Really Annoyed with Speech and Language Therapist

I went to Tom's Statement Review this more,he currently gets 20 hours a week support,it's to have a chat and to see how he's doing and to apply for more hours if we think he needs additional support.

Anyway whilst going through it and talking about how he's doing the speech and language therapist has suddenly taken it upon herself to decide he needs another op,as he struggles with some of his sounds such as his ,ch,s,j etc...

She has only seen him twice has no knowlege of his original cleft repair,his second repair,or how bad it was and she seems to think it will be fine to put him under a GA to cure his speech difficulties,She was knocking both surgeons work and saying the op wasn't done correctly.

His cleft was really bad and we nearly lost him at birth,he's had two major ops both 4 1/2 hours long,one when he was just 13 months and the other when he was 5 yrs old.I am not going to put him through another op just on her say,as we know a GA carries a huge risk,we have an appointment in August at the childrens so I am going to talk to his surgeon,they have said further surgery may/maynot be necessary.I don't think he'll be too pleased to hear she's knocking his work after it was such a complicated operation.

Her Job is speech and Language,not cleft palate repair.

Sorry for the rant but she's really got me mad

I don't blame you, maybe he just doesn't connect with her as a therapist which is why he isn't progressing. Still I suppose at least she said something, when I was have speech therapy they decided they couldn't do anything to help me but didn't bother to tell my parents until I turned up for an appointment for a session!
Becky

I do sometimes wonder why some people join the "caring" professions when they have huge ego's and severe superiority complexes, this is a disgrace to treat you like a moron I would take this up immediately with the surgeon if you can and put in a formal complaint to the Health Trust.
My brother had speech problems and time and patience worked wonders. I am virtually speechless myself to hear about poor Tom being threatened with possibly unnecessary surgery from someone who isn't qualified to make the call.
Is this person trying to cut their list down, or "can't be bothered" to put the effort in, in this case?

Crikey - how would she like to suggest that to the surgeon herself?

Try not to get down about it Sal. If they have any useful suggestions, then give them a shot, otherwise ignore them. It's up to you and the surgeons to decide whether the benefits of further surgery would outweight the disadvantages.

My daughter was born totally deaf. We had numerous speech therapists coming to us while she was growing up some good some bad I think this therapist is one of the latter. Don't get too down. Your son's surgeon is the only one who can tell you whether your son needs another op. It is awful when someone who has only seen your son twice can come out with this.

Just wanted to add my thoughts ...

My son was born unable to swallow and the original speech therapist we had to help him learn to chew was wonderful and fully supportive to me as his 'expert' carer.
When she left to have a baby we got assigned another therapist who was really wanting to push my son to eat things he couldn't safely manage. Imo She had no real grasp of his condition and how dangerous her suggestions could have been ... telling me if I didn't try to keep moving him onwards, how would I know what he could cope with ... I was like, "Well if you feel confident that you can stop him choking if it gets stuck" ... She wasn't prepared to deal with that of course! But knowing I did have to deal with that for him whenever it happened, wouldn't you think she would have listened more to me when I told her I felt he couldn't yet manage the things she suggested?
I actually then contacted the department & told them we no longer needed that help but would be in touch with them again if I ever felt it to be necessary. (I never have been).

My point being, you know your son better than anyone, and you are right to go with your own gut feeling plus the advice of the ones who YOU can have full faith in. Don't ever let yourself feel put down or bullied by health workers like her.

My son has had GA many times now, the first at only a few hours old, but as you say, it is risky, as is any op, and as a mother, making these decisions, I always feel I have to be able to look at my son and say I 100% believed that what has been done was the best possible thing for you, because at the end of the day, you live with him and whatever he has had done, they don't.

She is really over stepping the boundries to put forward something like that, that she has no expertise in, especially when she hadn't even discussed it with you and asked for your opinion, just told you this needs to be done. I don't blame you for feeling upset about it but it really doesn't matter what she thinks.
It's up to you and your surgeon to make such a serious decision as that, together, nothing to do with her.

Why do people think they can do other peoples jobs she is a speech therapist not a surgeon and should remember that maybe if she is not doing such a good job with Tom she feels the need to pin the blame somewhere else.I took Michael to a speech therapist many years ago when he was 4 he didn't finish his words,he had a paddy before we got there because I wouldn't carry him and he was not in the best of moods she picked all the toys up which seemed odd and by the end he was autistic he walked out of there to his Nan and said very plainly I don't like that Lady.His Dad had just qualified as a Teacher and between us and Playschool and School we managed to solve his problem.I am sure they are not all like it but sometimes you do seem to find them.
You know Tom best and what he needs.