Speech delay

Aveen

I’m wondering if there anyone out there who three & half old still not communicating/talking to you? SLT wants me to get a test done for autism? My heart breaks with this, previously been to one area officer say no, another profession think maybe & another say no. Now referred for needs assessment and early intervention. I’m so confused at this stage. The child makes eye contact must of the time.
Could cry when writing this, don’t what to do

annoyedgal

No personal experience but I'm a special needs teacher and have a lot of experince of early assessment of need and autism. Your absolutely doing the right thing following the advice of the SLT and having your child assessed.
Did the SLT specifically mentiom autism? There are other reasons why child may have a langauge delay, regardless of why, early intervention is crucial so well done on getting the ball rolling.
Sorry no personal experience but couldn't not reply and hope everything will work out for you.

annoyedgal

There are some fantastic parent support groups that your SLT could refer you too and you'll get lots of advice from parents who have gone through the assesment.

uck51js9zml2yt

My son was 3 1/2 before he started taking.he had speech therapy and you can't shut him up now.
He's still not as clear as other kids but has a good vocabulary and grammar.
He also understands 2 languages.
School will sort him out this year!
He just finished 2 years of Montessori.

drunkmonkey

Take them to someone private who specialises in it not in the public system. Kids do different things at different times don't upset your self the public system is daunting and all about getting a diagnosis, private system is about helping the child straight away with no mad push to get the autism test.
You don't need a diagnosis to access services.

neia

Hi, my little fella is 3 in December, he has about 5 words and not necessarily used in context. He communicates by pointing and walking us to what he wants. He is in early intervention and autism has been mentioned but not being assessed until Sept. He is a happy fellow and doesn't fit much of the autism criteria from my research but of course does fit some. Speech is our big worry at the moment. Thankfully he doesn't get frustrated and is happy out at creche. He was born premmie and is still tiny. He is under the 2nd centile for height and weight still.. I brought him private to slt while waiting to access the public system, I was not impressed to say the least. The public system serves us well, with slt, ot and psychologist under the same roof and joining in together for appointments

drunkmonkey

What happened with a private speech therapist, they work with the public system but aren't governed by it's processes that's why I find it more honest. You can get aims support in the creche for him without getting an autism diagnosis. He's still very young to put a label on him.
Do your research on who's doing the diagnosis as some will 100% confirm autism and have a reputation for it, even though it might not actually be the problem.

neia

I was probably just unlucky. We are limited with private options where we live. The private therapist seemed to be going through the motions and box ticking. Much happier with the public therapist who follows his lead.. again just my experience, not a widespread criticism, but as I say we are limited with options. We are in the process of applying for aims, hoping to get the full 15 hours which would be amazing

drunkmonkey

In the same boat but we got a call asking would we give up our space in the autism test cue a couple of week ago, said it's nearly 2yr wait then. We said we didn't mind as we're not overly concerned as the red flags at 3 are non existent anymore.
We had to do a group thing with 6 other kids and their parents and one mum nearly broke down when she heard about the reputation of the guy that diagnosed her daughter, she really felt she was after wronging her daughter but thought she was doing the right thing at the time, after been in that group that's why I'm so cautious of the test after hearing about the tester. The private therapist even warned us about him without me bringing it up.

Aveen

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. We’ve complete the assessment with Aims so hopfully we gets it.
Thinking of training private SLT (as our public SLT told us Friday we could be waiting 9months). Does anyone have recommedations for north Dublin?

shesty

I believe Arc speech clinic, in Clarehall, is good.

appledrop

I just wanted to say that I know a number of children who had delayed speech but are all doing great now after SLT. The earlier they get the support the better even if it's hard to accept. Best of Luck with it.