New dx question about speech therapy

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Hi all, first question, today we got confirmed dx of HFA/aspergers for dd(4).
The psych has said deffo speech therapy, and I'm fine with that as she gets quite bothered by her inability to express herself.
Also happy for her to learn how to do ( not that she HAS to do) eye contact and reading body language and general social skills.
However, are they likely to try and teach her to do imaginative play, and try to stop her repetitive behaviours/stims?

I never did imaginative play, (informal dx from psych for me too), and I don't know how much that resulted in my lack of friends until adulthood. Is it just something nt kids do to pass the time, or is it useful?

Also, I think stopping her from doing stuff that relaxes her will stress her out, and I want to be prepared to say no if it gets suggested.

What do those who've been through it think of it, and would you have it for a child of yours?

I am in a somewhat similar situation to you but my daughter is older. I think they do mostly turn-taking games. Some imaginative play the child is comfortable with, but I wouldn't expect they should focus on stimming unless she does quite a lot of it and it interferes. Speech therapy is different from ABA, and ABA is where most of the focus on repetitive behavior occurs.

Also at 4 you may still get a large say in what happens in your daughter's therapy. Use that influence.

Will she be going to a center that has staff or will you select the therapist? If you have a say in the selection process that's more stressful going in, but once you've found a good match, you have many fewer worries.

If this is 30 minutes 2-3 times a week I feel strongly that play based and encouraging the child to enter the world is really the only way to go, there's no time to prioritize anything but communication and play. And if she is to get OT that has other priorities as well (sensory integration, calming, fine motor).

IMO speech therapy for HFA and AS in a young child should look very natural, like normal play. The child is having trouble with that, the goal is not only to teach it but more importantly to teach that it can be enjoyed and for the child to feel, be, and want to communicate successfully.

That's reassuring, thank you. She doesn't generally do a lot, but if you draw her attention to it she does it a lot more.

The paed recommended a speech therapist to use for the dx, and we got on well with her.
We will probably continue with her as our therapist, until (if) a conflict occurs. The psych has also said that she's heard good things about this speechie, and she's very local so I'm keen to give it a good shot.

It's looking at the moment like we won't need OT, as her physical issues are really quite minor at the moment ( restricted eater, but healthy, balance not fab, but not terrible, bit of extra mobility but not too problematic ).
Next year , we may revisit priorities.

Do you know how much time I might need to spend on "homework" to get the best benefit from what is currently being suggested as a 1 hour session per week?

I wouldn't think any formal homework but if you can observe, you may want to copy things she does you like.

My 4yr HFA gets speech as well as ABA. Speech is play based and some imaginative play, but really it is more about enriching speech. A good therapist will tailor it to what your kiddo needs. Mine is working on pronouns so there is a lot of turn taking so there is your turn, my turn opportunities. My guy loves it and if you are not paying attention you might not realize it is therapy. However, it is making a major difference. We get homework which is more guidelines how to enrich his speech. Not check homework. They also give it papers that have words they are working on. For my guy it is certain two syllable words they are working on. We go over it a couple times a week. We have our speech and ABA in communication so the are both in sync.

We changed therapist the first therapist had us in the entire time. The new therapist after about a month and 1/2 now only has us in for the last 10 minutes.