me so angry. I know it's not the same, but my ds is 9 and has AS. When he was 8, he was seen by an NHS SALT who gave him a CELF test (sounds similar to what your ds had), spent the sum total of 10 minutes and discharged him, saying he had above average scores. My ds also has low muscle tone affecting his jaw and speech.
On discussing this with another SALT, I was told this was the wrong test to give someone with AS. I subsequently commissioned a private SALT assessment and school has agreed to give ds 2x15mins a week therapy supervised by the private SALT.

You said your "ds is noticeably different from even much younger children" - is he seeing anyone apart from the OT?

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about SLT will come along to advise you.

Warmandfuzzy I have had to get several private reports (Salt, psychologist, physio) before NHS woke up and started doing what they should...so I would advice to try private Salt, however, there are many useless private ones, so choose one by recommendation, it is difficult to judge who is good...

Thank you so much iceflower and babiki, that's given me a bit more confidence that I shouldn't leave it!

It's really difficult when you know and can see that something isn't right (my husband and the friends I've talked to agree), but an 'expert' is telling you that it's all fine. I will definitely now get a second assessment done privately.

Iceflower he currently has a statement and an LSA who is with him all school hours apart from break times, but he's doing too well for that to continue (it was largely to help with his attention, writing and to go to the toilet all of which are much better now).