Health Query Re Speech Therapy

[lynbrown]

My grandson is 3y 8 m and has only a few words, he also has several symptoms of Autism, My son has asked me to go along to their appt with the speech therapist next week. What can I read in advance, to know what to look for or ask about?

[Buenchico]

With regard to the possibility of autism spectrum disorder, start here
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autistic-spectrum-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx
and click through the links, with 'Diagnosis' obviously being relevant).

This video provides some general information about speech therapy:
http://www.nhs.uk/Video/Pages/Speechandlanguagetherapy.aspx

If I see Sherrardk posting on AB, I'll ask her to take a look at this thread as she's been in a somewhat similar situation herself.

[pixie373]

My son had speech therapy at that age and also has autism. His speech is still quite immature, although he is now ten. The speech therapist will assess him and give you some ways to help him improve his speech. I'm not sure of anything you particularly need to ask.
For autism, the GP needs to refer him to a paediatrician to diagnose. I made a list of everything I'd noticed about my son. They diagnosed sensory processing disorder with autism (very similar conditions, with different causes).

[sherrardk]

My youngest son has been having intensive speech therapy from the age of two (he is now six). His speech was so poor to they wanted him to go to a special language unit rather than a main stream school. He was assessed and a programme was tailored for his specific needs. My biggest concern was that they were trying to make us embrace signing rather than learning to actually speak. My son is in the odd position of having poor speech but no other problems (such poor speech is usually accompanied by other difficulties). If ou are concerned about the process, contact these people - http://www.parentpartnership.org.uk/

They are fabulous and will put your mind at rest.

I would also advocate asking for your grandson to be assessed for a statement of special educational needs (this takes ages!) but it will ensure the funds are in place for additional support when he starts school (I got my son assessed and he gets ten hours of support per week for his speech).