Make sure your independent speech and language therapist has the right credentials

It's really important that you can trust the professional with whom you are entrusting your child or other relative. If the independent Speech and language therapist is a member of ASLTIP, they will automatically be members of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and be registered with the Health Care Professional Council. They will be fully insured and it also means that they will have access to professional supervision, which is essential for all professions.

You can use their website to search for a speech and language therapist in your area http://www.helpwithtalking.com/ You can also use the website to answer questions you might have.

You can find out if your therapist is registered with HCPC here http://www.hpc-uk.org/check/

The RCLST site has lots of info about all types of related issues  including career advise http://www.rcslt.org/

Small Talk Speech and Language Therapy are members of ASLTIP, HCPC and RCSLT  http://www.helpwithtalking.com/Member/Mrs-Elizabeth-Hill

Have you got a child in your class who seems a little 'odd'? It could be a language processing problem

I have just observed a boy in a class room I was visiting, (I was there for another child). He had, what to me, were obvious signs of a processing problem.

Due to these problems he had devised strategies to cope and there were  certain associated factors.

1. He follows other people's lead physically i.e. he sees the rest get up to carryout what the teacher has said and then does what they do

2. He verbally copies what others have said e.g. Madison before him said she went to the cinemas so when it's his turn, he'll copy that. 

3. He just picks a random sentence if asked a direct question and he has no lead to follow. He knows they want an answer and he wants to do that quickly

4. He has diversion tactics i.e.  he'll discus what he's interested in, in the hope that whoever has asked him something will be distracted down that road. These are usually verbal but sometimes physical i.e. kicking the table in the hope we'll be irritated and stop placing demands on him. He hasn't yet used aggression or other behaviours which would get him removed from the classroom. I fear that's only a  matter of time.

5. He is frustrated as he doesn't understand what's happening.

6. He is being teased about his problems

7. He is becoming anxious and as we know anxiety blocks understanding in children and adults

8. His self esteem is affected

The staff are kind, caring, capable and want to do their best. However, no-one has picked him up and no-one is worried. How many more children are there in our classrooms who are also struggling but the staff haven't got the knowledge, training or experience to identify them? It's very sad! The staff need so much more help as they just don't know what they need to be aware of.

If you are worried please give us a call 0844 704 5888 www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk

Tips for talking:by parents, for parents

A group of Stafford parents have been attending a unique, new course called Chuckle Talkers at one of the Sure Start Children’s Centres. It combines two of the service providers at the centre; Sara from Chuckle Productions and yours truly from Small Talk speech and language therapy. We have written a 10 part programme to look at encouraging speech, language and communication and gross/fine motor skills throughout the day. This was a pilot project and involved 10 families who have children under 5.

One of the main aims was to show that communication takes place in everyday situations all the time so that there is no need to make extra time for this. Parents can use the activities they do several times a day,  everyday e.g. parents change a baby or toddler’s nappy 5 or 6 times a day so if they know how to make this a communication opportunity, that’s 5/6 opportunities a day without extra time being involved. ‘Parents are extremely busy these days so it’s important not to give them extra to do, rather to get them to optimise what they do’, says Sara, ‘It’s quite stressful if you feel you need to make extra time when you’re already busy’. A current buzz word in management is to work smarter not harder and this applies here too. Sara has shown the parents how motor skills develop and the tie in with communication.

The families have looked at 10 different scenarios from a child’s day. The parents have had a classroom session and then joined the children for an imaginative journey to re-inforce what they’ve discussed. We have used a variety of videos to look at each aspect e.g. meal time, bedtime, story-time, music, and lots of discussion. By the end the parents were really good at identifying what made a good communication opportunity. We had looked at ICAN’s top tips for encouraging children’s communication but I was so impressed by their insight, I asked them to come up with their own.

Here are the 10 top tips written by parents for parents:

1.       Make talking fun

2.       Listen to your child

3.       Use simple language, keep sentences short

4.       Don’t use too many questions. A ‘handy’ rule is 1 question to 4 comments

5.       Give the child time to respond

6.       Let the child take the lead/go at their own pace

7.       Think about limiting the amount of TV a child watches. Only have it on when actually watching it and not as ‘wall-paper’ .

8.       Think about dummy use. May be limit to bed/nap times or when needs comfort and never when they’re talking

9.       Be kind to yourself, don’t set yourself unrealistic targets

10.   Don’t  compare yourself or your child to others. We are all different and develop at our own pace

The parents have suggested topics for a Level 2 of Chuckle Talkers, which hopefully will be carried out next term.