How often do your Dc's see a SALT?

[jjones]

My ds is 2.10 and was refered to a SALT at his 2 year check, he is query ASD, he is totaly non-verbal. He has been seen by his SALT 4 times since last june, my DH is going mad over this and thinks he should be seen a lot more often as when we go we don't even get the next appointment through for about 2 months. I have tried telling him that is just the way it is, but I do agree with him, but to be honest I don't really know. Should I push for more or is that really it?

we see our salt every 6-8 weeks though she does give me ideas to work on which is huge improvment on last one ds is 3.9 andnon verbal

My DS doesn't have severe difficulties by anybody's standards. He has seen a SALT probably 4 times in 3 years. They set up a programme and expect the school to do it with him. They don't even expect me to do anything which I find a bit odd.

I would be worried if I had a child with severe difficulties but I think the way they work is that they assess and devise a programme and then the bulk of the day to day stuff is done with a parent or teacher.

There seems to be a real shortage of SALTS which doesn't help.

My DD is 2.6 and saw her SALT once every two weeks to start with then it moved to once a month and now, because she has improved the SALT said to try leaving it two months. I think maybe we were very lucky though and it may depend on provisions in the area (unfairly).

Dd2 (3.1) HFA/ASD was seeing a SALT once a week at nursery but she retired last week so now we need to wait to find dd another SALT, i'm not sure how long this will take but i hope its not too long.

It's been 3 visits per term, plus 1 visit to see the TAs and give them tips at school.

When my daughter was that age she saw her SALT every 2 weeks but it was 8 years ago. The service got worse as she went to school and we moved area and now has 1 visit each half term.

I would push, there may be differences in areas, shortages etc but if you don't feel its enough driving them mad will increase this.

My DD is 2.11 and has only seen her SALT twice in the last nine months - however the SALT has trained her (excellent) nursery staff in how to communicate effectively with her and tbh I think they get far more out of DD than the SALT does as the latter isn't the most child-friendly (ahem) of ladies.... DD also gets a monthly visit from an Early Years teacher and she is ace. Massively underfunded and under-resourced round these parts (South East).

my dd4 gets a visit from her SALT once a week for about 1-2 hours at nursery( usually a thursday).am ed at how little your dc get! does it lessen with age or ability?

Once every 2/3 months at home. About the same at nursery.

wow drlove8

it seems be here that the more sever the speech issues less help there is down to th fact they been told to get the qauick fixe sin and sorted cut down waiting lists leaving those that really need with even less

DS5 is non-verbal (but is doing well with single word Makaton - not taught by SALT tho strangely, she just wants him to be verbal) he is 2.11y and sees his SALT every 2wks for an hour - TBH tho its not done him much good so far but i think shes being a bit heavy handed and he doesnt respond well to that.

DS4 (who probably has SLI, but not as severe as TC's) is 3.11y and gets 6wk blocks of weekly hour sessions, then a 6wk block off, and back to hourly for 6wks - its worked really well so far. we are in nottinghamshire.

PS both sons see different SALTs.

im in scotland, is that why its different then?

I think I will ring and push for more appointments, our lastone was on the 11th march and we don't even have an appointment thruogh yet. She doesn't do much more than play with him, the only thing she has told me to work on with him is taking turns and saying 'ready, steady, go' and that is it. The only other comunication thing he is having is we are trying PECS as advised by early years. Pretty naff realy. DS is not progressing at all and does not like the PECS so I am at a loss. I can not imagine him having sessions once a week that would be a dream.

wonders if a move to scotland is in order,

jjones are you in essex to ?becuase your salt sounded like my first one

have you thought about makton yet again was not my first salts suggestion,i had already done

I think it must vary in Scotland depending on area and the condition as we very rarely see an NHS SALT - twice in the last 2 years - but to be fair, if we had wanted PECS, there could have been more contact. We have a private SALT twice a week now

We are in England, Surrey, and from age 4 months he saw a fabulous SALT weekly (all year around) for 25 mins in a small group. This was part of a longer weekly therapy session where we had physio, OT, sesnory input etc. Since he moved on from that he has fortnightly sessions during term time also in a small group with the same SALT (no more than 4 although usually 3). Speech is not DS1's main area of difficulty although there are a few problems there.
We are very lucky with the provision, partly it's the area ad partly it's because he is part of the EArly Years intervention program due to all his other difficulties - he has cp - and not the community program where I don't think help is as forthcoming!

No Phoenix we are in sefton just next to liverpool. I dont really know a lot about makaton but I have been told that no-one in our are really uses makaton anymore the all use PECS. Might look into it though, it's worth a try.

I can not praise it enough really cant , do not feel disheartned if seems take while before your ds signs back .

what works for one might not work for another ,if you do just startwith a few basic signs we started with eat , drink and sleep for ds

DS2 has a severe speech delay, and has had times when the service from SALT has been terrible.

In the year before he started school he saw our the SALT weekly, now he is in full time school his LSA does his programme daily and the SALT goes into school to see him twice per half term.

jjones I would like to also say try makaton it is fab! It did take a little while for DS2 to click what was going on although as he is quite deaf he had kind of made up his own already. Eat, drink and sleep are good places to start, although DS2's first proper sign was biscuit!

Try to catch something special on cbeebies, its all makaton.

Thanks slightlycrumpled I will try and do that, I have requested a list of local courses from the makaton website so we will see how that goes.

check out your local colleges too! from the makaton trainers personally its around £200, but if you can find one thats carried out in college then the college (or council/government) will partially fund it and it will cost around £50 instead.

I second what Phoenix said, it may take a while for any signs at all to come back to you - but its pure magic when it does! . It took DS5 (now 2.11) around 18mths to sign anything back - but he has very little understanding, however DS4 did makaton from around 10/11mths after only a few days of being taught (we assumed he was NT at the time), his first sign was biscuit too!

We also tried PECS with DS5, but he couldnt handle that at all and got very distressed.

Ds2 has very little understanding too. He relates to visual clues well which is why I thought PECS might work but he just doesn't like them at all. I am a student in the local college so I will go into student services and ask when I go back after easter.

jjones. Def try Makaton. We use it all the time. I have been on the courses. You do forget half of them but I just keep going back to do a referesher. My sons first special needs school (for moderate learning difficulties) did not use makaton, just pecs. he has moved to a makaton signing school since spetember and his speech is coming on really well now that he is doing makaton at home and school. Try watching Something Special on Cbeebies. My son loves it and we do the signs together. Give it a try.

Well I got a reply from Makaton, and the nearest tutor is on the other side of Manchester and I am in liverpool, great. Will try at college on Monday.