# Speech delay/Autism help please :(



## oox_tasha_xoo

Hi, i've never been on this part of the forum before, but thought i would take a glance as i have been reading online about speech delay and special needs. My son is 3 and has severre speech delay, what concerns me is when he went for a speech therapy assessment 3 weeks ago, they didn't do anything! We just got told we would have to come back in 6 months time to check on progress. I'm really at the end of my tether, it's so hard trying to understand what he wants and why he is crying, and i'm not getting anywhere with potty training :( Just don't know what to do anymore.
My health visitor just doesn't help , so i'm wondering what my next step should be?
How would i go about finding out if he has autism?
Do i ring a doctor for an appointment, or is everything done through the health visitor?

Any help/advice, anything really, would be much appreciated :)


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## sun

I don't know how the system works over there so not sure how to get things started. I'm sure the other ladies will be on here with advice though.

But as for the speech, did they recommend anything like signing or picture cards? Does he have some words? I was able to take a course on speech development in children and it was SO helpful in helping communication with my son - maybe they could also recommend something like that for you? 

Lots of hugs to you :hugs:


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## try4girl2

Where do you live?


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## AP

I would ring the doctor to be honest, HVs are quite limited with what they can do.

What did they do at speech therapy? I know waiting lists can be long too :(


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## oox_tasha_xoo

At the speech therapy they just watched him play with some toys and spoke to me about my concerns and his communication etc. I had a letter in the post a week later with a checklist they filled out and they had to mark my concern level with different things like his communication,his speech, understanding skill etc they marked mild concern for all and thats not true im REALLY concerned!Also that they will see him again in 6 months. Think il book him a doctors appointment see what they say!


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## AP

I think going to see the GP is a start, just tell them exactly how you feel and what you've told us xx


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## BabyJ'sMummy

Has his hearing been checked at all? DS is getting assessed for Autism and when he had his hearing test it came up that he had glue ear which can affect speech and language development. We're waiting to see audiology and ENT at the start of June but it can show as signs of Autism. xx


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## oox_tasha_xoo

BabyJ'sMummy said:


> Has his hearing been checked at all? DS is getting assessed for Autism and when he had his hearing test it came up that he had glue ear which can affect speech and language development. We're waiting to see audiology and ENT at the start of June but it can show as signs of Autism. xx



Sorry to be nosey but what is glue ear? Think i'll have a quick google!
He is having his hearing tested soon ,that is about the only thing the speech therapy appointment sorted, although it would of been much quicker for me to ring up myself as i still haven't had an appointment through! It's so frustrating :(


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## BabyJ'sMummy

You're not being nosey at all  It's a build up of sticky fluid in the ear. Hearing can come and go and it can cause lots of development issues....

_If a young child&#8217;s hearing is impaired by glue ear, this may delay their language and speech development and may also contribute to behaviour problems &#8211; such as lack of concentration or attention. _

x


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## gezma

Hiya, I know from experience you have to shout, shout and shout again until something gets done, you just have to keep trying and trying and trying until someone listens and does something. 
Speak to your health visitor, tell her you aren't happy, if she does nothing, go to another health visitor and say you aren't happy with the service you are getting. 
Take your DS to a doctor to be assessed, if you get no help, take him to another doctor. Speak to your hospital to see if they have a 'portage team', you can google this to find out what it's about, and get him on the waiting list for that.
Maybe try private speech therapy until you get some off the nhs (this is around £60 an hour in our area, and they say lo's only need it once a month).
I know this is all draining, I am in a similar situation, but you do get help the more and more you ask for it. Don't just sit back, accept their answer and be fobbed off, chase up appointments, keep badgering them (this isn't in my nature, but I had to do it to get the result we wanted). Hope ts helps x


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## BabyJ'sMummy

I'll second the badgering people as well..in a nice way lol. I would also phone Audiology yourself and get an appointment date. When I phoned because I hadn't heard anything they told me it was a six week wait but when I said I was concerned about Autism and was getting him assessed they fitted me in the next week. xx


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## maysiemoo

Are there any classes at a children and family centre near you ? I noticed locally we have this Speech and Language Advice
Drop-In,
Monday Dates to be confirmed
Do you have any concerns about
your child&#8217;s speech and language? A
speech and language therapist will
be here during this session to answer
any questions you have.
Speech and Language Therapy,
Playing with Words, 1.15-2.15
Parent workshop followed by 5
group sessions &#8211; referral only.
Starts 11th June
Speech and Language Therapy,
Playing with Sounds, 2.30-3.30
Parent workshop followed by 5
group sessions &#8211; referral only. Starts
16th July
Location: Radford Room,
Methodist Church, 

Can you google and see if anything similar comes up for you? 


My nephew used to get really frustrated we didn't know what he wanted and scream constantly. This significantly came down as he was taught signing at his special school nursery. They used to have the odd family session and i went along and learnt a few basic signs. 

Somone one another board uses https://www.babysignlanguage.com/dictionary/a-d/ perhaps some basics you can learn and try with him?


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## jakey1

oox_tasha_xoo said:


> Hi, i've never been on this part of the forum before, but thought i would take a glance as i have been reading online about speech delay and special needs. My son is 3 and has severre speech delay, what concerns me is when he went for a speech therapy assessment 3 weeks ago, they didn't do anything! We just got told we would have to come back in 6 months time to check on progress. I'm really at the end of my tether, it's so hard trying to understand what he wants and why he is crying, and i'm not getting anywhere with potty training :( Just don't know what to do anymore.
> My health visitor just doesn't help , so i'm wondering what my next step should be?
> How would i go about finding out if he has autism?
> Do i ring a doctor for an appointment, or is everything done through the health visitor?
> 
> Any help/advice, anything really, would be much appreciated :)

Hi hun - I'm not sure where abouts you are in the UK and I know that it can be a bit of a postcode lottery as to the level of support you get and how seriously they take your concerns. I live in Wales and I have to say that they have been very good with us so far. My son will be 3 in September and has been having speech therapy for about 6 months now as he doesn't say a single word. The thing is though with Jake, he did say a few words at around the 9-10 month mark and then just suddely stopped saying anything at around 14 months old. Plus he has behavioural/developmental issues that have given both us and the professionals strong reasons to believe that he is on the Autistic spectrum so we have an appointment with a paediatrician at our local hospital on the 23rd of this month and hopefully the ball will start rolling properly from there. We have just started him in daycare two mornings per week as we were told that if he was in a childcare setting, then it would be easier for us to request a Satutory Assessment of his needs for school, as he is due to start part-time in January 2013 but I don't feel that he is physically or mentally ready to start school yet so I am hoping that we can get a thorough assessment and obtain a diagnosis for him by September/October, as we can then maybe look into the option of alternative, more specialist schools for his needs, or even defer his school placement for a year or so and keep him at daycare for a bit longer - it's all very confusing. 

If you are concerned hun then I would just suggest that you keep on and on at them - I voiced my concerns when Jake was 16 months old and was made to feel like an idiot by the HV so I didn't question things again for a while until I really got to the end of my tether and I have nagged them constantly since. I probably do their heads in :dohh: but I don't care because at least things are starting to happen now and they're taking my worries seriously. My only concern is that Jake gets as much support and intervention as early as possible to give him the best possible start in life and to be the best that he can be so I don't care if they see me as a nagging and over protective mum lol - good luck with everything hun xxx


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## Aunty E

We found it slow going at first, with a sudden flurry of intervention once Imogen was assessed. I would attack it from all angles, so go see your doctor, complain to your Health Visitor that you don't feel it's appropriate to leave it for six months, the audiology department can help too. Our opthamologist said that they would write to our HV to recommend that we had a more general assessment when we went for Imogen's regular opthamology appointment. If he's in Nursery, they can help with speech and language therapy too.

I didn't feel like they did much at her therapy sessions. The therapist is coming to our house tomorrow to devise some more home-appropriate games and activities we can do, but the things we've done which have made a difference in her communicating skills are:

Culled her toys seriously, so she only has one small box of toys and her ride on toys
Only kept out toys which encourage role play or imaginative play (so we kept out the noahs ark, the tea set, the building blocks, her doll, her books and so on)
Limited her TV watching time
Limited her Leappad playing time (she only gets it outside the house now)
Put things she wants out of reach so she has to ask for them
Play bubbles with her (she only gets bubbles when she asks for them and makes eye contact)
Play peekaboo with her
Read her books with her and talk about the pictures rather than just reading the words
Sing nursery rhymes and songs with actions and leave gaps for her to fill in
Offer her two option choices (so 'banana or apple') and wait for her to say the one she wants

We did some of this before of course, but it's doing it in a slightly more conscious way that's made a difference.


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## evewidow

Does your son go to a pre school or a nursery or anything ? I had concerns about my 3 year olds speech and mentioned it to the hv they were not really helpful but as soon as he started preschool the preschool teacher said i needed to get him assessed as he had a speech delay / trouble with pronunciation and a stutter. I rang them up and said the school had told me to ring , he got an appointment and they also said to come back but for us it was about 3-4 months then they sent us work to do with him and sent it to the school too who also did it with him. Can you ring them back up and say 6 months is too long and your concerns have grown and ask for an earlier appointment ? Also do you have a sure start or a childrens centre as someone mentioned above they often have classes / advisors etc might get you seen by someone a bit sooner x


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