Depressing SALT report, is there hope?

[thornrose]

Sorry this is so long!
I just received a copy of the SALT secondary transfer report for my dd. It just sounds so hopeless.
I wanted my dd to have a happy time at middle school and worked hard on helping her make friends. I buried my head in the sand about the academic side.
I'm just really panicking now. Wondering if she can make any progress in High School, pass exams, get a job.
If anyone has the patience to carry on reading I have copied out "highlights" of the report. Does anyone have a child with similar issues that has managed to do well in High school?

Difficulty in following areas -
*attention/listening
*working memory/short term auditory memory
*poor concentration
*ability to follow instructions, particularly complex and lengthy instructions
*understanding abstract concepts eg time, space

It also mentions poor sequencing and internal language skills, difficulty assimilating knowledge, difficulty transferring ideas and vocabulary from one subject to another.

Her "relative strengths"
*expressive language skills- able to produce well structured sentences and produce informative spoken narratives using complex sentences

Hi,

What does it state on her Statment to address her needs when she goes to secondary school, what has been provided for in primary (well year 6 atleast)?

There is atleast 75% on you list that is the same as my son, and depening on how severe the needs are there is no reason why you daughter can not do reasonably well, she may be better in visual/practical type subjects as most children with language difficulties are, so if goes to a school where they have dressmaking and cookery she may find her calling in that area.

From my experience, it really depends on what help she has and the school, if those areas are strong then you should make sure whatever she is learning in school is also implemented at home/everyday life and there is as good a relationship between the SLT, School and yourself, and it should hopefully be ok (remember I do not know what her Celf centile rankings and NC levels are so I could be wrong)

She will need tricks and techniques to get round some of these things. And specific training for certain skills. Like hoxtonbabe says, practical subjects may suit her. Gadgets and mind maps help a lot of dc.

Good IT skills can compensate for a lot of things.

has the SALT given you and DD any strategies to help with these difficulties? There are strategies she can use to help esp with auditory memory. How good is she at telling people that she hasn't understood everything? (so they can repeat and/or break down longer instructions).

I would make sure that the SENCo and her teachers at her new school are aware of her difficulties and what they need to do to help her, e.g. break down instructions etc etc.

I'm not usually this negative. I posted immediately after reading the report and I'm having a bit of a wobble about her transition to Secondary as it approaches.
Thanks for replies. I forgot to mention she has AS and dyspraxia. She has very poor fine motor skills so sewing and other practical subjects are a bit tricky too.
I am waiting until she starts her new school (week after next) then I'll arrange a meeting with the SENCO. There are some strategies on the report but very "generic". I will push for some that are more specific to dd. they do include repeating and breaking down instructions.
I was helping dd to make muffins yesterday and it brought home to me how she really struggles to follow simple instructions
The statement annual review meeting was a bit of a farce. The SENCO from the new school didn't turn up due to a mix up. The council person didn't turn up either! So it was just me and her current school SENCO. I'll follow that up.
I agree about IT skills, will push for that too.

hmmmm, What does it say on the statement, if you want to PM it then do that. Was your daughter at a langunage unit at some point, or a bog standard mainstream in Primary?

Problem is wanting and getting are two very different things. What you need is the statment to be VERY specific and quantified, do not let anyone tell you that you should not have it too specific so the school can have some wriggle room...this is usually a way to get out of giving your child the provision.

if the statment is generic like the report that is what you need to get rectified as soon as, without this then you will face problems unless the new school is very understanding and accomodating. Children with Salt, are often viewed as being a bit lazy and is not seen as a issue, because on the surface they can communicate reasonably well, so the teachers (unless SLT experienced) simply do not get the complex nature of our children.

You will need to see the SENCO within a week, 2 weeks max to sort out the IEP or some kind of plan, but again, if this is not in the statement they do not have to do it, although would be best practise if they did as they need to be able to monitor your daughter somehow.

hoxtonbabe - I'm off out now but when I get home I'm going to get statement out and have a look. I've been a bit blase about this stuff until now. I'm going to have to really "up my game" now.
She's always been in mainstream primary and hasn't had SALT input since she was in year 3.
On first impressions the SENCO seems great. she actively looked for us at the open evening and I was impressed she remembered dd. She was very apologetic for missing the meeting. The head of year cornered me and checked that I was making an appointment with SENCO too. I was equally impressed that she already knew dd by sight.
One of the useful techniques/strategies made me do this It says "if dd is not behaving, check that she has understood what is required". Not "behaving" is so meaningless!
I was also a bit confused by "encourage a culture of pauses".

NOT BEHAVING?!?! Charming! they should be checking regardless of behaviour. My son does not misbehave, he switches off and gets easily distracted and he distracts others when he finds things difficult and although his school should check they do not. Not sure why they are saying only check just when they think she is misbehaving?!?

I have no idea what encourage a culture of pauses means, was it directed for the teachers or your daughter?? maybe a SaLT will chime in and shed some light on it.

I have found that schools are fine if your childs statment is poor (as in not much provision they need to organsie and just full of generic stratagies) as soon as you get it tightened then the claws come out as it means more work and time that quite frankly they do not want to do.

I can only imagine a culture of pauses means that everyone should be pausing every so often when they speak, so that your DD is both given time to express herself, i.e. people wait for her, and that others pause when they're talking so she has processing time. But I've never heard that phrase before, it's a shame it's not explained to you clearly.

The school staff sound quite on the ball, which is encouraging. Hope that it goes well.