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| Kids with speech delay |
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I need some advice. My 2 1/2 year old is supposed to have another evaluation from early intervention in two weeks. He has had speech therapy for six months twice a week. I have also been working with him everyday. He has come a long way, I think he says about 150 words and puts some words together. The problem is he will not talk for the speech therapist. Even though I tell his early intervention rep and his speech therapist about his progress they think I should continue with the program. My son is very shy and strong willed. If he does not want to do something he will not do it. I know he will not do what they ask of him in the eval and he will get a low score.
My question is, do I continue or stop the services. My son is very bright and plays with other children well. Please give me some advice. |
| Posted by Shelly on 01/30/2009 09:55 PM
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| So he doesn't talk for his therapist that he go to twice a week right? I would say stick with it. The therapy will not hurt him but you are his mother and know your child best. The more he does with therapy now the easier it will be for him as he gets older I would think (I don't know what his speech delay is and I'm not a therapist so this is only mom advise.) He sounds like my son when he was that age but I stuck with it and now you would never guess that he had a speech delay. Good Luck!! |
| posted by on 01/30/2009 11:37 PM
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| I would say stick with it too. Sometimes it just takes a little longer for children to warm up to those around him. Something that I noticed about my daughter is that she will only talk to people that have a certain demeanor; not to say that any one person has a bad demeanor, but there are certain characteristics in therapists that children warm up to and others don't. My daughter was very responsive to one of her therapists more than the others. It just may be that the person giving him the eval may have a different way with your son and he may do fine. Either way, stick with it. If it starts to really bother you that he's not warming up to the therapist, you can always ask to try a different therapist to see if he'll warm up and respond. |
| posted by Elizabeth on 01/31/2009 08:35 AM
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I wish I could go with the flow here, but I am on the other side of the street with my opinion. When my son was 2 1/2 he began therapy through a private company. The SLP was engaging and we were really starting to like her. Jake was becoming more comfortable and starting to show his stuff a little more... then, she said she had to turn us over to another therapist since her caseload was so full and the new girl was coming out of a group setting and needed individual clients. ugh!
The new girl was nice and all, but very inexperienced. After several months, I ended up practically running the therapy sessions. I had activities lined up in case she couldn't get Jake engaged in hers. He always seemed to be holding back when she was there, because I could get him to say so much more when she wasn't.
When it came time for the 6 mo re-eval, it took 2 separate sessions and the SLP still could not get him to complete the follow up. On the third session, she just said, never mind trying to finish it, since my insurance cut all speech therapy payments anyway and we won't be receiving anymore services. uh, how about for my peace of mind?? Well, since Jake was not cooperating, she would have to keep trying to get it in little increments, and she just couldn't since that would mean unpaid trips to get it done.
So we are on our second month without therapy, and Jake has really blossomed! He says so much stuff now I can't even keep up. He is almost completely conversational. He will answer questions, ask a few pertinent questions, but we still don't have the back and forth chatter... but that will come, I'm sure.
In a way I wish I had an SLP to bounce ideas off of and help me with the articulation issues, and tell me if what I am doing is working like it should. It is scary doing it on your own. Your child relies heavily on you to do the right thing... it's his future. You have to decide if you are ready to wing it and take that responsibility. I think since you don't completely rely on the therapist to do all the work, that you will make the right decision for you and your son.
Jake is still a ways from being caught up, but we are doing the best we can with what we've got.
OK, so my opinion is- based on my experience, Jake stopped cooperating with the SLP, it became a "chore" and I am now glad we don't have the added stress of a therapist. We are so far doing fine on our own. I am still very active in keeping up to date with activities and my research... also the fish oil.
BUT- you need to have the eval done. You need to know where your child is on the scale, so you can get an idea of how much further you have to go. If he won't cooperate, then you may need to look into having someone else do the eval, and while your at it, find a new SLP.
I think the kids should connect with and WANT to show off for the SLP, not feel pressured and withdrawn. This causes everyone an unending circle of stress.
Good luck with your decision, there is a lot to consider before you can be comfortable with the outcome. |
| posted by Annette+4 on 01/31/2009 10:53 AM
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| Thanks so much for your advice. I am going to keep the appointment for the evaluation as long as they will do it somewhere other than my home. If he feels threatened or gets mad it will be way more difficult at our house with all of his hiding places. I will probably end the services in another month, or at the least, I will get a new therapist. Thanks again. |
| posted by Shelly on 01/31/2009 05:27 PM
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Hi Shelly. I know I'm a little late on the conversation, but there were a couple things I have experienced that may help too. I know that when my son goes to his school therapist it is a chore, sometimes he participates, sometimes not so much. I have noticed that if before we go to therapy I ask him if there is something he wants to show the therapist (new race car, one of his toys he happens to be playing with, whatever it happens to be), when we get there he is more excited, and usually more willing to work with her.
I have kinda learned to use her for all the training she has, bounce ideas off her, talk to her about issues we have when we are working at home. In return, I come up with some ideas on how to get Arden to work with her. He loves starfall.com on the computer. So, some sessions he gets build a snowman, but before each "click" he has to say 3 words. It works for him.
A lot of therapy can be "play based." My son responds well to that. For us, evaluations are a Nightmare. He hates flashcards, looking at pictures, or anything he can associate with working. However, he will tell the therapist everything his cars are doing, or what animal makes the "moo" sound, or numerous other things like that. Sometimes the therapist runs the sessions...other times I do. Often times I have thought of dropping therapy for whatever reason, but the biggest thing that helps me is knowing that she has all the training and experience. What she has learned from other kids, and shares with me, is often times the same thing my son won't do with her, but is the key to him making a little breakthrough with me.
Of course, you are the mom...if the very mention of the therapists name makes your son upset, definately get a different therapist or, if that's not an option, quit at least for a while. Let us know how things go. Hopefully the eval will go smooth! :-)
Rhonda |
| posted by Rhonda on 01/31/2009 11:18 PM
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I have never had to run my own therapy session. If you have to do that, you should find a new therapist.
Board games are great tools to use for therapy at home. They have to try to say a sound or word before they can take their turn. (you guys most likely know this but just in case someone doesn't)
It sucks to have to go to therapy all the time but it's better to go now then when they are in school and they are pulled out of class. And it can affect their schooling if they are still behind in speech (kids are learning to read in Kindergarten). The sooner you can help them get pass their speech delay, the better. It's not easy to get your child to do what they (the therapists and eval people) would like them to do but none of this is easy. I do think like some of the other mom's said, you do need to have an idea of where your child is with speech. Don't give up. But again, you know your child so follow your gut and do what you think is right. |
| posted by on 02/01/2009 12:13 PM
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