Lack of SALT support - is it just us?

[PinchofbliminSALT]

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? We have really little support for our non-verbal 4 year old (they will be attending a SS in Sept) but since being under SALT for the last 2 years - we've barely seen anyone and the advice always seems the same despite DD making progress in areas. Not here to bash - but just wondered if we got unlucky in our area and how people have coped if they are in the same boat. Thanks and hoping you're all well x

Is the SALT in section F of DD’s EHCP as it should be? If so, it must be provided even if that means the LA commissioning independent provision.

Midlands here also with a non-verbal 4 year old and our little one has never seen NHS SALT in person. Like you, barely had contact with them...(Three times. Even with chasing!) and always the same advice.

So not just you I am sorry to say :(

Hello! It is yes - the EHCP was finalised in September and we are meant to have 6 visits a year in the setting. We have decided to EHE since Jan because the setting wasn't right. I contacted the LA about this and they said just to email them in any correspondence with SALT. I did this again yesterday as we haven't heard anything back from an email sent 3 weeks ago - I was told to be patient and that our allocated SALT is very good etc. Very difficult to find someone who is unbiased - they all seem to know one another and I suspect that's why this delay tactics keep occurring.

I'm really sorry to hear that because I know how stressful it is. Can you raise this with your SENCO or Early Years Coordinator? We did this but it made us very unpopular in SALT land and they aren't particularly friendly with us now - one even said "We aren't used to dealing with parents like you" - I must add we have always been polite etc but we do chase and ask for clarity when things aren't clear or seem amiss - this doesn't go down well apparently.

Unfortunately by EHEing you relieve the LA of duty to provide the provision in F. You need to inform the LA you are no longer EHEing and they need to make suitable arrangements to ensure the provision specified and quantified in F is provided. If a setting isn’t suitable there is EOTAS.

Sadly unless the 6 sessions a year are further specified and quantified it is quite woolly and vague.

Midlands here as well and yes - next to zip in terms of SALT support. One video call in which DS didn't even need to be there, and was just a load of recommended reading that I'd read two years ago when I first had concerns. The poor SLT even said during our call that, while she wasn't really supposed to express her personal views on the quality of support, she recognised "it isn't what it should be" and that every area is different and this happens to be what our area does. It must be so frustrating for those in the profession who trained up to support children and feel like their hands are tied and unable to do the best job they can.

And don't worry about becoming "that" parent - it sounds like you're doing everything right asking for clarification and chasing things up. Someone has to do it or, in my experience, they don't get done!

My child's been under them for two year, I can count on one hand how many times he's seen them.
Nursery do more for him

I am so sorry to hear that - I guess from their perspective they do their "block" and then leave it up to you until some progress has been made. Frustrating nonetheless - thank goodness you have a supportive Nursery.

You are so right - I am unfortunately "that" parent but at the end of the day, I can't sit here hoping for the best - I need to be as proactive as possible. I'm fearful of what happens when they become adults and the services are spread even thinner, and then obviously, what happens when I am no here. It's just about fighting for the best possible future for them isn't it? I just wish some people in our SALT would remember that and put the child first before their personal feeling toward the parent - ideal world eh?!

@Scratchybaby @DESGUSTING if your DC have EHCPs SALT can be included in there and then it must be provided and if it isn’t forthcoming you can force the LA. If your DC don’t have EHCPs have you considered applying for one?

@JustKeepBuilding We've just been refused an EHCNA and with the amount of evidence I provided the first time around, I'm not sure what more I can actually provide in an appeal - the LA seems to prefer waiting and seeing. The last step seems to be to pay for a private ASD assessment I guess. A 9 page OT report, multiple ABA consultant's home and nursery assessments and observations, area SENCO, Early Help and nursery observations, initial acceptance by the community paediatrician that he should be assessed for ASD, and summary letter from the NHS SALT. I'm not sure what else I can actually do beyond a paid-for paediatrician assessment - which is a bit bitterly ironic, paying your way through the hoops to get LA-funded support.

Thank you.

Yes we've applied, waiting for the decision

@Scratchybaby For a refusal to assess, if you have good evidence already you may not need any more. The LA may prefer to wait and see as it saves them money, but ultimately it is SENDIST that make the decisions and the bar for an EHCNA is relatively low - a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP.

If you do decide on further independent assessments I would suggest an independent SALT which will be more detailed, specified and quantified than a summary from the NHS &/or an ed psych assessment.

@JustKeepBuilding this is probably veering off topic for this thread - but during the mediation process the LA said that they don't doubt there are SEND issues at play, given the evidence provided they just think that DS's support needs can be managed with resources outside an EHCP - despite multiple reports recommending 1:1 support. They've said that an EHCP doesn't always equal 1:1 support, and that we should take a "graduated approach" to determining how much support he needs. This to me just sounds like they need to wait for him to fail, but arguing this case with them in mediation was like trying to nail jelly to a wall.

I think at the end of the day I just need to get some more detailed advice from IPSEA or other (if I can get through to them) on the likelihood of successfully appealing the decision with or without new evidence. The mediation process was incredibly frustrating - the feeling that you know you're being bamboozled but can't quite put your finger on exactly how and can't stop it from happening. They agreed with everything I said but still somehow came to the conclusion that not even an assessment was warranted. It was odd. I'm not sure I'd bother with mediation again when we are (inevitably) going to go through this whole process again.

This is why mediation is pointless. If you still have the right of appeal submit to SENDIST. The LA are often say DC don’t need an EHCP.