A little speech help ?

[momgenet]

Hi there.

I am really a bit angered at many people right now.

I have an 11 yo daughter who has had trouble with a 'lisp' for awhile. We have been told she doesn't quailify for help in the public school speech dept and also several places seem to deem that her problem isn't "big enough" for asssistance. We have no insurance or way to pay for speech therapy otherwise. BUT

several agree, including 2 doctors that she in fact, DOES need some speech help ?

What do I do ?

Her problems are mostly with the 'f' and 'th' and 'ch' and 'sh' types of sounds.

They sent me a link to the Speech Buddies website but they don't address those sounds.

What do I do ?

[dbmamaz]

if you can afford it, i guess you could find a speech therapist and pay out of pocket for an evaluation and some training for you to work with her.

 

You could also . . . just start working on it without help? When I have worked informally with my son, i make the sound he IS making, and the sound it SHOULD be, and try to notice what is different in my mouth. So, if he's 'da' for 'the', i point out that for 'da' i start with my tongue on the roof of my mouth, but for 'the', i start with my tongue touching my top teeth. then make him try it.

 

he's very stubborn so i would only do it about once every week or so at first, when things came up. But if you can figure out what the difference is, and teach her, and she's willing to try . . idk, it would be cheaper

[MomatHWTK]

To do searches for materials, use the search word "articulation." Here's a blog I found:

http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=62

 

In the past I've found materials that helped me identify the specific name of what my child's problem was. There are different names for different types of lisps, etc. If you can narrow that down, then you can focus your search better as well.

 

I was shopping at SuperDuper Publications earlier this week and noticed that they have several articulation resources. Someone posted a coupon code for orders of over $75. Also, Linguisystems offers resources. There are even board games to help children practice the speech techniques.

 

ETA: Found an assessment resource.

http://www.expressionsspeech.com/Google%20Docs/Tennessee%20Guidelines.pdf

[Storm Bay]

If you can afford speech therapy, go for it. If not, we did speech therapy informally with my ds. I did have a few tips for some of it, though. One trick for the letter s I was told by a speech therapist was "don't let the snake out of the cage." Snake = tongue, & cage=teeth. I had another child who made the m sound without using her lips, so taught her the right way at about 5 or 6. This may not work for your dd, but ds's s & th sounds were the same (both in between) & unless he's really tired, they're find now.

[momgenet]

Thank you guys! :grouphug:

It is aggrevating to me that all the speech therapists I've talked to has said that her problems are "small enough" they don't warrent therapy. . . .

However . . . . . .in so saying . . . .they are admitting she has a problem???

 

Anyway. . . .I will look into these resources ! THanks !

:)

[6wishes]

My dd works with a speech therapist at school, and she has us working through an app called Artikpix at home. I have an iPad, and it's on there. I'm not sure if it is a phone app. Also, but you check the sounds you want to work on, you can just do the flash cards (computer says the word, then she copies it), or you can set it to do a sentence, you can play memory with it. They're always repeating what the computer says every time. The sheets she sent us home to work with would be from this program, and then I finally bought it myself (I think it was $30). Also, I've heard of some parents (and this was offered at the beginning, but I elected to her being seen each week), but just meeting with the speech therapist once a month where she would give us new work to work on, but she wouldn't "officially" be seen as a student with an IEP. Is this an option?

[sbgrace]

If you can I think a therapist would be ideal. There are materials you can purchase (reasonably priced) for speech therapy at home called Super Star Speech. It has helped my son. The author, a speech therapist, has also been very helpful in answering questions I had about my son. You could contact her and see if her materials might help your daughter's issues.

[MidwesternMom]

Great ideas, everyone. Two of mine needed speech therapy but our insurance coverage for it was minimal. I wish I had had these resources then.

 

As it was, we spaced appointments out and worked with them at home. Neither of them sound "just like everybody else" but they sound okay and actually are kind of fond of their remaining articulation differences.

 

That said, if I had better insurance, I would have taken them back every couple of years so that as they developed they could have re-learned from someone who wasn't mom.

[melbotoast]

If you can I think a therapist would be ideal. There are materials you can purchase (reasonably priced) for speech therapy at home called Super Star Speech. It has helped my son. The author, a speech therapist, has also been very helpful in answering questions I had about my son. You could contact her and see if her materials might help your daughter's issues.

 

:iagree: You can find Super Star Speech materials at Currclick and I believe also at Amazon.

[Violet Crown]

I am so glad for this thread and the helpful links. Wee Girl just turned 5 and is finally in a place where she will cheerfully play along with speech games. We could afford speech therapy, but there's no way she would talk to or interact with a therapist (yet).