3 December 2008

Appointment with ACT speech therapy

| mitcore
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Hi all,

I have been to an appointment with a speech therapy, and have been stoned walled.

[ED – This is a followup to an earlier story]

They refuse to diagnose Dylan and say he has a delay in expressive language, which doesnt help me much. They told me in the beginning to start signing to dylan and teach him sign language and now they are telling me to stop, which is a joke.

I spent three months teaching him how to do it and just like that they say stop. If I stop then Dylan wont be able to communicate with me.

I am really mad, they didnt even seemed fazed, they had his griffith test and they spoke to a pyscocolgist and she explained what she thought was wrong with Dylan and nothing. They were writing down words that they thought they heard him say which he didnt say them.

I felt awful and angry that even going to Stateline did nothing to help him. I am at a loss now where I have no idea what to do. So what now? I know there is something wrong with Dylan.

I know they are wrong, I feel defeated like now I am on my own and now I do what? Well I actually don’t know what to do anymore,

Go back to Stateline? Won’t make much difference, they wont change their mind, they are sure they have it right and that’s that.

Thank you all for reading and supporting me through this,

I am one very unhappy customer and I am at a loss on what to do now

Cheers all

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mitcore, my advice would be to ask Therapy ACT for their assessment of and recommendations for Dylan to be provided to you in writing.

The sort of verbal interchange you are describing is a recipe for an extended game of ‘she said/they said’. If the Service puts it in writing, everyone has a clear record of what is being proposed.

If you then proceed with the various appeal options against their decisions, there won’t be any debate what the decisions were.

Hi Cathy, I’m not quite sure what is happening. Have they taken you as an on-going client, or was it just a one-off appointment in an attempt to appease you? I know the frustration of not having a diagnosis, but I have been told that often they cannot give a more exact label than saying a speech delay, or in your case specifically a delay in expressive language. Not being able to put a more exact label on the problem than this shouldn’t stop you from getting help.

For my two cents worth, keep signing, Dylan needs to be able to communicate and if that’s how he’s doing it, then keep it up!

I have written my letter, keep us informed of how it’s going! Will be thinking of you.

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

They refuse to diagnose Dylan and say he has a delay in expressive language

Expressive language delay is a diagnosis. Google it.

I dont think you have understood the whole story, dylan had a griffith test done and it showed a speech disability, the pyscologist who he saw also say that he has it,
the believe it to be dysphasia
but speech therapy says no, it is all written in front of them,
the griffith test, the fact that the speech pathogist spoke to the pyscologist, still no diagnoses, having a delay in any area is the easy way out of doing and adressing the situation,
It does not explain anything with who dylan is and how he acts,

Meaning of Dysphsia
loss of or deficiency in the power to use or understand language as a result of injury or disease of the brain

now that i have found that i will tell you that dylan suffered batcrial menigities at 6 mths and when you google
dysphsia in relation to children you will find menigities to be on the list of causes

thank you house bound i will do that
i appreciate the advice

We saw you on stateline and it’s clear it is not a good situation.

It seems the bureaucracy won’t do anything in this town unless forced to. Squeaky wheels and all that.

As well as getting onto a clinic, you might consider the option of contacting:
– the Ombundsman http://www.ombudsman.act.gov.au/
– the Human Rights Commission http://www.hrc.act.gov.au/.

Both HRC and the Ombudsman are supposed to help you articulate a complaint, so make phone calls first – they might help you get started. Get your situation down on paper first, with details and be ready to have supporting documentation (eg notes from meetings, emails, letters etc). it will help you get your iedas sorted out. Don’t get your hopes up, though, these two offices can’t always solve the problems at hand. If they turn you away, you’ve lost nothing; and if they investigate, you might see some action.

Contact the Greens(ie write a letter) and see if they can progress things for you – this is what our elected MLAs are supposed to do – find political solutions to work around bureaucratic intransigence.

And, join that support group Granny mentioned. they’ll be able to give you some specific ideas.

Also, I can’t remember what you have said before – but have you investigated a 3-year old preschool(if you can get in, child is 3, etc)?

Woody Mann-Caruso1:52 pm 03 Dec 08

They refuse to diagnose Dylan and say he has a delay in expressive language

Expressive language delay is a diagnosis. Google it.

thanks, will do
he has been assesed by a child pycologist but i will call about that clinic
thanks for all your support

Let the professionals do what they do? Go for a 2nd opinion elsewhere? Get a GP referral?

I feel your pain. My daughter was diagnosed with a learning difficulty and it was suggested we get her assessed by a behavioral psychologist – which we did. It wasn’t cheap, but the results of that assessment gave us a fantastic platform to base her learning support on, and importantly added weight to our requests for assistance at her school. She continues to progress. You may have already had your son assessed in this way, but if you haven’t I have nothing but the highest praise for the assessment done by Sharon Prendergast from the Canberra Psychology Clinic. http://www.canberrapsych.com.au/index.htm

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