Articulatory(verbal/speech) dyspraxia

[Messycressy]

Can anyone advise me about how I go about getting special support, and possibly a statement of special educational needs, for my son who was 4 yesterday. He has recently been diagnosed with articulatory dyspraxia. Speech therapists, the pre-school tutor and a school secretary have all said that they think it will be almost impossible for us to get this. My son can only say one syllabul words, can't string more than 2 words together and is pretty reliant on signing. I am concerned about how he'll cope in main stream education when he starts primary school next September. Please help!

there's a facebook group on this where the mums seem to know loads so it would probably be worth joining and have a look
link is here
www.facebook.com/groups/verbaldyspraxia/

im sure people have got statements for children with the same thing? how can he access the curiciculum properly when he has so much difficulty with his speech? you can apply for the statement by yourself if slt and school wont help, i think.. although they should support you with it! and if not a full statement they should do some kind of support, its disgraceful if they dont!!!
have they sent an 'early notification' to the school? if not then i would ask them to do that straight away, and if you know what school he is going to go and ask for a meeting with the senco before he starts?

i dont know whether you are elligible for him to get portage or if they have to be delayed in more than one area not just speech, but i would give them a call and ask just in case because they might be able to help or point you in the right direction?

my ds2 has this, also gdd and asd but i feel like the speech seems like the biggest barrier when going to school. they can not expect parents to just send their kids in almost non verbal with no support!!

my ds is younger and only about to start nursery, not school yet but they said they will organise inclusion team to go and visit the nursery before he starts, (portage are organising this for me) and make sure someone in the school goes for signing training if necessary, and that kinda thing - they should be doing atleast something like this for your son, have they not suggested to do anything at all???

i am quite annoyed on your behalf! but go look at the facebook group cos the people on there have more experience and knowledgeable as some of the kids are older so they have been through this with schools already

What does the school secretary know?!? It is hearing these kind of storys that really make my blood boil

Dont let them put you off, it helps when school are on board, but if you child is not fully acessing the curiculum, then we have a problem, plus people need to be able to communicate full stop and if you child has a major difficulty at age 4 then, as Firwala has said, he should be receiving some support, even if SA plus.

Thanks for this. Getting help seems so hard. All I want as a mother is to make sure the appropriate support is in place!

ps - what is portage?

portage is a team that will give u someone to your home to offer support, and give advice etc and for me they organised me to go on a signing course, and run some groups for sn children etc. if u google it you should be able to get the number for your local one and its worth calling them up and see whether there is any support they can offer. cos my ds is not very severe medical needs or anything, they dont come that often but they assigned someone to him and they do come now and then and atleast we have that contact so if i need help with someone or have a query i could call them up, so they might be able to do the same for you. you can self refer. they do help with transition to schools and making sure appropriate support is in place, and school might listen a bit more if things come from portage and inclusion team rather than just the mum as sometimes ppl like to fob us off but when it looks a bit more official then maybe they can't!

Thanks for information - it's so hard to know what to do for the best and how to get the correct /apppriate help. I feel as parents we are going around in circles. We have now seen the head teacher of the school we would like to get our son into next September and she has been helpful and said that we need to start applying for a statement of SEN asap as it's a long process. We have been told that one from an NHS representative tends to hold more clout than a private one. We are hoping for an urgent appt with a local NHS SALT but it hasn't come through. Our son's private SALT is now saying he needs more time to assess or son and to confirm the diagnosis of speech dyspraxia - having been seeing him for 4 months on a weekly basis. We are now changing to a different SALT at the same private centre in the hope she will have more time for our son and can reach a prompt diagnosis and get a statement in place. Our son's pre-school has been supportive and is getting the Early Years Advisor involved to try to give our son support and help with transition from pre-school to primary. Aargh - it's such a struggle to make any progress. We only want to help my son and make sure that support is in place next Sept for him to access the school cirriculum - is that too much to ask?!