Any speech drop outs on here?

[NotSoObvious]

Did anyone have a child in speech and decide to quit therapy and just work at home? How did it work?

 

I'm tired and we are on our fourth therapist. #3 was awesome but she moved. #4 is back to the same ineffective stuff the first 2 did and I'm ready to just come home.

 

She's been in speech for over 6 years, so this is nothing new to us and we are to the point where we are just working on language and articulation within the context of sentences.

 

I am starting to resent having to cut our school days short twice a week to go to mediocre therapy.

 

(Switching therapists is not an option for several reasons. Cutting down to once a week might be an option.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

What does she need help on? Some problems are easier to remediate than others.

[GoVanGogh]

We dropped speech therapy after six months.

DS was in therapy because he was talking, then quit. He was screened for autism and found not to have it. They then recommended speech. DS would sit during therapy sessions with his lips tightly sealed and wouldn't even engage the therapist. We decided to stop. A month later, DS was talking in complete sentences.

Our situation was probably different than most. I think, in retrospect, that DS just didn't want to talk until he was able to talk perfectly.

 

What does she need help on? Some problems are easier to remediate than others.

Yes.

Our neighbor boy has been in speech therapy for seven years for a lisp. He has been to countless therapists, with little to no improvement.

[amy g.]

I had 3 kids in speech for 7 years. And while it was time consuming and just draining, I'm happy with their speech now.

 

My niece dropped out, and I feel like her opportunities are limited because of her articulation and expression problems.

 

Of course it might be completely different for you, but I'm glad I did not drop out.

[sbgrace]

We're still plugging along. I'm using Super Star Speech too, though, at home to try to work on it here as well. We go once a week and I do an afternoon appt. to try to have the least interference in our day.

[fhjmom]

Older DD stopped speech therapy services from the school district at the end of 1st grade. She is hard of hearing and the SLP she was working with just did not "get" kids with hearing loss. Her expressive issues were a result of her receptive hearing and not being able to hear herself. The therapist was only worried about articulation and whether she could make a sound (which was not a problem at all), not helping her learn when to make them - which was the issue based on language input.

 

We do continue services with a dead education teacher that works on these things now, though. I try to work with her at home as well, but since I am also profoundly hard of hearing, it is hard for me to know if she is using all her sounds correctly.

[gingersmom]

My son did 8 years of speech therapy so I know what it is like having the interruption in your day.

 

I think only you can answer if it is the right time to stop.

 

I had an amazing therapist for the last 5 years of speech. It was a decision I wrestled with for a year before ending.

 

In the end I just knew it was the right thing for us to do. His speech was perfect and any lingering language issues I knew were age related, etc.

 

I always knew I could go back if I needed to (I was going private so it was easy enough, no school districts to deal with).

 

Maybe drop to once a week and see how it goes?

[NotSoObvious]

It's kind of a long story and not simple, which is why it took us so long to get what worked- a prompt trained therapist. We saw immediate improvement last year and even though this new therapist is also prompt trained, there is little improvement.

 

She is 10 and still has significant articulation and language issues. But there is a whole history there and she's made a ton of improvement. I feel like we are on the downhill side of it all.