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Phonics Road -is this what I need?


Osmosis Mom
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Ds 3 is having some speech issues (some articulation issues and just starting to build his sentences, but then again, he is dealing with three languages). He has been seeing a S/T, but I don't think she is much of an influence. Anyways, I seem to recall PR works for helping with speech? He is also beginning to show an early interest in reading such as recognising letters and our names. Obviously a regular reading program or instruction wouldn't work right now as he needs to also work on articulation.

 

Advice?

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I don't know specifically whether Phonics Road will help or not but I did want to encourage you with our story. My second son had some major speech problems with articulation. We did speech therapy for a year when he was about 3.5 or so. The speech therapist resigned and they didn't have room for him in the program so we had to drop it at that time. About the same time, he started showing an interest in learning to read. At that time I was using Phonics Pathways and I found it fascinating that his speech delay gradually disappeared as he learned to read. For some reason, learning the sounds of the letters and connecting those sounds with the written symbols allowed him to identify what the words were supposed to sound like. His speech delay disappeared over the next six months.

 

All that to say, I think that if he's showing an interest, any good phonics program may do the trick and it's worth a try. I am using PR with some of my kids but have choosen to use a different program to teach my current K'er to read before starting in with PR. (I'm using VP's Phonics Museum just because he needs a lot of practice with the handwriting and I also wanted something fun for him. Since he's number six in our line-up I wanted something that felt a little bit more fun than just Phonics Pathways).

 

The only part of the speech delay that lingered (and still lingers to some extent) is the "R" sound so we're still working on that.

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My dd has a tongue thrust problem, so not exactly the same, but PR and SWR haven't helped it at all. I think if they can't/don't know how to put their mouth/tongue in the right place PR won't help at all, so I guess it depends on the cause of his problem. If he's just confused due to multiple languages then I could see it helping, but if he can't do the right things with his mouth I really don't think it will help.

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Like Janet, my son had an articulation issue. He just turned 4 and is still in speech therapy, though it's really nothing I couldn't do myself. His issue is particular words, like "nouth" instead of "mouth", even though he can say "mama" just fine.

 

We started Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading a couple months ago, and it has noticeably helped his speech!

 

I think any phonics program you use will likely be beneficial. You are focusing on the sounds and how the lips look when you make them. You are saying words that begin and end with that sound. You are showing them words so they can see that they start with that letter.

 

I don't think you have to use PR specifically, though I'm sure it would work fine.

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Ladies,

 

Thanks a bunch for this encouraging input. It is so nice to get a pat on the shoulder and be shown some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I guess I'll just keep on doing what we are doing now which is trying to use more English and begin more to introduce him to words and letter-games. He has problems with his k-sounds, some l-sounds and apparently also r and v. Nothing major with the latter sounds, but his k/g's are d's and t's.

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Did the therapist tell you he was behind? According to this chart (and my knowledge with my child) http://mi001.k12.sd.us/speech.htm I think it's entirely typical to have issues with k's and g's at his age. R and L are much, much later (my six year old isn't consistent with r and doesn't yet have l).

 

At any rate, if you do want to try something at home at some point I'd actually recommend Super Star Speech materials for addressing articulation concerns at home. http://www.superstarspeech.com/

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Thanks for the website. Yeah, well, he qualified for early intervention and then they finally did tell me that those sounds developmentally are later. Now he was accepted into the early intervention preschool at the ps and I am not really sure I want to send him. I have about a month to decide in...

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Thanks for the website. Yeah, well, he qualified for early intervention and then they finally did tell me that those sounds developmentally are later. Now he was accepted into the early intervention preschool at the ps and I am not really sure I want to send him. I have about a month to decide in...

 

Ah, I'm thinking they are looking at something outside of these sounds then to qualify him. (I'm assuming he had to be qualified to need services to get into the preschool program as we do here). For my son I went ahead with the process to see what the preschool program could offer him and then we decided it wasn't a good choice. That said, I suspect many preschool programs would offer much more than ours did.

 

I'm going to suggest you sit down with someone and get a clear picture of where your son is developmentally and what concerns are being used to qualify him for services. It would help you in making decisions if you knew exactly what issues are concerns and if you can or cannot address them at home. In my experience many things can be addressed at home but obviously you can't do that if you don't know what they are! If it's these letter sounds (I can't imagine) I wouldn't give this another thought. But I think there must be other things.

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At any rate, if you do want to try something at home at some point I'd actually recommend Super Star Speech materials for addressing articulation concerns at home. http://www.superstarspeech.com/

 

Ch, J, and Th are the 3 my 6 yo son still struggles with. I've never seen anything affordable like that to address just the area he needs work on.

 

My youngest son will be 3 in January and he's in speech through Early Intervention. I have PR 1 and I can't imagine using it with him any time soon. It ramps up very quickly. We will hear in the next couple weeks if ds qualifies for the special ed pre-k through our school district. I have mixed feelings about sending him but we think we'll try it if he gets in. I figure we can always pull him if we aren't happy with it.

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Well, I was in last week and got a whole report on their findings. Basically then they really like him and are trying to find reasons to offer him a lot -which they did. I go in for a visit int he preschool and for an IEP meeting in a few weeks.

 

In the report it says his single-word intelligibility is 90%, but when doing connected words (sentences) 50-60%. They said he speaks a bit robotic (I think this is rarely, but a bit in English). This is basically their concerns.

 

The preschool program is in the school which gets locked down (locked doors) and is targeted towards dev. disabled kids. They might get out to play and will spend their time in a smallish room that I imagine will get full of kid-germs (colds, ear-infections to follow). He is only supposed to go twice a week for 2 1/2 hours, but will have an IEP and if I pull him out before a year I'll have to set up a meeting for termination.

 

BTW, his sessions with his speech therapist right now is a joke. I do really like the people involved at the school, but not sure if I want to send him...

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Well, I was in last week and got a whole report on their findings. Basically then they really like him and are trying to find reasons to offer him a lot -which they did. I go in for a visit int he preschool and for an IEP meeting in a few weeks.

 

In the report it says his single-word intelligibility is 90%, but when doing connected words (sentences) 50-60%. They said he speaks a bit robotic (I think this is rarely, but a bit in English). This is basically their concerns.

 

The preschool program is in the school which gets locked down (locked doors) and is targeted towards dev. disabled kids. They might get out to play and will spend their time in a smallish room that I imagine will get full of kid-germs (colds, ear-infections to follow). He is only supposed to go twice a week for 2 1/2 hours, but will have an IEP and if I pull him out before a year I'll have to set up a meeting for termination.

 

BTW, his sessions with his speech therapist right now is a joke. I do really like the people involved at the school, but not sure if I want to send him...

 

So they have articulation concerns generally it sounds like. I *think* articulation is really hard to work on at the young ages for any therapist. I don't think I would try to tackle severe articulation issues at home myself but I'm not at all sure you're dealing with anything severe? It sounds like you're not sure about the school situation at all. What would they be offering him (outside of germs :tongue_smilie:)?

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My DD couldn't correctly say k and g (they were also t and d) at the beginning of words until she was almost 4. It's normal - I know because I was worried about it back then, lol. Interestingly, my dd only got those sounds wrong at the beginning of words. In the middle or end she could say them properly. I'm not sure if that's the norm, but that's how she was. I definitely wouldn't worry about that in a 3yo. :)

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So they have articulation concerns generally it sounds like. I *think* articulation is really hard to work on at the young ages for any therapist. I don't think I would try to tackle severe articulation issues at home myself but I'm not at all sure you're dealing with anything severe? It sounds like you're not sure about the school situation at all. What would they be offering him (outside of germs :tongue_smilie:)?

 

Hahaa, outside of germ??? I don't know! I do know that 13 years ago my 2nd oldest dd went to such a setting (not for speech) and spent the year having ear-infections and colds. Miserable year!

 

I went to their classroom and believe me, it did not impress me. I have more educational toys at home than they do (with 8 kids!). You have the loudspeaker going, small windows, plus it is a locked environment so I can't get in there. I mean basically the child is locked up...

 

I realise I sound hysterical, but those are my emotions. I am not concerned about ds' speech, but dh (who is home now as he is doing his own business after having been laid off 2 years ago) has been expressing concern which was why I began the speech therapy to start with. Yesterday he told me he could not understand a word ds was saying as they were alone in the car. I asked him if he was actually talking to ds or just having him talk on his own. Of course it was the latter because dh is not a talker and I know how he interacts with the kids. So, how many of us can understand a 3 yo as he sits in the backseat and talks away?

 

Ds can be extremely clear and grammatically correct. He knows the regular things fine, but when he is making up stories or talking oni the go, well, he is still processing, right? And learning, so he is not that clear. Yes, I have met kids who were not clear till 5. He was not really exposed that much to English at his level, but I have consciously now begun to take him to story hour and we began a playgroup. It's not easy with older kids to do that, but if that is all it takes to avoid preschool at the public school, then I guess that's what I'll have to do for the next 6 months.

 

IN all fairness, then I am keeping an open mind and will go in for the meeting and visit in a couple of weeks.

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My DD couldn't correctly say k and g (they were also t and d) at the beginning of words until she was almost 4. It's normal - I know because I was worried about it back then, lol. Interestingly, my dd only got those sounds wrong at the beginning of words. In the middle or end she could say them properly. I'm not sure if that's the norm, but that's how she was. I definitely wouldn't worry about that in a 3yo. :)

 

Yeah! Yesterday fx. he was out playing soccer and said clearly "catch", but was not able to clearly say "kick". The beginning sound was off, the ending sound clearer. Stuff like that. The other day I showed him Charles River in Boston and it was hard for him to get "riVer" clear, sounding more like a b, but he could hear the difference himself actually.

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