Results of ds' speech/lang. evaluation

[MicheleB]

Today the ST called me with the results of 9yo ds' S/L eval.

 

He has:

Mild- sloping Moderate speech and lang. delays

 

He fell below the 1% in word class skills (conceptual knowledge). She said not with nouns necessarily but with words like "alike", "same", "different", etc. He did not understand word relations.

 

His grammar/syntax low-normal.

Following directions was low-normal.

Mild difficulty forming sentences.

Low-normal recalling sentences.

 

She also could not do the reading part of the test with him, since he reads so poorly, so that part wasn't factored in.

 

She is going to send me a written report that I will take to the n.p. in August. She also is sending some ideas for working on these issues. I decided not to go to her in her office for now because I'm not convinced about the effectiveness of the therapy there. I'm interested in what some of you might suggest and if you think going in for therapy *now* as opposed to waiting for the n.p. report would be beneficial, I am open to that.

[Mom0012]

check out http://www.Linguisystems.com. They have tons of resources, but I bought the Spotlight on Vocabulary, level 1 for my 8-year-old son and he works on it for about 15 minutes a day. It has really reinforced a lot of language skills for him and I think it might be helpful for some of the things you said your child is having trouble with.

 

Lisa

[Claire]

I would start speech thrapy now. The neuro-psych will undoubtedly recommend working on his language skills, so I see no advantage in postponing. I would, however, look for the best possible therapy. Do you have a university nearby that offers a degree in speech pathology? These often have well-run clinics where you can get speech therapy at a much more affordable price. I would think that you are looking at a lot of therapy, so keeping costs down can be important -- especially if it turns out he needs other therapies as well down the line. At the very least I would try to find someone who is willing to assign you work to do at home on a daily basis, as this speeds up the process considerably. You also might want to look into a program such as Straight Talk, which was designed for homeschoolers.

[MicheleB]

I would start speech thrapy now. The neuro-psych will undoubtedly recommend working on his language skills, so I see no advantage in postponing. I would, however, look for the best possible therapy. Do you have a university nearby that offers a degree in speech pathology? ... I would think that you are looking at a lot of therapy,

The np recommended a ST from a university that is almost 2 hours away from us. As far as I've been able to tell, they are the closest to us with a speech pathology degree program. He said in his email to me that he thinks they have a good SL program and clinic. I'm sure, of course, he doesn't know where we live in relation to the university, however if that's what's best I guess it's what we'll have to consider.

 

As for your comment that we are looking at a lot of therapy, what are you thinking? I truly have no idea. I felt our ST was so laissez-faire (sp?) about it, that if *I* want to do therapy we can or we can just put together things to work on at home. Of course that's what she said about my youngest ds as well (the one with the suspected APD and articulation issues). So either it's she's "qualified" but not experienced or I am unsure of what I should be looking for and therefore expecting. I will say about our ST, she almost primarily sees preschool children because school-aged children go to ST at school. So perhaps it's that she is not used to dealing with school-aged issues. I don't really know.

 

She is sending me the written report and I will post again when I receive it, with more specific details. This is what she told me over the phone.

 

Thanks. :)

[Claire]

Sounds like your ST is not as good as some. I would certainly let the n.p. know how far you live from the university; maybe he/she can make another recommendation. If not, maybe you could talk to the person who manages the speech pathology program at the university. He/she might be able to make recommendations too.

 

I can't be sure how much speech therapy you are looking at, but I would think at least a year with two years being perhaps more likely. The kinds of problems you list are ones that are not "easy fix" and can take quite a bit of work.

 

FWIW, daily work at home can be considerably more valuable than a weekly appointment. It's not so much that the therapy needs to be administered by a good ST, but rather that you want a good ST who is able to devise an efficient treatment strategy and then instruct you in how to carry it out.

[MicheleB]

I can't be sure how much speech therapy you are looking at, but I would think at least a year with two years being perhaps more likely. The kinds of problems you list are ones that are not "easy fix" and can take quite a bit of work.

*SIGH* When I talked with the ST today, she *seemed* to downplay the issues. And perhaps it's the way I took it. But she made a comment pretty much saying that the issues aren't that severe and some things can be done.

 

FWIW, daily work at home can be considerably more valuable than a weekly appointment. It's not so much that the therapy needs to be administered by a good ST, but rather that you want a good ST who is able to devise an efficient treatment strategy and then instruct you in how to carry it out.

She is sending along her recommendations with the written report. When I get them, I will post the ideas she has. Maybe they aren't that off-base after all. And if they are, then I'll know to look elsewhere.

 

Thanks again.