Pre-school speech therapist

[a bit dizzee]

Our lovely little three-year-old lad has developed a pretty crippling stammer in the last few weeks, and having taken telephone advice from medical professionals, we are looking for a local speech therapist to help us. It would be great if someone who has experienced a similar problem could offer a positive recommendation.

Thanks.

[minder]

Couldn't your health visitor or doctor refer you to a Speech and Language Therapist in Southwark?

[Pugwash]

From my experience - Speech and language therapists for children are usually in short supply. Many posts were cut by PCTs a couple of years ago.

You might be able to get more information from Sunshine ( I think that is the correct name for children's services) House in Peckham Road.

[nunheadmum]

I think the playgroup at Ivydale Children's Centre used to have a speech therapist who attended certain sessions (in a very informal approach so you could just have an initial chat). May be worth giving them a call to see if they still come in.

[bumpy]

Can't help locally but needed a therapist for my niece in the New Forest so looked on this site which was helpful as a starting point and also allowed us to chat to a few different people before going ahead with one that suited our needs. http://www.helpwithtalking.com/find-a-therapist

[bluesuperted]

You should be able to get an NHS referral for stammer as it's supposed to be dealt with very swiftly (drop in centre a good idea if no luck with GP - make a fuss!). If you can get yourself in the NHS system as soon as possible and see an SLT, they will assess you and hopefully refer you to a stammering specialist or tertiary provider (as stammering is a pretty specialist area). If you go the independent therapist route I'd definitely make sure the therapist has a lot of experience and ask them which methods they use, there are several key stammering programmes. Hope this helps.

[a bit dizzee]

Thanks to everyone on this thread and the PMs I've received. Really appreciate you taking time out to offer advice.

[sallyfran]

The Southwark service (now part of Guy's and St Thomas's Trust) should see your child within 18 weeks of referral. You can self-refer (the receptionist at Sunshine House should be able to tell you how) or get your GP to refer you. The service has several therapists who are specifically trained in working with young children who stammer. As Superted says, if you decide to go independently, make sure you see somebody who has experience in the area. An approach that is often favoured witn young children is known as the Lidcombe method and you may be able to find somebody who is 'Lidcombe trained'. But the independent sector is expensive and the NHS is here to deal with cases like this so why not use it if you can.

[a bit dizzee]

Another extremely helpful reply, thanks sallyfran