Both my kids have speech problems, we know the local hospital doesn't currently have it's own speech therapist and it's taken months for ou daughter to be seen, after a 30 minute session today we were told that although she needs more sessions, they cannot give a date for when the next one will be, as the therapist's are borrowed from other hospitals.
Our son last saw a speech therapist in June, and no idea when his next appointment will be, although the school and us at home are doing some excerises with him, it's not really enough.
The school have also reported that our son is occasionally being picked on for his speech problems, his teacher seemed more concerned that our son about it, but he has a tendancy to bottle things up.
So I've just had a google and have found that we can have private speech therapy session's.
The main problem is I can't afford for them both to have weekly sessions, more likely every 2 weeks, or maybe monthly, and these may well also mean a fair trip to see a therapist.
So has anyone used a private speech therapist? if so were the benefits noticeable? and was the delivery of the therapy noticeably better than nhs therapy if/when it's available.

I can sympathise. Speech therapists seem to be in very short supply. My son had to wait an awfully long time. Do they need this due to a medical condition?

That's crazy. My wife is a speech therapist – she works in fairly deprived areas and travels between three towns, often in the same day. You should most definitely be able to get regular treatment wherever you are in the country, even in these under-funded times. Was the original referral through a GP?

Going private may be an option if you really are struggling, but be aware that often private practitioners have far less training. The private practices won't pay to keep their therapists up to date with the latest thinking and training, and the practitioners are unlikely to pay for it out of their own pockets.

user-removed – my son was without therapy for a long time and that was 12 years ago! There seems to be a shortage of speech therapists. He eventually was accepted in a group session.

my daughter was reffered by the doc's, also the health visitor and the playschool. My son was reffered by the doctor, and also the playschool and also school.
There's no medical problem, although my daughter does have an attached upper frenum, that may add to her problems.
If we do go down the private route, we'll research the therapist before commiting.

It's a difficult position to be in. My son had ENT problems for 14 years of his life which in turn resulted in communication difficulties.

We had a private assessment which told us that, yes, he did need various operations.

It's a difficult one and a lot of pressure for you. I wish you well.

Sorry – gotta run MR James story on BBC4. I'll ask Mrs Removed tomorrow. Where are you based Luke?

I had a lisp with my F/S when i was younger and saw a therapist gave me a list to practice, which will help if you keep it up. (not sure on your kids condition)

Its a funny position your in as I can see why it is less important to the NHS as its hardly cancer, but it can be hard for the young. I got bullied about it and as long as he does have mates he should ride it out, when i got bored of the main mickey tacker i lumped him which shut him up.

What I would say is follow the advice of the therapist, but in time it may go. Mine they felt was due to me trying to keep up with playground banter so I would talk very fast, as your kid gets older it my stop naturally.

Look on the bright side he may become the next Jonathon Ross earning millions each year.

Is they're no local-ish schools that specialize in speech therapy? I went to a school about three miles from where I lived from age 7-10 and my nephew is also going to the same school now. All the best at getting them sorted.

And for reassurance, he is now 25 years old, has a university degree and you would never know that he had speech difficulties.

Luke, if user-removed's wife can't help let me know where you live, my mum is a speech therapist and sometimes takes on private patients. She lives on the Wirral.

Edit: And to aleviate any concerns about training and the like, she's worked for the NHS for 25 years, now works for the police helping to assess whether speech affected victims of crime will be able to give evidence at trial.

Hi,

My son was diagnosed with autism after many conversations with pre-school and no apparent support. I short cutted the system by using Bupa to see a paediatrician who immediately referred him back into the NHS! We now hae a statement and full support, so don't take no for an answer, and be prepared to fight tooth and nail! Happy to talk you through this.

Best regards

Andy

I'm based in Dorset.
I don't know about main stream schools with specialist rescources in the area, but one of the local private schools have a speech therapist, but you need to pay extra for that on top of the fees, if the wife went back to work we could afford to send my son to the school, but come next september the daughter starts school, and we couldnt afford 2 lots of fee's.

I didn't want to raise the subject of being picked on but see that tails did.

It's a valid point and not easy to deal with. My son had poor hearing, he could not communicate with other children and I found it very upsetting to get asked by children "why does he talk funny?". Thank goodness my son could not hear that!

As long as your children are able to participate in normal activites, both in school and out of, that will make a big difference to their self-esteem.

I really don't know how the system works these days but can only recommend that as parents you are assertive and don't get fobbed off.

I agree with cinnamon_girl, you have to fight your corner. Go to your GP and demand to be referred to a paediatrician. Once you are on that level of focus within the NHS, if the specialist is worth their salt (which still bemuses me as an expression) a whole host of care should become available to you. Don't be reserved about this,the NHS is in such a state, and issues that cross over to education usually fall between 2 stools, is it LEA or NHS responsibility. They usually work well together, but only when the right people make the right noises.