SALT for higher level language difficulties?

[NoHaudinMaWheest]

I apologize in advance for posting this as I know so many people with dcs with severe s&l problems have difficulty in access appropriate services.

My dd is 15, has a recent ASD dx. She had slightly delayed speech but by 3 had caught up. She appears to be really articulate and not to have any language difficulties. However since her dx (which was really unexpected) she has started to talk about lots of things she has always found difficult but just stoically got on with. One of them is not always understanding what people mean. Some of this is general difficulty with understanding emotions and how NT people think, but some is more narrowly language related e.g. difficulty with metaphor.

I am wondering how much of these sort of difficulties she has and whether a SALT assessment would uncover them. Or is there some sort of DIY tool I could use to help?

Dd3 has had 3 complex communication assessments on the Nhs, at 8, 10 and 11!

They all showed pretty much the same things such as word finding difficulties, being very literal, not very good at sequencing, lack of emotional vocabulary.

We werent offered any real help though but it was at least very useful for us to know what areas she was struggling with.

I think it would be well worth following up, if her school are any good they might take on board some of the strategies recommended in the report!

Dd3's never did despite me giving them a copy on which I had highlighted all the important bits for them after they had failed to grasp how significant communication difficulties!

Good luck

Ineed thanks. I suppose that is the kind of report I am thinking of. Her current school is good and probably would take it on board. She will move to a new placement in September and I am trying to make sure it is as successful as possible.

Speech and language often allow self referrals. It might be worth giving them a ring and asking if they can do a complex communication assessment! Although that might just be what my local one calls them!

Good luck anyway, its a good plan to get as much info as you can before transfer to a new school. I hope her new one is as good as this one

I'd recommend TOPs again.

www.smartspeechtherapy.com/in-case-you-missed-it-importance-of-assessing-social-pragmatic-abilities-in-children-with-language-difficulties/

www.linguisystems.com/products/product/display?itemid=10440

DS1 is 14 but his SALT used the TOPs 3 elementary version as some skills are age equivalent of 7.

The test involves looking at a series of real life photos, e.g. a broken down school bus and asks a series of questions. 'The bus has broken down. Why has the bus broken down?'. Or a photo of some children with microphones and the SALT will say 'These children are singing in the school concert. Why were they chosen?'. (DS said 'because they have microphones'). The 'correct' answers have to be inferred. DS1 was outraged 'how the hell am I supposed to know?' as the answer is not explicitly obvious. I must admit I didn't know some of the answers either

It really reveals the extent to which our DC misunderstand on a daily basis but never mention it. I think that part of the reason that DS1 can't handle school is because they expect him to have the reasoning skills of a teenager (able to choose options in year 9) when in reality he has the problem solving and predicting skills of a 7 year old. The expectations are all wrong.

No other test reveals these difficulties in this way. DS1 was not diagnosed until he was 11 and to the unskilled eye (that would be nearly every teacher involved with him over the years) can pass as uber-NT.