Articulation issues (among other things) in 6yr old (cross-posted)

[Noreen Claire]

My just-turned-six year old had his 3yr reevaluation for speech therapy services through the local public school (he's not enrolled, just gets services). He tested average to very above average for everything except articulation (>2 st devs below the mean), which is exactly what we expected. He was recommended to continue services 2x/week next school year.

My question is, what can I do at home to support the speech therapy he receives at the school? The therapist gives us word lists to practice, but I've seen people mention apps/games for articulation.

Also, the therapist mentioned that my son isn't getting the most out of his therapy sessions because he doesn't interact with the one or two other children in the group. He wants to tell you about what he's been working on at home and he *refuses* to be redirected to another topic until he's finished. Essentially, he doesn't want to talk to the other kids because they aren't interested in what he's talking about and he's not interested in what they are talking about. The therapist said that this was a skill that DS should have developed before turning 5 (he just turned 6 last week). The therapist seemed very concerned.

This is DS's personality in ALL situations. He can be rigid in his behaviors, but is significantly more flexible than when he was younger. I'm not sure how I can help him to outgrow this personally quirk, to more easily and naturally interact with other children. He's home with me, DS9, DS3, and DS1 all day. I try to get them to some homeschool and/or library activities when I can, but there aren't a lot of homeschoolers in my area. Is this something I should stress out about, or would you just focus on the articulation issues and give him more time to develop the interpersonal skills?

Or, should I totally freak out and enroll him in the public school? Gah! I hate second guessing myself...

[Rachel]

I have a 5 nearly 6 year old boy. He is much the same way as far as social skills. I wouldn’t stress about that. 

I can’t  speak for the speech issues. I’m about to have my son evaluated for what are probably normal speech issues but concern both my husband and me. 

[Targhee]

What about some work on perspective taking? You can start with trying to think-aloud with him, “I really want to keep talking to you about my visit to the dog groomer, but I can see by your wandering eyes and lack of responses that it isn’t very interesting to you so let’s talk about something else. What did you play at the park today?” and the like.  If it isn’t sinking in there are good resource materials for learning this, many of them geared towards ASD kids.

[Tanaqui]

Noreen Claire, what you described, especially in addition to speech issues, makes me wonder if there's another disability involved - autism, adhd, nonverbal learning disorder - gosh, the possibilities are endless. Has he been evaluated for anything other than the speech issues?

I'm not saying that this IS the case, just that it COULD BE the case.

[Shellydon]

I agree with Tanaqui.  I would have him evaluated for autism.  It is not just a personality quirk to refuse to interact with others and refuse to be redirected to another topic.

[PeterPan]

Agree on the recommend to eval for autism, and also you should read on apraxia to see if that should be on the table. You would be looking for a PROMPT therapist if you think apraxia is possibly the explanation. Apraxia is a motor planning problem and traditional therapy can be largely ineffective for it, which would explain his lack of progress.

[Noreen Claire]

Thank you all for your comments.

I quickly read about apraxia and that doesn't seem to fit. The early intervention evaluators, and then the public school special ed evaluator, both agreed at age 3 the most likely cause of his articulation issues were tongue- and lip-ties that were not diagnosed or corrected until after he turned two. He had already been talking for over a year at that point. Given a model, he CAN make all the sounds, with two exceptions: he cannot roll his 'r's and he cannot make the /rl/ sound. He's come a long way in the last three years of speech therapy.

I will do some research into autism behaviors and therapies, thanks.

[prairiewindmomma]

Social speech issues (maybe spectrum-y, maybe just delay) were what came to mind in our BTDT situation.  I do think that this is something to address now rather than to wait and see on. The social consequences really hit in later elementary school if it isn't remediated by then. 

[Itsnotasprint]

My 6 yr. old goes to speech therapy once a week (going on a year now).  I didn't know there is speech therapy in a group format, would individual sessions be more helpful for him? My daughter has her therapy at a local hospital.