Joan in GE Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 One problem at home is that the student doesn't always have to answer questions loudly enough to be heard by the whole class and then get evaluated if he is having trouble. But our ds is usually talking so quietly that unless he faces you and talks as loud as he can, it is hard to understand... Reading through the posts about speech therapy, it seems like something that may have helped him earlier. From the posts I've read so far, it seems like most of you are having your children evaluated at a much younger age. He is also competing with a very verbal younger sister. We live overseas so it is not easy to find someone to evaluate in English. I saw that some people bought programs for speech therapy, but probably they are for younger children.... Does anyone know of anything for this kind of problem with older children? Thank you, Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I went to a new doctor recently for my annual exam and she was asking me a lot of questions about my health, including whether or not I have any concerns about my hearing. I told her that I thought my hearing was just fine...except when I'm talking with my 15yo son and then I keep having to ask him to repeat himself. She told me she understood completely because her son is the same way and mumbles, and she told me that there are even studies about teenage boys and mumbling! Both of my children received speech therapy services from our local public school district because they both had articulation problems. Is it just volume that you're concerned about, or does your son have other speech issues? If it's just volume, maybe you could try having him prepare some short speeches or read aloud to you from a book he enjoys while you're sitting across the room so that he has to project his voice. My son has a favorite book series that he's been reading to me and it gives him a chance to practice reading with expression, not reading too fast, etc. and it also gives me a chance to catch words that he's mispronouncing. My daughter is like yours...the very talkative younger sister! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted February 16, 2009 Author Share Posted February 16, 2009 I studies about teenage boys and mumbling! Both of my children received speech therapy services from our local public school district because they both had articulation problems. Is it just volume that you're concerned about, or does your son have other speech issues? If it's just volume, maybe you could try having him prepare some short speeches or read aloud to you from a book he enjoys while you're sitting across the room so that he has to project his voice. My son has a favorite book series that he's been reading to me and it gives him a chance to practice reading with expression, not reading too fast, etc. and it also gives me a chance to catch words that he's mispronouncing. First, thank you for answering! While there may be some articulation problems, they would be related to him not opening his mouth very much when he speaks. Otherwise he seems to be able to form words correctly. So it is volume and some articulation. In the past years, he used to do one speech a month to our hs group. The primary criticism was that they couldn't hear him. Even though we talked about this before every meeting. Even now when he occasionally speaks before a group, it is the same thing. I will try the sitting across the room read aloud. I had bought some books about speech before, but didn't come across the research about boys and mumbling. So thank you for that lead as for some reason, I hadn't searched under that before. Best, Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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