This morning we had our NHS appointment with the speech therapist and this afternoon was Portage. I wasn't able to attend both, so made it to the speech therapist, as we hadn't seen her since October.
It was more of a recap meeting that anything else. She was quite impressed with the progress Emily has made and felt that the various strategies put into place from the various other organisations was paying dividends.
We also asked about the paediatrician issue where we won't be seen for another six months. She let us know that a number of autism assessments aren't really optimal for children under 3 years old. Given the normal NHS back log, seeing us in May or June doesn't actually seem all that bad now. Just wish we were told this at the original meeting. Also, the doctor we WILL see is apparently quite good.
This all culminated in the should we / shouldn't we debate about going private. There's the concern, raised during the meeting as well, that we will put on a parallel course of therapy and it will be up to Sue and I to police it between the various organisations.
Although Em is still developmentally behind - she's only NOW saying words that a "normal" two year old should be saying - I'm quite happy that we are getting lots of help and strategies to help her and that (most importantly) she seems to be responding. I can only imagine if we were doing all this and there was NO improvement.
