where to go for an independent SALT assessment?

[geekgrrl]

The title says it all, really.

Shall I ring a local independent SALT, do I go to a specific centre somewhere or what? What's the best thing to do? (bearing in mind I need to get it done swiftly, so anything with long waiting lists is out).

Oh, and I live in Harrogate, so would prefer somewhere north of London.

Have a word with Symbol. The are local to me in Kent but cover other areas too. The specialise in DS, and charge us £40 per hour.

tel; 01634 244000

other wise I would look online, can't remember the site name off hand, but you can put in your area and see a list of SALT and what speciality areas they cover.

have a look at ASLTIP

or afasic

thank you dingle

omg, can't believe there's a place called Snodland!

Could be worse, could be snotland!

You could try the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists . They won't be able to give a recommendation, but should be able to tell you who practises in a particular speciality in your area.

Alternatively you could try the head of SLT at your local NHS trust. Heads of SLT are likely to be signficantly more switched on that your average therapist.

Or alternatively again, you could phone the nearest University that have a speech therapy department (don't know off the top of my head which that would be, but could find out if you needed to know). Newcastle have a very highly-regarded department, so a recommendation from there would be worth having.

hth

I know of a good one in Stockport - am I allowed to put a name in?

How's it going geekgrrl? Have you found anyone yet?

heads of SLT likely to be significantly more switched on than the average SLT??? I LOVE that

You're having a larf...right?

switched-on SLTs never become "head of service". They know it leads to taking all the flak from NHS managers and thinking up new ways to fiddle the figures when they are required to do more and more with less and less money.

We switched-on SLTs leave that sort of nonsense to our colleagues

I've had some great ones via ASLTIP. Best thing is look at their list of expertise then give them a ring and see what you think. The last one we used was fantastic. She worked with ds1 for over a year at a time when we were having almost zerto input from anyone. She had worked for several years in autism specific school, now works as part of a multipdisciplinary team - again in autism- is taking a higher degree in autism. Was perfect- and had bags an bags of hands on experience which unforunately the NHS therapist was lacking (not her fault- just couldn't get near the kids- so all she could do was leave communication programmes). The hands on help meant she could advise on behavioural stuff etc as well. She was worth every penny.

agreed jimjams!

ASTIIP is the best source of advice