Speech Therapy Newbie

[SeaConquest]

My youngest (Ronen -- age 2) had an eval by a speech pathologist a few weeks ago, and his expressive speech was rated at 9-12 months. Everything else was developmentally appropriate for his age or advanced. I met with the county social worker today, and they have recommended twice weekly therapy -- once per week with a speech pathologist and once per week with a teacher, who will focus on speech and other preschoolish milestones (cutting, drawing, jumping, etc.). In September, he started attending half-day preschool 2 days/week, which he loves.

 

I feel a bit lost as to how to help Ronen. His older brother was the complete opposite, speaking in full sentences in two languages at 18 months, and I admit that I feel guilty about Ronen's delay. He's just a very different kid from my oldest -- very physical and high energy, not really interested in being read to, etc. I want to be proactive with the speech therapists, but I don't really know what I should expect, what progress I should want to see, how I will know if things are proceeding at an appropriate pace, if the therapist is a good fit, etc. I was reluctant to even ask for the eval because, after my oldest, I feel like I just don't have a good understanding of what developmentally appropriate looks like. But, I trusted my gut that something wasn't right and made the call, and am glad that I did.

 

So, for those of you who have been down this road, what advice would you give to someone just starting out with speech therapy? What things have you learned that you wished you'd known or done sooner? What kind of progress should I be seeing? Thanks so much for any thoughts.  

[PeterPan]

I'm assuming you're comfortable with using them and have made that decision?  So then the more interesting question is what they recommend *you* do with him?  That teacher and SLP are there a short time, but you can make lifestyle changes, increase language interactions, etc. during your day to boost speech.  When my ds started ST at newly 2, she had us make RADICAL changes.  Now, granted, my ds has verbal apraxia, a serious motor planning condition which makes it easier NOT to speak, not to move your mouth correctly, etc. than to do so.  So in our world, we had to increase the POWER of language.  

 

She had us pick up every toy, everything he wanted, and begin linking EVERYTHING in his world to being willing to use his language. Want up on your changing table?  Say /a/.  Want the next bite of food?  Say /a/.  Want the next piece for our tower building game?  Say /a/.  

 

Maybe that's not what he needs, but it is true you can increase your purposeful language, simplify your speech, and require language.  If they get what they want without language, it's easier not to use it.  You'd be surprised how many people play games and go through life without requiring much language from their kids.  It's an easy thing to increase and become intentional about.  We use LOTS of games and interactive play.  Anything from Timberdoodle is great.  Buy something but ONLY play it to work on language, kwim?  So then he's getting this high value activity, something new, something novel, and you're getting the work on the things you need to have happen.  

 

Ok, now the thing we didn't work on, that it was like OH DANG.  Nonverbals.   :lol:   Ok, so granted my kid later got an ASD label.  I'm just saying the irony is we worked our butts off on language stuff, requiring speech, and then you look back at 6 and go whoa, did we bring in intentional work on *non-verbals*??  And if you're socially typical and everyone in your family is, it may be a non-issue.  I'm just saying you could chunk 5 minutes a couple times a day to work on that too and be intentional about it, just to make sure you don't swing hard the other way.  It's normal stuff like peekaboo, joint attention, miming...

 

So mainly just ask the therapists what you can do with him at home.  I think they put an emphasis on that with EI and will try to help you.  You'd be surprised how many people are afraid to work with their kids, afraid to do this stuff.  As a homeschooler, you already have the advantage of the confidence of knowing you CAN work with him and CAN do something with him that is beneficial and pro-social and going to improve his language use, even if you aren't a SLP.  You just need some instruction or guidance to get you there to jump start and give jet fuel to the things you naturally do with him.

 

 The feeling guilty thing, sigh...  Btdt.  I thought maybe I caused his apraxia by something I did while pregnant.  I was thinking that again last night, and here he is 7 with tons of speech!  I spent years with this sort of anxious pit in my stomach, like I needed to work, work, work, couldn't let him alone even because I wasn't doing enough if I did.  Sigh.  I gained weight from eating junk to stay awake while driving.  Now I do better.  I joined the Y for myself and gave myself a good bout of sciatic.   :lol:  No, seriously, channel your emotion into change and work.  You can't make the situation go away, but you can plow through it.  Odds are he's going to come through this and be GREAT!  Even my ds has astonishing speech now.  People meet him and (as of yesterday) have no clue he gets/needs ST.  He's sort of in that range where people go oh some things take time.  They have no clue what we've been through.  

 

My ds was like that, not sitting, and just had a lot of motion overall.  Actually, he wouldn't even hardly sit for tv!  Like he'd say oh can you turn x on, and then he'd get up and walk away!  It was crazy.  He got that explained with an ADHD-combined label.  He's just got a LOT of motion, too much motion to stay.  Then you get the bolting (from the ASD), and that's even more crazy.  Anyways, my tip of the day on that is audiobooks.  I realized that with my Mommy Guilt I REALLY needed a bit of time where I could leave him to play and just go IT'S OK.  Kwim?  So I got him a kindle fire, put the thing in a case, and that thing plays audiobooks any time I'm not working with him.  Actually, thinking back, I think we may have started with cds.  Anyways, we still do that with audiobooks.  I really need that time where I can walk away, he can be hyperfocused on lining up toys and arming playmobil people, and it's OK.  The bonus is, the dc will listen to all sorts of beneficial things.  He listens to kiddie lit, especially stuff by Beverly Cleary.  He processes life through these books, learning about social norms.  He listens to college lectures (Teaching Company) on history and adult history (Demon Under the Microscope).  He listens to more typical things like CHOW on audio (yeah!!!) and the Russell Freedman books.  So to me, it's like look he's getting social, vocabulary, history, passion/obsession scratched, even some character lessons (Wright Brothers biography from the Sterling series).  This is good!  And his vocabulary scores are OUTRAGEOUS, like 99th percentile.  So it works for that and I get a guilt-free break.

 

 It's a journey.  Whatever happens, it's going to be good.  You're doing the right thing and getting help early and getting intervention EARLY.  That's what you're going to be so happy about.  Maybe this is just a blip, or maybe it's part of a longer journey.  My journey with my dd (who was, like your older, very advanced, very wow) is totally different from what I'm doing with my ds.  That's ok.  It's just different, not bad, kwim?  And, you know, I get to make all new friends around these new things.  I've met more people, learned more skills, branched out.  How boring if all our kids were exactly the same.   :lol:  Now I look at homeschool conventions and wonder why I even wanted to go.  All my money is on going to training workshops for SN stuff.  And that's cool, kwim?  It's just different, not bad.  Whatever happens, you'll be happy, together, growing, having a good time.  My ds and I have a GREAT time together.  Ok, bolting, scratching, choking, lots of bad things happen.  But I don't have that wow, wish he were like dd feeling that I think I would have had if I had realized 5 years ago how this was going to be.  It's just what he is.  It's just our journey.

[PeterPan]

PS.  I know you know this, but you can google for charts.  One thing they track is intelligibility, how well he seems to be understood by a stranger.  It's not actually specifically articulation but an overall thing, and there are percentages for it.  Here's a site I found by googling quickly that has some info.  http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:admin&catid=11:admin&Itemid=117

 

Read around on there and google for charts.  Our EI had standards that were MUCH lower than what you'd actually aim for.  Given how very bright you are and your kids are, your speech needs will be increased and on the upper end of things.  We've had that constant battle with pushing his physical ability to articulate to keep up with what his BRAIN is thinking.  It takes a LOT MORE intervention than normal to get there, because the kids are extra bright and have so much extra inside.  Like my ds was 3 (I forget exactly) and he gets into ST and puts out his arms and says "I'm trying to stabilize!"  He didn't have all the letters to say that, so it didn't sound like that.  We knew what he was trying to say.  I'm just saying he has constantly pushed the envelope.  The SLP will go wow, but I just can't physically GET him there yet, even though he wants that, kwim?  So it's the right thing to unlock this stuff.  Speech therapy can transform kids who might otherwise have been very slow to speak and quiet by making it *easier* to get their thoughts out.  It unlocks their amazing.  :)

[Hwin]

We're on our second speech kid. Same therapist, though, because we love her.

 

I think that the most important thing is being present at sessions and practicing at home.