Speech language therapy question.

amother

Amethyst

Wed, Dec 28 2016, 8:46 pm

Ds is being evaluated for language pragmatic delay.

I have a question about this therapist.

He already called me 3xs. Has not finished his eval. Has nothing major to tell me. Makes me think my child is a basket case. Was negative about him from the first conversation I had with him before he officially evaluated him.
Why is he recommending me do things that have no bearing on his profession? Like I need social worker for ds which I was told to go to before him that was written on a full assessment that I forwarded him already?

My real question is how long does it take to evaluate a 8 yr old? Why does he have to meet him more then 2 times? And he keeps telling me insurance might not approve him.

I actually hate this guy but I don't have a choice because the school is using him. And I need to go with this now.

Why does he spend so much talking and not doing his work? Every conversation is over a 30 minutes! Goodness I can't talk so much in such a short mount of time!

Any slp can guide me? Thank you. I sound frustrated and I sure hope he actually will do something concrete.

amother

Black

Wed, Dec 28 2016, 9:17 pm

Hi
I'm an SLP so I'll try to respond.

Some therapists do several hours worth of evaluation on a child. This includes formal or standardized testing , which can take time especially if the child is a slower to process or inattentive. Sometimes a therapist has no choice but to split testing into several sessions. Then there's the informal testing where a therapist will interact with a child through play and conversation. I also like to spend 30-45 minutes observing the child in his classroom. I interview the parent about the child's developmental history and the teachers and any other therapist working with the child. I'm very thorough and it takes me many hours to compile all the info I need.

That being said , if you have a bad vibe ,don't use him. Go to a clinic or private practice that accepts your insurance. Did you speak to other parents who have used him about whether they were happy with the therapy provided and the way he interacted with their child?

I do try to find positives to tell a parent after I met their child but therapists are certainly trained to pick up on the negatives. After all there must be some deficit you are wanting addressed! I feel bad that you were hurt by the therapist's negativity. Perhaps he doesn't know how to present well to parents ....or his personality isn't a good match for yours.

I think it's good that he told you up front that insurance may not cover. Best to be honest upfront. It's true that some insurance companies are harder to deal with. Certainly if you have to pay privately,you should choose a therapist you connect with.

Additionally, speech therapists do address pragmatic deficits but often in conjunction with a social worker. It seems that he's not the first person who suggested it so maybe it's worth looking into? I often recommend that patients follow up with other specialists like neurologists etc...if needed.

I wish you much Hatzlacha !

amother

Amethyst

Wed, Dec 28 2016, 9:32 pm

Thanks so much for a quick and clear reply!

Ok, now I understand this a little better. It just sounded like he's looking to call me and spend extra time speaking to me about stuff that's not related. He suggested social work, fast forward, cogmed. Why is he talking about stuff that have nothing to do with him? And what's he thinking I'm gonna start like 5 different programs at once? Officially hesin this for 10 yrs he should have this basic understanding. I don't know what to say, he strikes me off. Maybe he's just not good with parents but good with kids? Who knows, I'll wait and see.

Ds has ADHD so he does need a lot of help. Language issues too.

Every time I finish talking to him I have negative experience. I wish he realized he called me at a bad time. (I know I should have said so)

He called me at 3:30pm

Oh well. It was crazy hectic then. I will be more honest next time.

First he told me to see a social worker now he says fast forward might be better. I wish he realized I'm not taking his advice on that. I only want an evaluation for language. Ds does not have a social worker yet. I'm working on it.

Ok, I guess I'll wait and see.

amother

Firebrick

Thu, Dec 29 2016, 3:49 pm

Give it a bit of time.

In terms of how you feel about him. . .One of my daughters doctors - gastroenterologist - I always get a really bad vibe from, everything he says just rubs me the wrong way. But my daughter really likes his manner (and she doesn't like a lot of doctors), and he is good at his job. So we stuck it out. Thankfully ,we eventually outgrew the need for frequent visits, so a once in a while check-in is fine. Ask your son how he feels about this guy too, as that's important too.

In terms of recommending other therapies. . . My daughter's physical therapist kept pushing me to take her for an evaluation with neurologist, and with an eye doctor, and speech evaluation, and occupational therapy, and gave me lectures on tools to build her confidence/self-esteem; much of which I didn't feel was necessary. But, I greatly appreciated the fact that she made the effort to share with me what other avenues would be helpful to my daughter. Also, these things were more helpful than I thought they would be - the neurologist gave us good advice and a timeframe of what tests and appts should be done when, the eye doctor discovered my daughter was nearsighted when I had no idea, and the speech therapist said she understood the concern but that we should wait a year, and the occupational therapist had us start therapy and it's been helping, and the confidence/self-esteem issue is more critical than I realized because she can't make progress in her motor skills without it. Even though many of these things were outside the realm of the PT's expertise and non were what I asked for, they really have helped my daughter developmentally and given me a broader picture of what she needs beyond PT and how to take care of it, and also showed me how taking care of my daughter's other problems is the only way to make sure her motor issues can be properly taken care of too.

In my opinion, give it a bit more time and see how it plays out, but if you still feel uncomfortable after a while, consider going elsewhere.

amother

Amethyst

Thu, Dec 29 2016, 8:33 pm

I asked my ds what he feels about him and he actually likes him. He just talks and talks.

He actually first recommended I go for a social worker and now he wants me to look into fast forward or cogmed for focusing and memory. So he can do it with him. I'm not sure I will go that route. I will ask around more. But thanks to all that responded. It's truly such help. I sometimes wonder what I would do without imamother.