SALT observation at nursery today - DS needs to be assessed by ed psych for learning difficulties.

[TotalChaos]

On the upside - she's pleased with the progress he's made with his expressive speech - certainly the length of what he can say is getting to age appropriate, even if his vocab is a bit restricted.

On the downside - she's pretty concerned about his problems with receptive speech (understanding). He's going to be referred to an education psychologist to do cognitive tests to see if he has any other learning difficulties other than language . Which illogically has upset me.

Not sure yet whether he is going to be referred to a paediatrician to check for ASD - despite the fact that he was put on that waiting list nearly 12 months ago, they decided to chuck kids off the list and let the speech therapist department decide if they need to see a paediatrician. SALT is going to discuss with her boss whether he gets the paed referral.

So it's going to be a couple of months at least before more speech therapy, and 4 -5 months till he seeks the education psychologist.

So although the wheels are moving to get him the right assessment and support, I'm still a bit fed up and pissed off at the continued delays.

Anyway to get to the point - what are the cognitive tests that the ed psych does? If DS is found to have ANY learnign difficulties other than language then he can't go to a language unit

Is there any way you can go private for the ed psy. bit. I don't think it is horrendously expensive. I know this waiting between appointments is awful. You seem to wait so long only to be no further forward after the appointment and just put on someone elses waiting list.

My mum offered to pay for a private appointment - I don't know whether it would be any use though, not sure how far it's only the NHS ed psych word that rules when deciding on school placements etc. Hmmm.

And to add to the joy, this is the bit of the SALT department he will be under:-

"Children may present with a range of difficulties such as:

• Learning Disability (Degree as yet unknown)
• Social and communication disorder
• Specific language impairment over and above learning disability".

Not very cheering really. Doesn't sound like he has a cat in hell's chance of getting in a language unit now.

TC,those criteria are good,even if he does have an additional learning disability, it comes under them.

I don't understand your post Moondog, been a long day?

TC,I mean that even with a learning dis. he fits the criteria
ie Learning Disability degree as yet unknown'

the criteria I put aren't for the language unit, just for the bit of the SALT department he is being referred to! the language unit doesn't take children with any cognitive issues other than the languge one.

Sorry TC. Understand now.

It's actually fucking ridiculous that lang. units say things like this. Completely ludicrous to suggest that a lang. problem exists in isolation of everything else.It will always impact on other areas and ability to learn as language central to everything we do.

It makles me so bloody angry and as I think you know,I am a salt.

Get thee to yuor local SNAP.

Is SNAP equivalent of Parent Partnership or Ipsea?

Thanks for the reply and the moral support .

special needs advisory project. One attached to every ed. authority. Under which are you? I'll try and find it.

Ah yes,prob. Parent Partnership

Don't take any crap TC.Remember that we are a resource there for one reason and one reason only. To benefit 'Your^ child and you.

TC sounds like it wasn't a fun appointment, no advice sorry.

I agree with moondog about why do the expect language disorder to occur in isolation?

Oh how misery inducing for you, TC. I know.

How about letting your mum pay for the private appointment, to at least give you some answers while you are waiting?

And the language unit's criteria is ridiculous! Are they allowed to do that?

I will speak to them tomorrow, I was waiting for outcome of today - so I knew precisely what I would be steaming mad about

Thanks Aefond and Colditz. Onwards and upwards eh...

TC

Just when you think the system couldn't possibly get any crappier. I hate the games they play to fiddle their waiting lists etc.

TC-

i know it's hard but do try and view it as a postive on your quest for answers. And remember that some learning difficulties doesn't write off your childs wider abilities- OK ds3 has some, he also has Areas Of Exceptional Ability (which is why he's hassling me for the blardy PC again LOL ) compared to toehrs his age- he's a whizz with that mouse!

And most important remember that your baby is always your baby, no matter what label or test they conduct.

SNAp btw (here at least) isn't quite the same as eitehr of those- Parent Aprtnership seems to be mroe linked with the LEA, and IPSEA are more factual / tribunals- whereas the bloke at SNAP is what we think of as The Heavy Mob and utterly, utterly fabulous in every way!

He's the one with his own Sn kids who fought the system and won, the one who is happy to shout at useless heads if needed- don't know if they have SNAP everywhere but they have helped us.

Tests they did with ds3- things like jigsaws (har de balrdy har- we all knew he could excel at that), copying skills (making a picture), sequencing, colour recognition- that type of thing.

Colditz language units do usually specify things like that, ours says no symptoms of ASD for example (is there anyone alive who has no symptoms of ASd whatsoever?)

well seeing as I haven't contacted Parent Partnership yet, I shouldn't really make assumptions, but I also suspect they are too closely tied to LEA to fight on my behalf.

My mother is now winding me up:
a mother on annual leave can be a dangerous thing - telling me to look up developmental norms for 4 year olds, and then she said how much she "hates" having to think of this sort of stuff,(the language teaching stuff) and if I had another child, it would all come naturally (to that other child). That sort of comment is completely unhelpful, a slap in the face.

TC- tell her to back off if you need to!

Have to say my Mum is great (in contrrast to the MIL, obviously) and for once her devastating realism 'your hair colour is horrid', 'I am tired now go home' LOL) has helped immensely- if I have doubts about DS3's needs she always makes it clear that his needs are obvious and real and I shouldn't have them (when she has ds3 she also tends to have my nephews, whoa re 3 and 6 months younger than him so a good comparison).

Your Mum IS right that a sibling can help id SN in that my APediatrician said most referrals she gets for ASD type things are when a parent has a second child and notices that the first can't do the same things, or a subsequent child isn't following an expected pattern- BUT that's a very poor reason for having another baby for someone who isn't sure they want one, frankly a developmental Psychology handbook is far cheaper and less sressful LOL!

She doesn't mean have another child to see what DS struggles with, she means have another child so I can know the "joy" of having a normal one! We have had this conversation before....

Ah yes, I remember now- sorry

That's just damned mean. And naive- there's nothing more joyful than a kiss from DS3, or an I Love You from ds1. not that ia dore ds2 any less but those things seem to much easier with him, iykwim.

she tries to be supportive, I think she's just not very empathetic at times. she's e-mailed me with some suggestions (fine), and saying that we are just using trial and error, and a speech therapist knows how to fine tune stuff (erm yes, really) but most annoyingly "time is important". Oh FGS how does she think I feel about DS being stuck for years on the waiting list.

From what I understand, a problem with all parent partnership stuff is that,irrespective fo how fab staff are,they are funded by the --fuckers- people you are in conflich with (ie education authority) and therfore are not truly impartial.

Peachy,yes that no ASD rule is a pile of crap too.

Bloody ridiculous.

ICAN is another valuable source o support (charity for kids with lang. problems)

moondog -I'm in Liverpool - do you know if there is a snap anywhere remotely near?