Verbal Dyspraxia?

jennief

Hi! 

I am after a little advice. 

I have a 4 year old daughter who will be starting school in September. We noticed very early on that speech and language was a problem and waited a whole year with meetings every three months after she was referred to actually get any speech therapy sessions. That was a year ago and we are still working on the same sounds. We have just finished her forth set of therapy sessions. 

We practice at home when her attention allows so have a daily routine of therapy in every day life activities. We have requested some 1-2-1 time a couple of times at pre-school also as she attends Mon-Fri 9AM-3PM as it was agreed this could help her speech develop further being among her peers. 

We were advised to apply for funding for when she starts school that was rejected so currently awaiting for an appeal date. When she met the SENCO teacher at her new school I was asked if the speech theorists had mentioned verbal dyspraxia as they believe she was showing signs. I had not heard of this before so done my reproach and agree that this is the case. I have mentioned this to the speech therapist who looked a bit dazzled that I had asked such a questioned and told me it was hard to diagnose and would not make a difference to her therapy that the sessions would stay the same however I have read elsewhere that this is not the case. 

Fast forward her session yesterday and I was told that a specialist therapist had been asked to hold some sessions with her. I am confused why all of a sudden after the discussion above she needs a specialist and it was mentioned to make sure all has been done before the appeal. 

She is not under a paediatric so my question is do I take this further and ask for her to be seen by one? Is this the right way forward? It has been confirmed to me that she has the speaking age of a 2.5 year old. 

Thanks,

J x

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @jennief, and a warm welcome to the community! It's great to have you here.

Hopefully @NicolaLatheySLT will be in touch soon and able to offer some advice, and I'm also tagging in @Northernlass and @Emmasreality who have discussed verbal dyspraxia on the community in the past, in case they can offer any guidance too. 

Pippa_Alumni

Hi @jennief, how are you doing? I recently came across the work of I CAN and thought I'd share the website with you in case it's of any help in supporting your daughter!

NicolaLatheySLT

Dear J,
I'm so sorry for the delay in responding.
Firstly, always ask your Speech Therapist if your child is receiving the highest level of intervention.
I would then ask your Speech Therapist to refer her to the Nuffield Dyspraxia Centre in London. This is an NHS service and is therefore free.  They will be able to do the assessment to determine whether she has Verbal Dyspraxia and they are a wealth of info and she will possible get Speech Therapy there too.  Well worth a visit.
I would also ask your GP for a referral to the paediatrician.  The paediatrician will be able to collate all the info and possible refer for genetic testing is deemed necessary.
Good luck.  Please let us know if you need any further info.

Thanks,
Nicola