Need some Help Please

[Guest butterfly333]

Hi...I'm new here and need a little help with something. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!Ok, a little background here....I homeschool my 5 and 6 year old. I also have a set of 3 year-old twin boys. One does not talk(only 3 words, dada, mama, and uh-oh) and the other twin talks, but nasaled and not clear. The one that does not talk was born with HLHS(David), a serious heart condition and spent most of his time in the hospital. The other one, Darin, is fine healthwise, but delayed in his speech. They both seem very intelligent and understand everything I say. I will be starting to homeschool them this fall.

 

Both of them clearly need speech therapy. David has already had speech, OT, PT, and knows basic sign language. He had that through early intervention in SC, where we were stationed last.(my husband's in the Navy and we move every two years.)Now we are in Massachusetts and I am trying to find a speech therapist who will work with them. I've checked with my insurance, I've talked to HSLDA(I've ordered Straight Talk from them), I HAD a speech therapist for a couple of sessions and she quit on me saying my kids needed more help than she can offer, I've gotten them evaluated at the public school, but have decided I don't want to go through the public school system at all.

 

What can I do(without going through the public school system) to help my twins with their speech issues? What are all my options? What other resources have I overlooked? And what do I need to do as a homeschooling mom to cover myself(like keeping track of progress?)

 

I know this was lengthy..sorry. Thanks for reading this!

 

Danielle

Edited March 25, 2009 by butterfly333

[specialmama]

Right off the bat, you could do lots of oral motor excercises. Blow bubbles, blow cotton balls across the table in a race, blow out candles, blow into straws submersed in water, lick lollipops, have food games where you dab a bit of whatever (nutella, ice-cream, cheese whiz) around their mouth so they need to lick around to get at it (make it FUN), wind instruments like a harmonica or recorder, and play "do this" games: make a sound and exaggerate the mouth movements, like AHHHHHHHH while you open wide and get them to mimic you, play "fish lips" for fishy kisses, just plenty of oral motor work. That is the easiest and best thing you can do right away while you figure out your next step. You could check out LDA's website http://www.ldalearning.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Homepage_95_10451_-1 and have a gander. Although a UK site, they offer their products to a variety of US and Canadian stores, so if you find something you like, you can google it. Super Duper is another great store that sells OT and Speech things, http://www.superduperinc.com/Default.aspx use the "products" drop down menu, and click Oral Motor.

[angieathome]

The fact that the speech therapist said that the boys needed more help than she can offer may be a signal that your kids have difficulties that would possibly rise to the level of medically needed interventions. Has your pediatrician helped you with referrals? Do you have access to a large childrens' hospital? Do you need a referral to get an assessment with their speech pathologist? Another avenue is that some childrens' hospitals have a developmental assessment triage system that assesses multi-faceted difficulties and arranges the approppriate next steps.

[Ottakee]

Have you seen an ENT? I am assuming that they have ruled out a mild cleft palate, etc. for the one that is very nasaly. Have they evaluated if their tonsils and/or adenoids are overly large?

 

Have the boys both have hearing tests done--the full ones, not just the screenings?

 

You could check with a local children's hospital as they might be able to code the speech under medical for insurance reasons.

 

Otherwise, personally, I would use the school system if you can get a therapist that can help your kids. If you move every 2 years, you will be moving before they reach any age of homeschool regulations.

 

Speech is one thing I wish I would have pushed for more when my 13dd was younger. We are going again next week to try for more therapy as it is still severely affecting her life====esp. socially.

[Dobela]

I woudl call your state department of education and ask what is available. At age 3 most states have developmental preschools to provide therapies at that age. If you are military, you should also be able to contact the family support office on base and ask them for assistance. I know they don't provide therapy but they should be able to tell you who does locally.

[Misty]

I would join a couple of military yahoo groups (below) and ask what other military famililes are doing... What did Tricare say about covering speech therapy? Tricare covers so much and there's also ECHO. My daughter with Asperger's goes to occupational therapy once a week and Tricare pays every penny.

 

Join this group.. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/militaryfamiliesautismsupport/

 

It's a group for military families with autistic kids.. I know your child isn't diagnosed autisitc, but they are experts on navigating speech therapy and Tricare and they will be able to help you.

 

Also, you might want to join the homeschoolmilitary yahoo group...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolMilitary/

 

They are very knowledgable as well and you may be able to connect with someone in your area through this group.

 

Good luck!

[ElizabethB]

While you're waiting for help, here's a few things you can try yourself.

 

A website showing how the speech sounds are made:

 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

 

And, if you read through the "the atomic nature of syllables" portion of my dyslexia page, http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/dyslexia.html

 

you'll see that you might want to try syllables and Webster's Speller with them. Besides the link below, here's a Webster's thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70153

[Guest butterfly333]

Thanks for all the help everyone offered!!! I GREATLY appreciate it! Now to put all this information together and get to work on it:) It looks like my next step here is to set up an appointment again for my twins with their pediatrician/specialists to diagnose or rule out anything that may be medically going on with their mouths/palate, etc. And we'll just go from there. Meanwhile, I will check out those websites and work with them at home to see if they improve some. And check with some hospitals in the area.

 

Danielle

Edited March 27, 2009 by butterfly333