If we weren't all so busy we could be a sort of equivalent to the NCT for language problems

[backtolingle]

You know how we all get on here at it's just so helpful to find someone who gets it?

And you know how a suspiciously high number of us seem to be highly educated, articulate, etc,etc.

And how we know more than we ever wanted to know about the parental experience of helping kids with language problems?

Can you see where I'm going here?

I could imagine a parent-run charity dedicated to RL home visits to families whose 2/3/4 year-olds have language problems.

We could be a listening ear and also assist parents in trying to get an understanding of their child's language issues.

Even if all we did was get a parent to the stage of realising what their child did or didn't understand, and what kind of conversation/discipline might therefore be effective, that would be massive help.

And imagine once you'd done it 50 times. You'd get pretty bloody good at it.

just a thought

Yes I see littlemisschatalot.
nice to hear from you, my DS2 is doing superwell you'll be glad to hear.

Hi Lingle
What i eman is that language and communication are very complex issues involving a great many discrete but often interconnected areas:
syntax, semantics/pragmatics, morphology, phonological issues, physiological issues, the whole area of delay versus disorder and so on and so on. It requires a detailed understanding of the usual path of development and where/how/why children may veer off that path.
Also prioritising multiple components that may have gone awry (e.g. if a child has a language disorder and a phonological disorder (ie speech issues) then the language disorder needs addressing more urgently than the speech disorder, althoguh the latter may manifest itself more obviously.

SALTs train long and hard-4 full-on years (no loafing about like many other degrees,it's 9-5 5 days a week all through the course) or 2 mega full-on years on top of a degree in Linguistics or Psychology.

So, giving support of the tea and sympathy kind is one thing that some people need. (I think the need for this is over-estimated actually.Research shows that, contrary to popular opinion amongst 'professionals' many parents can cope with intensive (invasive if you like) intervention of the kind advocated for kids with ASD.)

In terms of practical advice-showing somoeone how to set up a diary or use a clock/visual timetable or so on seem simple and in many ways are if you are a logical sort of person. Most people aren't though and without being remotely precious about the SALT profession, I have seem very good well-menaing people make a real pig's ear of really simple intervention strategies.

So, what is the answer?
More SALTs?
Maybe?
More parent/staff training? Yes, but it needs to have clearer outcomes and the materials used need a much stronger evidence base than the ones currently in vogue.

What is true is that community clinics are clogged up with the worried well-largely middle class kids with minor phonological or higher level language issues, while the kids who really need menaingful support get a really raw deal (as expounded at length in Bercow report and Lamb Inquiry).

Perhaps the answer is to have a new group of workers, like SALT assistants, who can be a point of first contact, screening children of concerned parents to separate those that need intervention from those that don't, and also those that can be sorted with simple advice from those that require ongoing therapy, etc.

They wouldn't have sufficient expertise to make such judgements though.HVs are supposed to d othis anyway, yet their understanding of D&L is frighteningly low generally.
They will also tell you (I am good mates with quite a few HVs) that parents of the middle class persuasion put a lot of pressure on them to refer thier kids.

D&L??

S&L I mean!

Thanks moondog.

I'm even more convinced it's a good idea now

again, moondog, think of the NCT analogy (though they are a bit too political for me).

They aspire to a core competence not in medicine, but in empowering women to make the best choices they can. Some doctors also have that competence, but it's hard for them to take the time to work with the individual woman.

Similarly, parents can aspire to a core competence or even expertise in helping other parents get to that point of rolling their sleeves up and helping their language-impaired kids. Some SALTS like you and littlemisschatalot also have that comptetence, etc,etc but it's hard to achieve what you'd like to achieve because of caseloads, etc.

It's a tricky one and yes, in all fields, the 'experts' cock things up (indeed re reading.It's a piece of piss, we know how to teach reading effectively to all but the most severely intellectually impaired kids but so many teachers haven't a clue.I talk to educated people who have no idea even of diff. between 'whole word reading' and phonics.

Same with Maths, Iraq war, NI, whatever.It makes you think
'Sheesh, an aura of confidence goes so bloody far and asks all sorts of bullshit'

After my own experiences,I went through a stage of itching to get into legal and/or political field but maybe later.....

Re education, we know what works. The largest educational experiment in the world, Project Follwthrough, demonstrated this, not once but twice with thousands and thousands of kids.
What happened? All brushed under carpet.
A lot of peopel have very powerful and sinister reasonds for maitnaining status quo re educational failure (of which S&L issues form a core part.

Nice little summary of Project Followthrough

It would be worth considering operating under auspices of existing set-up first.Maybe approach AFASIC or ICAN with it as an idea.

The issue is that people's expectations get higher nad higher as concurrently, knowledge of effective intervention strategies increases.

A creaky old set-up like the NHS can't keep up. (I don't think SALT should come under auspices of Health but that is a whole other story.)

With systemic change, SEN education (and thep lace of S&L therein-this being my strong interest) could be a whole lot more efffective and a whole lot chaper than it is now, with its hordes of untrained 1:1 workers, cumbersome multi-disciplinary teams and so on.One can attend a meeting about 1 person where 15 or more peopel are present yet there is often very little in terms of quantifiable outcome for the person in question.

And think of all those travel expenses, salaries, pensions.......

££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

hear what you're saying and that might be good for Peachy's project.

Mine would be more Freecycle-ish. grassroots, simplicity as key and zero beaurocracy.

Perfect example of how somewhere along the line something has gone very very wrong...

Well, I've gone and done it now.

Popped down to the monthly drop-in speech therapy clinic, waited till then end then spoke to the speech therapist, talked about providing emotional/parenting support....

she was all for it and has stuck up a flier.

there is already a well-established SN group in our area and the coordinator of that group gently and tactfully advised me to stick with parents-only meetings because handling the kids as well is a different skill-set. So that's what I'll do. It will probably be a bit like this board but easier to meet up and also we can compare nursery/school settings by name! (mentioned that to SALT who clearly wished she was free to do the same!!!)

lingle, I wonder if I'll be quite near enough to you to pop along to yours!! Otherwise I'll be setting up my own branch maybe.. sounds like a great idea and I've mentioned it to our SALT before now.

I have news on ds1' dx. Will start my own thread though!

oh yes do please kettle. Hope all is well.

Hey, good for you!
Let us know how it goes.

thanks M