Am I right in thinking that we should have the right to receive direct feedback from the SALT?

Jeannie

This discussion was created from comments split from: I'm Chris, I specialise in working with children with autism, asperger's and learning disabilities.

Jeannie

Hi Chris,
My Child has SaLT provision as part of a statement of SEN. The LEA employ a SaLT but are blocking any effective communication between us and the SaLT. Am I right in thinking that we should have the right to receive direct feedback from the SaLT?

Jeannie

Hi Chris,

Still looking forward to your advice.

In the meantime I've done some further research and found that all speech therapists operating in the UK are regulated by the health and care professionals council www.hpc-uk.org. They must comply with a minimal set of standards of conduct, performance and ethics detailed in this document http://www.hpc-uk.org/assets/documents/10003B6EStandardsofconduct,performanceandethics.pdf

This includes informed consent, keeping accurate records, confidentiality and acting in the best interest of service users, with honesty and integrity. Which could all be useful points for Louc's tribunal conflict between LEA controlled and private SALT?

It seems the hpc take action against those that to not meet their standards
http://www.hpc-uk.org/mediaandevents/pressreleases/index.asp?id=586

LondonSpeechTherapy

Dear Jeannie, Huge apology for my late reply I have been working away from the UK and my internet connection was temporamental. The situation that you describe sounds extraordinary and all the evidence regarding outcomes promotes joint working across home/school/community. Am I reading correctly that you have both an NHS/LEA and a private SLT; and that communication between the two is not possible? If this is the case the RCSLT 'Working in Harmony' policy is a good starting point; as this requires SLT's working for the public and private sector to communicate with eachother. I can't think or any reasons why communication between a SLT and parents/private SLT should be blocked. If this really is the case I feel your next steps should be to contact the Head/Manager of the NHS/LEA SLT Department and find out why communication is not satisfactory and may be ask what you, as a parent, can do to support better communication so that you are fully aware what the targets and progress in therapy are? Best wishes, Chris

Jeannie

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply. However that's not the situation we are experiencing. There's only one Speech Therapist who is employed by the LEA. So the document you referred to is not particularly relevant, is there a similar document giving guidance on openness and working with parents.

The problem is the LEA is very controlling and prevents parental contact with the Speech Therapist, so we are not consulted and are excluded from having any effective input.

Previously Speech Therapy was provided by the NHS and we always had excellent relationships with the various speech therapists. We cannot see any reason why this should be prevented purely because the Speech Therapists' salary is paid by a different employer.

As they are all therapists do they work to the same code and standards with the same duty of care to the service user and their family? Can they make impactful recommendations without checking hearsay evidence or seeking any input from parents?

LondonSpeechTherapy

Dear Jeannie, It is clear the SLT resources in your area is very limited (just one SLT). Whilst I would argue that having no contact with parents when setting therapy targets is very ineffective is the SLT able to communicate with your child's teaching team? It may be the that, due to scarcity of resources, the LEA is prioritising the SLT's time to clinical work and as a result they cannot speak to parents.

Whilst I do not know the SLT in question (nor would I professionally be able to comment) I do feel that it is very unlikely to be the SLT's 'fault' that they are not communicating with parents/you and is more likely their department's policy due to very limited resources.

The HCPC and RCLST provide SLTs guidelines with regards to communicating with families and evidence based practise etc.

Jeannie

Hi Chris, Hope you've had a good Christmas.

When I said there's one SLT, I was meaning only one involved in our situation - not that there's only one SLT in our area.

We recognise that there is always a great deal of time pressure on SLTs and it is essential that their time is used effectively and efficiently - so we have requested that we attend any meetings the SLT has with school staff to ensure open & effective communication and efficient use of the SLTs time. This has been blocked, it seems by the LEA. By SLT/School going ahead with this meeting without allowing us to attend (we would fit in with their time for the meeting) it seems that they have acted without our consent?

In asking "is the SLT able to communicate with your child's teaching team?" you seem to be saying that this is an acceptable substitute for taking any parental input - is this what you are meaning?

We have finally had some written feedback from the LEA, purporting to be from the SLT, which indicates that incorrect information and conclusions have been provided to the SLT by school staff in the meeting which we were blocked from attending and the SLT is prepared to make impactful recommendations without checking the hearsay evidence. Please can you advise on the question we asked before ie "Can the SLT make impactful recommendations without checking hearsay evidence or seeking any input from parents?"

I haven't been able to find the guidelines you referred to in your last post : "The HCPC and RCLST provide SLTs guidelines with regards to communicating with families and evidence based practise etc."
Can you tell me where I can access them?

LondonSpeechTherapy

Dear Jeannie, Whilst I would not advise you to - you do have the right to withdraw consent for the SLT to work with your child at school. In answer to your direct question I do believe that the SLT can write impactful recommendations without meeting with parents however it could be argued that the impact of the recommendations could be' reduced' if everybody isn't singing from the same hymn sheet per se. The challenge is proving the recommendations are not having an impact or are having a reduced impact. Best wishes, Chris