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Recommended Speech Therapist

scottishclive22

hi all,

our son, 3, is currently being evaluated for the reasons for his severe speech delays. As he has a number of ASD traits, difficultly in playing with other kids, poor attention span, poor level of eye contact, he will be reviewed for ASD by a peadatrician in the next few months.

He has started on the NHS Speech and Language therapy, but this is only 1 hour per week and we are not sure how many sessions he will have.

As such I was wondering if anyone can recommend a good independent Speech & Language therapist in the East Sussex / Kent region. We have found a few, but its hard to decide without any recommendations.

Also does anyone have any good tips to promote engagement / better eye contact with us and his peers / carers at nursery.

Many thanks

  • Many thanks for the advice, he did learn some Makaton when he was younger which was useful, but now he can say most of the things that he learnt to sign.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    If he can enjoy nursery then that should be good for him although he may not enjoy it as much as other kids might. If nursery makes him miserable then I think you might look at alternatives. His behaviour will tell you when the balance is right.

    Personally, I know that I was described as shy when I was young (over 50 years ago) and I never liked children's parties but I found school OK. I really don't know if I had been at school now whether they would have picked up on my autism - I only got diagnosed 2 years ago after having severe problems at work.

  • Many thanks for the advice. At nursery he is quite attached to his key worker and is happy to play with her and play alongside some other kids, particularly the quieter ones. But he is quite clingy when we drop him off and unless his mother stays with him for a bit he cries (although somedays he is perfectly happy to go). But the feedback from the nursery and what we have seen is that he relaxes (in terms of not crying and is happy to play with toys / run about) quite quickly. So we are not sure if that is an autistic trait or just he is clingy / shy.

    We have been toying with the idea of taking him out of the nursery more to have some more time with just his family, but are concerned about the exposure to other children of his age. Is there a happy balance?

    p.s. we are only at the start of the assesment process so it is quite hard for us to work out what could be an autistic trait and what could be part of his personality.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I'm afraid that I can't help with recommendations but would like to comment on your other questions.

    His poor eye contact may be something that you will struggle to fix. Many people with autism are unable to maintain eye contact even as adults and some find it actually distressing. If he is worse at nursery then it may suggest that he is overwhelmed by nursery - nursery can be a very bad place for a child with autism as they can't (rather than won't) engage and make successful social relationships in that environment. It may be better to introduce him to other people in smaller numbers in quieter places where he has the time to take things in and make sense of them.