Is private SALT worth it?

[Twigglett1]

My LO is 3. He has leaning disabilities and is able to understand / communicate at around an 18 month old level.

We get SALT every 4-6 months which consists of a 45 minute appointment where the practitioner asks me questions and watches him play then writes down a list of activities to do at home.

I feel like we should be expecting / getting more support but I'm not sure what more could help.

I'm wondering whether to go private but it doesn't look like you get much more privately other than paying £80 per session for the privilege.

Has anyone gone private over the NHS and was it better?

Yes, I paid for private speech therapy from age 3 - 5 years, because there was nothing on the NHS. They assessed DD informally, as they went along; set targets, and showed me how to teach that target. For instance, I was to teach:

1. concepts like the words in, on and under; so they’d show me to put her teddy under the table and emphasise the word “teddy is under the table; then put teddy on the table and emphasise on, etc
2. the colours by playing with Duplo bricks
3. shapes with a shape sorter
4. verbs by playing “Simon says…..” and emphasising the verb (like clapping), as I did it!
5. setting obstacle courses where we had to crawl, hop, run and emphasise the verb as we did it
6. to extend her attention with table top activities like painting
7. to teach her to listen to sounds, such as hiding an alarm clock, about to go off somewhere in the house. When it went off, she had to find it. Make different sounds behind a screen and she had to choose what objects made the sound
8. improve memory with games like recalling objects on a tray
9. improve categorisation like telling her in the fruit section of the supermarket to find the grapes, apples, etc
10. push up her comprehension level, by playing afternoon tea with her teddies. 2 key word level is “give teddy the plate where teddy and plate are the two key words. Then go upto 3 key word level “Give teddy the blue plate, where teddy, blue and plate are the three key words, etc. It improves their comprehension of increasingly complex sentences.
11. teach her eye contact by making eye contact with her before speaking, and moving her chin so she had eye contact with me!

DD had a language disorder; but at the beginning no eye contact, no verbs, very poor attention and her comprehension was at a one key word level - in 6 months, I got her upto a five key word level, and using verbs! It was also about teaching basic concepts before school, like shapes, colours, numbers, big v small, etc.

If your DC has learning disabilities, there might be a different approach; but it’s not about what they do in a session; rather it’s the programme you need to do every day of the week until next time!

PS - it is likely that if they produce a written report for you, it will be the only decent one, you will get! Also, the £80 does not just cover the one hour session - it includes all the preparation work before hand. They don’t just turn up and do it off the top of their head! (At least the one I know, doesn’t)

For us, private SALT was utterly useless for DS who is now 7. We saw various people who indeed charged a hefty fee both initially and for ongoing support but taught and showed us no more than what I already knew. The problem was always DS poor attention/ unwillingness to cooperate with their activities and thereafter they gave up pretty quickly. I still cringe when I look back on what we spent and how little they achieved.

for us the turning point was sending him to a specialist provision where SALT was not an isolated issue, it was just built into the day, he was assessed and then along with supporting provisions (other therapies such as OT for eg) implemented throughout the day by experienced staff.