I've just spoken to the SALT about DD2, finally.

[lougle]

So, report should have got here but hasn't. Apologies.

Verbal Report:

Vocab 'average'
grammar 'fine' (this is the child who said she was 'colding up' yesterday )
Understanding of general concepts 'average'
subset of sequencing commands 'below average but if she'd scored just one point more it would be average so I'm not worried and it was probably just concentration.'
Lovely turn taking conversation and eye contact (interesting, not at home)

She did notice a tendency to literal thinking.

She's suggested ELSA and a narrative group. Not of course because DD2 needs a narrative group, but she'd be a good model for other children and may pick up some useful practice of pragmatics while she's there.

Discharged but feel free to re-refer if she has problems in year 3 or 4.

I relayed our conversation regarding the lunch trolley to her. She said 'yes, she's taken it literally, hasn't she?'

I pushed fro more, I got more. More drivel.

On reflection I would have asked for less, but by more of an expert, who could monitor MY delivery of the SALT intervention.

I have a child, nine year old v much like this, he apparently has subtle social communication difficulties but not enough for asd dx. Discharged from salt years ago too. Despite being ahem quirky and literal he has managed sequencing and inferencing surprisingly well but I worry for him socially as like pink hair guy of starlights he isnt good at guaging how others might react to him. Doesnt help that apple hasnt fallen far from tree in terms of aspie traits with both his parents! I completely agree with zzzzz post.

I'm with zzzzz - who is being treated? Discharge seems to be a high frequency word in SLT reports

I don't think anyone is.

I remember my first SALT session. I was so full of hope and we had waited 6 months. The SALT just watched him and tried to do some games with him. Then that was it, and she said she'd see him next month.

I left very confused. I hadn't seen anything that would help ds. I assumed the first appointment was just to get to know him.

The next appointment finally came 2.5 months later. Different SALT. Same experience. Got a bit annoyed but assumed that she too, was just getting to know him as she was different and it had been so long.

Next appointment came a month later because of the rude letter I sent about them sticking to their word. SAME experience again.

Wrote an official letter asking what the feck was the point of these sessions and got a reply saying that all other parents were very happy with the service but they have put ds down for a 6 week group SALT course over the summer holidays.

Took ds to those. After week 3 I wrote to them again and asked what the feck was the point of them. What were they trying to achieve. Does ds have any targets even? They said he did so I asked to see them. They also, the following week, put the targets on the wall for each of the children.

They were all things that ds could do. He was more advanced verbally than all the other children there and was bored and patronised. I spoke to them about it and they said his primary target was to have increased confidence by being a model for the other children.

I told them I was applying for a statement as I need things more clearly specified and they told me that no way would he get one as he had such a high level of SALT provision without one.

When I applied for a statement incidentally, ds was part-time in preschool. The SALT department wrote a letter claiming he'd had 20 hours in-school SALT.

I wrote to the SALT asking for them to give me the dates and times and their reply was that they gave that time as a guestimate because ds' school had an assigned SALT, so the school will have had the value of 20 hours for him (by osmosis obviously). The fact is, she never ever saw him there.

I despair at SALT's and assessments. Ds can score average in most 1:1 formal assessments, but this does not describe his functional ability at all. What is the point of scoring on 50th centile, when you cannot hold a conversation.

SALT discharged ds, as his formal assessments were average, his formal assessments have always been average. This was never the problem. His functional ability was the problem.

Discharged and SALT commenting about what progress he had made with his interests 'he told me he was a blu tak designer, an author and a stone collector' WTF is a blu tak designer! he has never written a book or collected a stone either! He also steered the conversation to his interests, showed no awareness of the comprehension of the listener, no awareness of reciprocal convo. Then got so anxious he couldn't complete the assessment.

Discharged not only from SALT, but she also says no need for a social skill group as 'his difficulties have resolved'. She had cured him of Autism too!

Makes you wonder if we'd all be better off just letting the kids get on with it. Sorry it's been a bad day ( again). If we all just said oh well what can you do? At parents evening - would we get better help? Feel like if I let my kids stay off school and Rome the streets in rags eating out bins no one would care less. Why do we have to fight tooth and nail for basically amounts to bugger all? And breathe.....

Lougle did her assessment include an observation too? If not could you ask for a observation, to highlight functional ability.

School SALT didn't observe and discharged based on formal 1:1 assessments. I did ask for school SALT to do observations of ds in the classroom after she discharged and she agreed, however I decided to just apply for SA again.

Shortly after I got an indie SALT to go into school, she also found ds scored average in formal assessments, however her observations of ds in the class room, really showed how ds was struggling and how his difficulties impacted on him, when he needed to apply to same logical to real life situations.

logic rather

It's depressing, isn't it?

Yes. It is.

But I wasn't trying to depress you. Just make sure that you figure out what it is your dd needs yourself, and then, if you can't yourself provide it, go insist on it.

'Some' SALTs can be quite helpful when the parent is clear about what they expect. The bunch I was dealing with (yes there were loads of them in the end - lol) were starting to be more helpful though I left the LA before we had sorted it all. They found my suggestions firstly a pita, then interesting, and then a good idea or at least it made their jobs interesting, not sure. Though I harbour no illusions that they thought I was anything other than a pita.

That's true zzzzz. I trekked to 'Opportunity Class' twice a week, walking a mile and a half with ds and his baby sister to avail myself of the 'Opportunity' to be patronised and ds' the 'opportunity' to be snatched off of me and into the sensory room screaming to teach him independence when the reason he was really screaming was he was scared of the sensory room.

Actually I only did it for 6 weeks. After week 2 I realised I had to stay to collect evidence about why it was bollocks, rather than simply 'disengage' otherwise I would have left a lot sooner.

yes, it's v frustrating when you feel that the formal assessments don't adequately reflect day to day challenges in holding conversations. And even more so when services aren't honest enough to say - we cant fix this (whether due to knowledge or resources lack), but it doesn't mean your child has no issues.

btw my DS went to a narrative group when he was 5 ish, and it was v useful in focussing on question words and basic sequencing, but I don't recall much useful pragmatics works! so the sequencing stuff might help your DD.

i am a bit about the model stuff - as not convinced it's in the interests of the child or parent, and also it can upset other parents to language delayed kids to see a child that's signifcantly more able in the same group (speaking from own experience here).