After your child’s SLT assessment is complete the next steps will be discussed with you. Often parents presume that 1:1 therapy will always be needed, in reality, this isn’t always the case. It’s also very difficult to say what a child will need until a deeper understanding of their individual profile of SLCN has been gained; that is why the initial assessment and all the information you provide is so important.
In terms of therapy available. A range of options will be discussed with you. I always like to remind families that SLT provision is available as part of NHS services and I would always recommend that children are referred to their local team. We work closely with therapists from a range of organisations to best meet the needs of clients.
Whatever type of provision your child receives they will have clear goals that are agreed collaboratively with parents/ educators. In all cases, a key part of the process is parental/ educator involvement. 45 minutes with the SLT alone is not going to facilitate optimal change.
Therapy:
- Direct therapy - a number of sessions will be recommended where targets are worked on directly by the SLT.
- Program - where goals and activities are provided for others to work on. For many children this works very well; the SLT trains others to deliver the program and monitors it closely
- Parent/ educator training
- Group and paired sessions - such as Lego therapy where skills are targeted with peers. This option often really makes sense, particularly when working on social skills like learning to take turns and share with other children is far more relevant than practising with an adult.
- Consulting - for a small number of children I don’t always see the child as it is best to work through familiar adults. For example, helping a family to talk to their child about ASD and what it means, or providing tips for how parents can modify their communication skills to best support their child.
If you have any questions about therapy and how we can help please don’t hesitate to get in touch.