By comparison with our OT appointment, the first time we met our Speech Therapist in person was a really positive experience. I forgot how, but I'd ended up on the phone to her prior to the appointment, and I'd had a chance to tell her a little bit about Noah, how he approaches the world, and gave her some tips on how to interact with him. She listened with what sounded like genuine interest, and even thanked me for the input, because she wanted our first meeting to be as successful as possible.
When we entered her office, she stepped back, said hello to Noah from a distance and just allowed him to settle into the room before she started trying to interact with him. After a couple of minutes of circling the space, having a passing look at the toys she'd laid out for him, and sporadically checking in with me by putting his hand on my leg, he started to work his way towards the therapist. I wanted him to feel comfortable before she started to try and assess him so that we didn't get a repeat of what happened with the OT.
Noah never likes to make an assessment too easy, and will make you work for all of his eye contact and engagement, so when she tried to get him to post a flash card into a make shift post box, his standard response was to push her away or take the card and drop it. Not the most ideal response, but at least he wasn't running for the door! Together with the therapist we completed a wooden puzzle using hand over hand (or in my case, hand over his entire body trying to keep his bum in one place long enough), and pushed some toy cars around a track.
I talked about Noah's sensory needs and she explained that she could refer Noah for therapy sessions with Sensory Integration, meaning that an OT would be present to try different sensory techniques with him that might help him to concentrate. Amazing! But the waiting list was months long already, thanks yet again to Covid.
Wait times aside, I was thrilled. From the very first time I raised my concerns about Noah's speech, or lack thereof, with the Health Visitor, I'd wanted him to have speech therapy. Almost a whole year of hurdles later and we were there!
Four months later, Noah was given 4 sessions for 45 minutes, one a week. I cannot fault the sessions themselves, but the fact that health and social care funding has reduced what they can offer to just 4 sessions... it's just not good enough.
The sessions took place over the summer holidays, so Noah wasn't in preschool. They had toys that really bought into Noah's sensory seeking behaviors, like spinning tops and flashing balls. Toys that gave him an instant gratification when he touched them that made him want to do it again. They would sit him at a table with a vibrating snake across his lap and he would allow them to guide his hands to do things. He started giving more eye contact once he worked out that they wouldn't complete an action he enjoyed until he did. The magic bubbles came out again but this time, Noah actually giggled at them and tried to catch! Near the end of one session they brought out a trampette, thinking they could get Noah to bounce and then post a flash card. This didn't work, he only wanted to bounce, so after they put the trampette away he spent a few minutes hovering around the door it had disappeared through refusing to do anything else. (It did not come back out the next session!)
Between finishing in the July to returning in September, we had seen a huge leap in Noah's intent to communicate at home. He would drag us towards things, or point and reach for things. He would pull us down on to the floor if he wanted some kind of physical play, or he would look into our eyes more often. He seemed to be picking up on what we were asking of him, as if suddenly he understood what we were saying, even if he still hadn't worked out how to respond. He began to show an awareness of some of the Makaton signs we'd been using at home, like "More", and would grab our hands and bash them together trying to get us to repeat it.
When all our sessions were completed we were released back to the first therapist we saw for a reassessment to see what our next steps were, but we carried on using the techniques they had shown us in the session at home, and we've seen a vast improvement in Noah's understanding and awareness.
He takes more in, and really inspects the things that interest him more. We're currently waiting for more integrated sessions for Noah, but we're back on an endless waiting list all over again.
I really feel that Speech therapy's more tailored approach to Noah has been the reason we've seen more success with it. These things really matter when you are dealing with kids on the spectrum because their needs are so vast. Getting to know them is the only way you're going to connect with them.
Tonight you're getting a tip instead of an affirmation -
If you're worried about how your child may react in an assessment with a new person, prep them! There are times I worried about coming across as a pushy mum, and it stopped me from opening my mouth more often. You wouldn't go to a friends house for dinner without telling them you had a food allergy they needed to work around, so why wouldn't you prep a therapist about any challenges your child has in order for them to work around it?
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