Developmental verbal dyspraxia and starting school

[TheBeekeepersDaughter]

I have a bright, funny, fabulous DS aged 3.8 who has a diagnosis of verbal dyspraxia. He has had such trouble with glue ear, ear infections and endless bouts of tonsillitis ( had a tonsillectomy last week) and unfortunately it's also affected his speech development.

He's due to start at a lovely, inclusive independent school this September, after his 4th birthday in August. He knows the school a little and the staff know him. We have arranged to fund 1 hour a day to work on his SALT programme and pre- literacy skills. (3x15 min sessions each day, one to one and group, we offered and the school was happy to accommodate). The programme is overseen by a local independent SALT and he sometimes has blocks of NHS therapy. We chose to keep him in mainstream nursery(attached to the school but not co-located) with additional SEN funding and the staff have been amazing. Although happy and playful in nursery, DS can be shy with new people, and he very much knows when people don't understand him (much of the time) and I can sometimes see the frustration on his face, although he tries so hard to communicate in alternative ways.

If anyone reading has experiences of their child with DVD starting school, please do share them. I am feeling positive but also anxious, both about his readiness for more formal learning (it's a Montessori school so hopefully not too formal) and in terms of social and emotional impact. I'm a bit concerned he may struggle to make friends as his speech is so unclear and also that he will take time to build up relationships with staff as they will not understand what he is saying. What can I do to help his transition to school?

MUDs has dyspraxia but it's the Dcd nothing really works type.

Being in school has brought him as there's so much talking in school. He has friends, he's happy, he struggles and I don't see how how he can ever fully catch up.

But if you told me four years ago what ds would be capable of today I wouldn't believe it.

But my ds like I say has more than just verbal dyspraxia. Your school sounds amazing which is the key. Ours wasn't / isn't fully inboard and never will be

My youngest DC started mainstream school with a statement giving 15 hours of 1 to 1 support (I realise this is like golddust these days - this was some years ago) - the LSA spent time going over the speech therapy exercises given by the SALT. So not dissimilar to your plan.

And he thrived - we did have a fair bit of struggling socially because his peers couldn't understand him at the start, but he made friends and was very happy. Hearing the speech around him helped, and wanting to have friends who understood him motivated him with the SALT stuff. And now, at 12 - his speech slips when he's stressed or tired, he can sound a bit robotic as he had to learn every consonant sound but lots of people don't even realise there is a history of speech issues.

Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences. I am lucky that the school is so flexible (no point getting a statement as the LA wouldn't fund in an independent without a fight, I figured I'm better off directing our energies and resources is a more positive direction). We turned down a specialist speech and language nursery and potential school place as were not happy with him travelling 20 miles there and back in an unescorted commercial taxi.

My son loves books and stories but one of my concerns is that he is not ready for phonics. I know the school will not see this as an issue but I am worried that, once behind, he won't catch up. He will also be the youngest in his year group by 6 weeks. I'd love to hold him back a year but am concerned that we would then have a big problem at secondary transfer.

I am so pleased that your boys enjoy school and have friends, that news in itself has made me feel more positive for the future.

My son was 4 1/2 when he received a diagnosis of Verbal dyspraxia. He also has ASD and he too had problems with his tonsils, repeated ear infections and so on. Though I believe this is highly unlikely that this caused his severity in speech.

My son's speech is very severe, this is also compounded by his autism. My speech therapist said his dyspraxia is very significant.

I'm glad your son's school is helpful. In my situation, my son's school offered me all the unicorns and rainbows, but they didn't deliver it. He also went to a private nursery and they were beyond useless. But, he is also has a statement and the speech therapist comes in and advises the staff and the TA what to do. In my DS situation, this was not enough. He needed to have on on one time with a speech therapist. The TA will need to be trained and go on a few courses etc. This is not the school's fault in a way. Realistically the teachers don't have time to support kids who really need the support as they have 20 other kids to look out for.

My son (who is 5) is ok in school, though as time is going on he is getting more frustrated. His peers are way ahead of him and poor DS has to always catch up. He has friends and is quite sociable and thank God his class supports him and often look out for him. Though they do baby DS. However, DS has a great teacher and TA, who have really supported him.

I am currently wanting DS to go to an independent special school where they focus on speech/ language and communication skills. When I viewed this school, I was shocked of the amount of help the pupils received in the school. The pupils ( whose speech is severely effected) get 3-5 direct speech and language therapy, all the pupils have speech and language group sessions daily. Communication and speech is embedded through out the school day. He would never receive this is a mainstream school.

If I knew a school like this exist, I would of pushed to get DS into that school when he was around 3. If you get offered a speech and a language unit, I would grab it with both hands. Specialist schools/ units are like gold dust.

All and all, I was adamant that DS should stay in mainstream. But the earlier the child gets the right, intensive support, the better. So I'm pushing special all the way.

Hi OP, my DSs (teen / tween) both have DVD, plus a specific language impairment and deafness.

The verbal dyspraxia's been the easiest to sort out - mostly because we had an experienced SALT from the start who worked with them 1:1 in school, and gave us bags of reinforcement work to do at home. We followed the Nuffield Programme - link here - it's very dry, and requires a bit of sustained concentration, but it really worked for us.

How's the glue ear situation? If it's still a problem, and you're worried about phonics, then there is a programme out there that uses visual reinforcements (look for Visual Phonics, or Longwill Phonics System) for phonemes. We had mixed success with it, but I know it's worked for some.

Both DSs now produce speech that's readily understandable by adults and children. They still have delayed language, but I honestly don't think that the dyspraxia has been a factor there.

There was a competition for local primary schools this week. DS2 stood up today in front of some Barbour-clad worthies at an agricultural show and spoke for about three minutes about a herb box he'd made.

They probably got more information about carpentry and herbs than they bargained for, but I guess the point is this - despite his verbal dyspraxia, DS2's speech was completely understandable to a bunch of Tory bigots people not familiar with speech disorders.

Best of luck