Does anyone have a S&L package as part of their statement? Help me make a decision please.

[FrustratedSycamoresRocks]

Hi, I'm seriously confused by it all.

Does anyone have a S&L package as part of their DCs statement?

This option has been suggested to us by county SEN, and I was wondering how much of a risk it would be to take it? What are the chances, in your experience, of it actually being delivered at the school level? Does having it written into the statement mean that it will actually happen? Or will it be a continuous fight to insure that even the most basic part of it is done?
How much of this package can we control, as in, will we get all the provision that DC needs, or will it just be a flimsy "this may be useful" waste of time bit of advice that may or may not be taken.

Our other option is a ms school with a S&L base, that involves splitting the dc up, and a 45minute journey (each way), the upheaval of which could most likely will be a major issue to dc. And in taking this option we run the risk of loosing the other provision alot of which isnt in the statement that dc has in place at current school.

I would avoid all notion of a 'pcakage' and ensure that his statement contains his needs and the required therapy to meet that need.

Once established you can decide whether you want that provision delivered within an mainstream environment or somewhere else.

My ds' statemet said something like twice weekly sessions of 45 minutes SALT with a SALT qualified by x, to be observed by HLTA (who has min of 3 years experience working with children with SALT difficulties) and who will deliver the SALT as observed for a further 3 times per week. One SALT session per week to be conducted within the classroom environment.

I would ensure that SALT is put in both Parts 2 and 3 of the statement document.

IPSEA as well would be worth contacting www.ipsea.org.uk

45 minutes is too long a session for a child. Twenty minutes once day every day is what we have in place now. We did have two lots of 20 minute sessions when DD was younger - after morning registration and then after lunch, but when we moved to Secondary school this was harder to manage due to timetabling issues.

We got the SALT to train the TA to deliver the Speech therapy, coming in weekly for the first half a term to train the TA, then deliver objectives which were followed up monthly by the SALT.

It's important to have the same person delivering the therapy daily. They learn to listen for the right articulation noises and also build up a relationship of trust with the child. The TA should also be able to contact the SALT when she needs to.

We have found that this way works.

starlight do you think the notion of a package would work, if the "package" contents we spelt out in a specific and quantified way. Eg, "a package to consist of ..... x intervention, consiting of y, z times a week, to be delivered by a and b..." For example?
Or just skip the "package" and get it written directly into the statement.

Its for an early primary age child. With a 1-2 word sentence level at best.

sallybear so at primary level, would you say 2x20mins a day is a high level of intervention? Was yours delivered in a ms setting? How long did you have this for?

'45 minutes is too long a session for a child.'

Who says?

my dd3 does at her ss and the package works really well, we have the little and often approach like sallybear. Unfortunately you run the risk of losing any provision that isn't in the statement at whichever school you choose so worth looking into getting it into the statement if you can.

The word 'package' doesn't make any difference to anything if the provision is spelt out, but keeping the word in risks you getting a statement that says:

'DS will be offered a SALT package to address his SALT needs' and that's all.

The package should be written directly into the statement, both specified and quantified, dd3's is, when the package needs changing then the statement gets changed.

I see what you mean starlight, that is what we want to avoid, as we have is basically "speech and language involvement" which means no help other than a inexperienced S&L worker who has been in once, made a couple of innappropriate and irrelevant suggestions about the room layout, because its possible to move windows, and remove half the children from a classroom
and nothing productive as far as therapy is in place.

(Date for annual review has been set)
We will also be arguing for OT provision, and the interventions OT has already put in place, to be written in so we don't loose these in the fight to get S&LT.

I say that 45 minutes is too long for a child, and ime SALTs tend to agree that little and often is much more effective in delivering therapy.

My DD has been doing this in a MS setting both Primary and Secondary for 9 years.

45 minutes of boring chores is too long, but 45 minutes of fun is no time at all, especially if the pace is fast and changes regularly.

Depends entirely on the child Sally.
I'm an s/lt.
My child has been hard at it for the past couple of hours on what is s/lt intervention.

You're right however in your observation that frequent short sessions are useful, mostly because in this way it means that s/lt targets aren't forgotten for weeks and weeks.

S/lt shouldn't be seen as separate to any other aspects of education or daily living really. It's a nonsense as how can we do maths, history, bake, shop and so on without language.

I once had an s/lt tell me breezily that she had 'nothing to do with educational targets set by the teacher'.

I know at the moment my dc wouldnt cope with 45mins in one sitting, but could manage 2x20 or 3x15 sittings. But as dc is still very young, I think shorter but more often is more realistic, but that's not to say 45 wouldn't be more manageable when older.

Very true FSR.
I've seen one very talented behaviour analyst work with a child for a minute at a time, which built up to 30 min. sessions.

Re: 45 minutes in school
The problem is that you then come a cropper with time tables at Secondary School. As a lot of schools now have a rolling two week timetable system as there are so many subjects to teach. It makes trying to slot stuff in difficult. Also the older the child gets, the less inclined they are to do SLT. So ime short bursts work well. Games etc when they're younger, working with the curriculum where possible (DD's TA always tried to work both into the sessions - SLT targets around learning objectives), and lots of insistence of good talking when discussing what they'd learned in Literacy etc. Also where we live, the first things that get cut when the PCT's start making economy measures are SLT and Podiatry services. The SALT has always come out to the school, delivered the training and targets to the TA and then once a month would come out to the school to check on DD's progress. As I said earlier, we have been doing this for 9 years in a MS setting.