Hi sorry don't know enough about the subject to ask for specific help.
But this is what the independent SLT recommended, sorry it's long:
With regards to the above special educational needs, DS requires a statutory assessment. He requires input that is undertaken collaboratively between relevant staff at his school, parents, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist and any other involved professionals working together.
DS needs a language and communication programme written by a speech and language therapist (SLT) with specialist skills and experience in working with developmental language / communication difficulties and with children on the autistic spectrum. It would be important for the therapist to have proven experience of working effectively in the context of a multi-disciplinary team.
The role of the SLT in DS? educational programme should include the following:
? Language goals should be jointly written in consultation with the school and parents in order to facilitate generalisation.
? The SLT can provide support to ensure that the goals of the programme are communicative and functional.
? The SLT can advise on developmentally appropriate toys to expose DS to and advise on play strategies.
? The SLT can offer information to the team on developmentally appropriate linguistic forms and the developmentally normal communication sequence. These need to be considered and incorporated into DS?s programme.
? The SLT can demonstrate how to incorporate specific goals into daily, preexisting activities such as dinner, bath and bedtime, which will be helpful with generalisation and sequencing.
? The SLT should assess and provide advice on the manner in which language and communication skills are used by adults working with DS to ensure maximum benefit of these interactions.
? The SLT can trouble-shoot specific linguistic problems e.g. errors in word choices, responding to echoed language.
DS should receive a minimum of 80 minutes of support per week from the SLT who should use their time to meet his changing needs in language and communication. Currently, I recommend the therapist?s time to be used as follows:
Regular direct therapy (1:1) to support the development of language and communication - One session of 40 minutes in duration per week. DS?s LSA should attend these sessions.
DS?s language and communication goals, which should guide the content of therapy sessions, should include the following:
? Increase intentional communication i.e. deliberate, goal-oriented communication behaviours which have an effect on another person. Include structured settings such as Communication Temptations. Develop DS?s use of persistence, proximity to the adult, eye gaze and body language.
? Increase DS?s spontaneous use of a range of communicative functions, which should have a strong focus on facilitating more social communication:
o Increase consistency, frequency and integration of requesting
o Promote participation in social interaction through requesting social routines, showing off, greeting, acknowledging and calling
o Promote his skills in focusing joint attention, including commenting, providing information and requesting information.
? Promotion of a range of means of communication, to be discussed and agreed among all members of the team, bearing in mind that different children have different learning styles, strengths and needs.
? Increase the frequency with which DS spontaneously communicates. This will help reduce his frustration and increase rapport with other people.
? Development of prelinguistic communication behaviours and integration of these in specific contexts e.g. combined use of eye gaze, pointing and vocalisation.
? Development of social awareness through joint activities with others including turn-taking.
? Development of symbolic play behaviours and symbolic understanding through opportunities to develop functional and pretend play.
? Development of attention (in particular auditory attention) and listening skills, to help DS become more oriented towards spoken language and other people?s actions and to promote independent working.
? Development of receptive and expressive language skills through teaching of vocabulary, language forms and generalisation of these across settings.
Specific recommendations following on from my observations at school:
? Social story addressing routine of expected behaviours and steps to go through for the morning, including leaving home, journey to school, arriving at school, spending time in the playground, lining up, entering the building.
? Use of visual prompts to support his transition through the steps of his various routines and expected actions: for example, coming into school, changing shoes, water bottle in box, book bag / replace book, join peers at carpet for registration, do work with TA etc. Include using objects of reference.
? Staff to receive refresher training on facilitating active use of visual strategies such as visual schedule, Now-Next board, I?m working for board, expected behaviour ?flash cards? e.g. ?good walking!?, ?good sitting!?. DS?s ability to use these strategies to be assessed and his response to these over time to be monitored.
? Specific training on transitions and why these are difficult for DS and how to facilitate these during the school day and across longer stretches of time.
? Specific training on the links between communication and behaviour so staff understand that DS?s ?behaviours? are in fact largely due to a combination of communication impairment and sensory needs, and are able to identify and put into place appropriate supports to increase his understanding (communication), expression (communication) and emotional regulation (responding to sensory needs).
? Specific training on use of reward systems must be delivered to promote DS?s motivation to follow adult directions, complete a range of tasks and start to develop more of a sense of achievement.
? Referral to occupational therapist with specialism in sensory processing disorders.
? Praise DS for completing expected behaviours and actions e.g. ?good walking?, ?good sitting?, on an ad hoc basis.
? Language programme to include receptive objectives at 2-3 word level involving real objects, toys and games with peers. DS needs to demonstrate comprehension of each phrase-type at the two word level (e.g. parts of a whole) before moving on to the three-word level activities.
? DS needs to be encouraged to independently complete short tasks e.g. puzzle, game. Structured teaching should be used to support his skills e.g. start box, work box, finished box, schedule, first ? then board, reward system.
The SLT will need to give advice to all adults supporting DS in the implementation of his language and communication programme, with regards to strategies aiding language and communication development. They will also need to be familiar with intervention approaches suitable for use with autistic children to help DS cope with change, understand what he is expected to do and orient himself through the day, including adaptations to the environment. A minimum of 20 minutes SLT time per week is needed to provide this support.
The remaining 20 minutes per week should be used in the following ways:
The SLT will need to work closely with all members of the team in order to engage in joint planning of IEPs, social communication and language targets and to ensure generalisation of learned skills across all contexts. Planning meetings should occur every half term and include all those working with DS.
The SLT will need to attend IEP and Annual Review meetings.
The SLT will need to engage in regular monitoring of progress through processes such as evaluation of therapy targets.
The SLT will keep clinical records, write reports and undertake relevant administrative duties in accordance with professional requirements.
DS? speech and language therapy provision should be stated in specific terms, as outlined above, in Part 3 of a Statement of SEN. This principle is supported by the Code of Practice.