"SALT journey"

My son has had amazing results after receiving over 2 years of speech and language therapy. At 2. 5 years old he could barely say 5 words, he was referred to speech therapy after his brother was also receiving it and the therapist advised me to get my youngest assessed too. I was informed he had complex speech difficulties and we began our long but rewarding journey to get him speaking. Makaton signing came first, and for anyone worried that this will delay speech - don't! Children naturally drop the signs as they learn to say the words, and the signing removes their frustration at not being able to make themselves understood. Persevere and the rewards will show. Next he moved onto group work which initially has you wondering how on earth just sitting and listening to someone say sounds will ever help. It's not a quick process, but keep going and you will be glad you did. Yes it is frustrating at times, but it really is worth your commitment. Over the course of a couple of years he moved from group to group, with several different speech therapists and several locations and finally to individual one-to-one sessions. This Summer he was assessed and discharged! Lots of people comment on how clear his speech is, how he doesn't sound like he is from Yorkshire as he is so precise with his words, and how he never stops talking - I wouldn't have it any other way! He worked hard for this, and it shows - he is top of his class with his reading level which I fully believe is down to the way SALT helps children learn from sign language to basic phonics sounds and through to full blending of words and whole sentences. I can't thank them enough for enabling my boy to communicate: )