My ds 4 is very hard to understand. He slurs a lot of his words together and mispronounces 4 or 5 letters. I am starting to wonder if he needs speech therapy. I've been trying to do some research on it but not really getting anywhere. Is this something I can do at home or is this something that needs special training? Any insight?
Faythe, too. I took her and had her tested when she was 5. I was told that she had a borderline speech problem, but could possibly grow out of it. They gave me some stuff to do at home, which I honestly didn't do much because so much of it we were kind of doing on our own, anyway. She did grow out of it, though even now she will slur her words on occassion.
It honestly depends on the child and the issues whether you can work with it at home or need a professional. An evaluation would be the best determiner. I have had 3 kids need speech. 2 we did professional, 1 I did at home. My dd8 had speech therapy b/c she was unintelligible at 3 and had it for a year and I loved her therapist. My ds6.5 had it when he was 3 and I was not fond of his therapist and her manner with children so after 4 months we declined services and I just continued with what she had been doing. He was in home therapy so I had seen what she was doing and using and bought it or something similar. A good site is therapro.com for in-home therapy tools. My youngest ds2.5 was following the same pattern as the other 2 and I spoke with the pediatrician and discussed his issues and how he hadn't started talking at almost 2. We did baby signs and lots of other things and lots of talking and play that involved talking... It all depends on what is causing the speech delay or lack of clarity. Sometimes it is physical. None of my children have the piece under your tongue so it causes some issues. You know the piece some kids have to have clipped. Well mine and my kids are almost nonexistant. It is about learning control over their tongue. The best thing to do is discuss it with your pediatrician. Mine was comfortable with me working with ds 2 and re-evaluating in a year b/c I had been through it with the other 2 and came in with a plan of what I was going to use to work with him. She would have normally recommended speech, but she was willing to let me try at home since I had went through speech with my other 2. So I would recommend going to your pediatrician with your concerns, but go prepared if you want to try some things at home first.
I agree with Openminded about getting an evaluation before trying anything on your own. There are some physical issues that can cause the speech problems, like hearing issues or mouth issues, and sometimes it's just a case of lazy speech [the child can make the sounds but just don't]. Lazy speech is usually enough to deal with on your own with some speech exercises, but physical issues would be entirely different story.
I'd see about getting an evaluation. Many times you can get it through your insurance esp. to rule out a physical development problem, etc.
When my daughter turned two, she didn't say as many words as her doctor liked. She then referred me to a speech therapist. She used the speech therapist until she turned three. To this day at 5 1/2 she still has a hard time with certain letters, such as V and L. I've been told it's normal and they should grow out of it.
There isn't a lot of information about helping a child with speech development. If he is capable of making the mispronounced sounds when you show him how, then in my unprofessional opinion, you can work with him at home. This was the case with my son. He was four when I took him to be evaluated, and he was borderline. So, when he was six and was still having acticulation problems, I took him to a therapist on my own. I wanted her to evaluate him, and then tell me if there was something I could do at home with him. She was insulted that I would imply that I could do her job. After about half a year, I realized that I could do her job as far as my son was concerned. She could have describe her methodology for treating my son in five minutes or less, but she wanted to maintain the mystique of her profession, I guess. My son's problem was not complex. The therapist theorized that he had probably had some periods of reduced hearing (due to lots of colds and a few ear infections) when he was young that interferred with his speech development. By the time he was six, he had heard the sound correctly, but had developed the habit of saying them incorrectly. So, for us, it was just a matter of breaking bad habits. The methodology was this... 1. Identify the target sounds. My son's were hard g, hard c, s and th and consonant /y/. (He also had problems with /r/, but she didn't worry about that because that was not a late-to-develop sound.) 2. Pick a target sound for the week and make flashcards with pictures of words that start with that target word. Five minutes a day, review those cards and have your child say them correctly. (You may have to demonstrate and explain what your mouth and tongue are doing when you say the sound.) 3. After that is master, move the target sound to the end of words if applicable and then to the middle of words. 4. After this is master, insert the words into sentences that the child must say. Sometimes they may master saying the word alone but will revert to their own ways when in a sentence. 5. Pick one word of the week that is a frequently used word that he mispronounces (like "the"). That is the only word about which you may nag him throughout the day. The other sounds are just practiced 5-10 minutes, and you're done. So, we basically drove thirty minutes every week to watch her cut out pictures and paste them on an index card, and review them quickly and then send them home with me to practice with him. I kept hoping she had something better in her bag of tricks, but that was it.
Thanks everyone. I don't think his problem is physical, his tongue is normal (as far as I can tell) and his hearing is fine. I think the biggest problem is just being lazy. He can make the sounds properly if I work with him for awhile and help point out where his tongue should be, ect. All along I've been saying it's ok because he can say all the letters (with some effort) and that he'll grow out of it. I'll mention it to my perdiatrician next time I'm there.
My ds who is 4 is going through speech therapy. He didn't start talking until he was 3 so he's really doing much better with his words now.
While we're on the topic - does anyone know alternatives to insurance provided therapies (sppech, OT, that sort of thing.) My son had all of those built into his IEP at the ps, but if I start him at home he will not get the services (he's too old for county services.) I have to check if we do Independent Study thru the school system if he will still be eligible for services (how that works - no clue!!), but I believe it will just be easier to have someone come to the house (like our county services do.)
My son gets services through our county right now. I'm glad of that and I really like our speech therapist.
I don't know what is state law and what is federal, but here in PA, if you have an IEP and decide to homeschool, the school district must still provide support services based on your IEP. I really thought that was based on a federal ruling regarding making education available to every child.
Not in Ohio. A few years back we had a gal on here that was hs'ing in a small town. The school district was being a pain in the butt (even told her they wouldn't accept a portfolio evaluation because the evaluator was "too easy" on her!!!). Her son had hearing problems, and REALLY needed speech (which they were refusing). He had an IEP, as he had been in school before. We did some serious looking into it, through pro-hs'ing sources I trust, and the school was not required to provide services for him.
I just took my dd in to have a hearing test done to make sure that was not the cause of her speach problem. We happen to have a speech pathalogist as her sunday school teacher who told us she had a bilateral lisp ( slurred the s's) the sound comes out the sides of her tounge instead of the front. I googled that lisp and found some really good websites that teach what to use to change the problems. We are working on them much like was discribed by somebody else earlier AHH here is the link I found and am using www.speechtx.com We just started and apperantly this is a hard thing to teach to a young kid. So only time will tell. As a side note, my ds had troubles with his articulation, and i worked with him until he got it correct just by changing my habits ( making sure I said the words correctly) and by correcting him one word at a time. Like he would say "brookfest" very hickishly and we had to work until he would pronounce Breakfast the correctway.
My child had speech therapy when he was younger. In Texas, a child that is 3 years old qualifies to be evaluated and given speech therapy for free by the school district they live in. It looks like AZ also takes children as young as 3 years old. What you need to do is get in touch with the school district to get information on obtaining help for your child. AZ IEP Quote: Eligibility Under IDEA Every school district is legally required to identify, locate, and evaluate children with disabilities (20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(3)). After the evaluation, the district may provide the child with specific programs and services to address special needs. IDEA defines "children with disabilities" as individuals between the ages of three and 22 with one or more of the following conditions: mental retardation hearing impairment (including deafness) speech or language impairment visual impairment (including blindness) serious emotional disturbance orthopedic impairment autism traumatic brain injury specific learning disability, or other health impairment (20 U.S.C. §1401(3); 34 C.F.R. §300.8). http://http://articles.directorym.com/Special_Education_Law_Arizona-r935356-Arizona.html Arizona Department of Education http://www.ade.state.az.us/
