Speech Therapy/mainstream......

[anniebear]

Ellie has speech therapy at school, but it is in a group session and the majority of the children are severly disabled

so I am not sure how that works when you have a couple of verbal ones also?

If Ellie went to mainstream school would she receive speech therapy elsewhere?

I am sure the Health centre have speech sessions there. Would she automatically get to go to sessions or would we be on a waiting list

Thanks

Hi Anniebear, not sure to be honest. Amelia has had very little SALT from NHS, so we pay privately for new progs. a couple of times a year- it's all we can afford to do.
Now she has started in Reception, her NHS SALT is delivered 3 times a year when they come into school- it's then up to the school to implement the prog.
From September, the SALT will no longer be delivered by the same source- rather than SALT from our CDC, it will go over to community SALT and how often that will be delivered is still questionable.
We are still in the process of statementing and I feel that is going to be our guideline.
What does it say in Ellie's statement?

It was that long ago since I have looked at it! I am not sure

But I am sure it says she needs speech therapy

That is I think about the only think she has at SN school that she wouldnt get at mainsteam, which is why I was wondering

Hopefully she will be assessed soon and we might get a better idea of were she should be!

Annie,working as a salt in special school (amongst other stuff) I do a fair amount of groups with both verbal and non verbal kids.
Am confident in saying that my training enables me to cater for both.

For a variety of complex reasons,special school tend to get better salt provision than m/s ones.

1:1 therapy is not always that useful.I do very little of it.Most of my work is done in classrooms alongside teachers.Unless they can see me carrying out usefu lstrategies,what is the point of it?

I generally only see children individually for assessment.

MD, Do you do speech sessions where you have a child who can talk and other children the same age but with a lot more severe difficulties (some just about moving their arms) totally non verbal

How can both children benefit from the same speech session?

I can't see how Ellie can learn from it and I can't see how the others do either

It would be like teaching a new born baby and a 3 year old together?

Thanks!

i can't refer specifically to your dd of course (not knowing her!) but if we were working on turn taking or attention for example,it's perfectly possible.

Also if we were doing a singing and signing type activity it can be tailored to suit all needs.

Similarly,games that involve imaginative play which is a core indicator of language ability

If working on improving group dynamics-sharing and helping each other.It is most empowering for a child with special needs to be in a position where she can help others.

With a snack group for example,children could make detailed choices by using signs,gestures,PECS or speech.
(I could manage to get all to convey a message such as 'I'd like the red cup with apple juice in it please' by all methods.)

When ds1 was in mainstream he receieved no hands on speech therapy (despite having it in part 2 of statement) except a few visits from a SALT who left a programme for some (untrained) LSA's. Dire.

At special school he gets blocks of SALT. Mainly 1:1 so far although they decided in the last block to introduce some work with one other child. He also gets all the SALT type work from trained classroom assistants. I'm actually quite happy with the SALT input he gets now.

It has to be in part 2 of the statement if you're in mainstream really to stand any chance.

The snack group stuff that moondog describes is done in exactly that way by teachers plus assistants at ds1's school.

What gess describes in mainstream schooling is unfortunatel fairly typical.It is dire.
it is bloody awful in fact.
Nothing wrong with leaving a programme for others to carry out but the assistants rarely have the time,knowledge or skills to carry it out.

I really like working in special schools.I know the staff really well so we are honest with each other about what does/doesn't work and what is/isn't feasible.

Some of the teachers i work with are so good that I turn up and say 'Righto,what do you want me to do for you?' which is a lovely feeling.

yep- that's what I really like about ds1's school as well moondog- the teachers are completely involved in the SALT programme as well. If there are problems they go along and oobserve and work together to put together something that works.

Thanks MD

I wondered if she could be taken out of MN school and taken to speech therapy elsewhere

But maybe that is just for pre school age

My ideal scenario would be to be permanently in one classroom or even school.
Sadly I have to chase about between three schools, and six classrooms as well as carrying a pretty heavy adult caseload.

Not enough hours in the day,sigh....

Thanks Gess

I am not overly worried about Ellies speech anyway, but I just know it is one of the things she does have at SN school and it is on her statement (that was done when she was 2!!!!)

whereas she doesnt need physio and OT etc

Annie,the idea of 'taking someone' out of their usual environment for speech and lang. therapy' doesn't sit well with me for reasons given earlier.

i find it is best to work within the regualar communicative environment.Even then,people have a hard time grasping what our recommnedations actually mean so when you give them after having taken them out of their regular setting,there is often no hope!

My personal view,not an official line of course.

i get to see SALT in both settings as i have 3 kids with autism, 2 in SN school and 1 in MS
DS in mainstream gets a vist from SALT once per term, she usually observes him then meets with the staff and myself and puts forward ideas, these are often not followed up due to lack of understanding/time.
DD's in SN school get salt input in group settingswhich works very well and i have sat in on sessions, the TA's are very experienced and are easily able to act on advice, plus the SALT is on site so lots of feedback between staff, the SALT is fab and make sure she is there when the kids do an after school club whilst parents drink coffee and speak to the SALT all parents have acsess to the software to make & take symbols and anything else they may need, they often run workshops for parents too.

i totally agree with you moondog.

Now I seem to have dd2s SALT sorted (touch wood!) she seems to be having it every 2-3 weeks (MS) but I'm not sure how much is assessment atm still as she isn't making much progress.I still took her to the SALT at the health centre when she was at school so that shouldn't be a problem, in fact they arre suposed to be heading that way locally.

When ds1 started m/s the plan was that the SALT's assistant would go into the school to either work directly with him or to show the staff what they should be doing with him. By the time he started though he didn't need the actual therapy, so probably not all that useful to you. He still had assessments though and these were always with the actual SALT at the health centre. Tbh it was a complete PITA having to take him out of school. First you had to fill in the form to let the school know where your child was going, when they were leaving, and when you expected to bring them back. You then had to remind your child umpteen times that you were collecting them at that time. Then you had to collect them, have the assessment and then get them back - while hoping that they didn't miss anything important while they were out of school.

There have been times when I've had to take both boys to a session because of a lack of childcare and it's actually been useful to have an extra child there, eg turn-taking games giving and following instructions etc.

I wasn't meaning to knock it Fio, Honestly.

I just couldn't see how it worked so all the children got something out of it

Thnaks for all your thoughts and advice

Kate gets speech once a week 1 to 1 with SALT and then in groups during the day, most days. She attends MS with a SEN base. No speech, but enjoys to babble.