those that take their LO to Speech Evals/Therapy

just_peachy · September 2011

I'm curious to know a few things

At what age did you sense there may be a need to go speech eval/therapy? how did the process work?

What were some of the signs or indicators that helped make that decision to go?

Has it helped at all and what are the things that you do?

Basically, give me the 411 on everything.

I'm having some challenges trying to understand my son. He has a big vocabulary but a lot of his words sound the same. When I can't understand what he is saying, he gets very frustrated. It's pitiful. I want to look into this sooner rather than later.

My family thinks I'm nuts because he is still "just a baby" at 21 months and to let him be a baby, and develop at his own pace......

Motherly instinct says something else, kwim?

Thanks!

cporfido1981 · September 2011

You should post this on the special needs board . They are excellent over there, and have a lot of experience with this.

You can call E.l for an e-val , they can give you their professional option

Good Luck

SaranJonathan · September 2011

Here is the background on my DD:

1. First ear infection at 5 months. At least 1 per month until she was 8 months. Then she got one that wouldnt go away even with 3 rounds of oral antibiotics and 3 intramuscular shots! She lost over a pound. Went to the ENT, got a hearing test, she failed. Tubes in. Post surgery she passes her hearing test.

I asked the doctor if this could cause speech delay. Said maybe. At 18 months she was saying dada (clear), hi (clear) and bubye (not clear) thats it. My pediatrician said dont worry about it so soon. I expressed concern about wait list, etc. She said we can re-adress at 22 months. Well I was frustrated, DD was frustrated so I called EI. Got started and got evaluated. She qualifies for services 2x a month. I was then told I can use EI or use my private insurance. I now have another appointment for her next Friday for another evaluation (they wont use the results from EI). Anyways long story short go with your gut.

Here is the problem, if she uses our private insurance we can go weekly, but I have heard its a 3-4 month wait list!! EI is a week wait list but can only go 2x a month! Go sooner rather than later, its just an evaluation!

Good luck

jksweets · September 2011

My DS had a hearing loss in his left ear at birth, so we've met with hearing specialists every 6 months since he was born (he's 18 mths now). Not sure where you are located, but most states have a program for babies - 3 that allows for screening. You usually need a referral from a doctor so I'd talk with them first about your concerns to see if they agree. In my situtation, my son is already speaking over 100 words very clearly, so the program's services were no longer need.

Good luck!

AndreaS1206 · September 2011

I think at 21 months he should be ok. But just keep an eye on it and maybe mention it to his pediatrician. I think my son was 3 and a half yrs old when we got him looked at. I thought he was fine but my mom mentioned it to me. After she said something I did start to notice it. He would get so mad at my dad when my dad didn't understand him. I took him to his pediatrician and mentioned something to her. We were sent to check out his ears to make sure it wasn't a hearing issue. His hearing is fine. I was then sent to a speech therapist to evaluate him. They did say he had some issues with how he spoke. By this time he was already gonna be 5. I had issues with insurance so as soon as my son started school I took his eval papers with me when I met his teacher. We got him signed up for speech therapy at school while he was in kindergarten. I'm am glad to say that he is now in first grade and is exactly where he should be with his speech.

lpickels · September 2011

I would be happy to answer your question (I also second pp about the special needs board, they have been a wealth of information for me and I post there as well) I noticed DS had a problem VERY early on. It began with basic gross motor skills like not rolling over at 8-9 months of age. Around this time I also started becoming concerned because he was not babbling...at all. As in he really made no sounds except crying, whining, and laughing. By his 12 month appt his pedi noted the lack of any vowel consonant babbling and wanted us to bring him back in a month. At 13 months we referred to speech therapy. It was determined that DS had a moderate expressive language delay as well as a possible oral motor planning delay and/ apraxia of speech. We now don't believe that he is apraxic, but the oral planning delay is a very real possibility. At his initial visit he was evaled at developing at a 3-6 month level. I was pretty devastated even though I knew he was very far behind. We received many similar comments about the " baby" stuff and I pretty much completely ignored it. My mommy gut was screaming that he needed a little extra help, and I was totally okay with that...like I told our friends and family " it is therapy, not surgery...and can only help him" We were assigned to a wonderful SLP that DS, DH, and all connect with. His progress has been awesome! In one month he has begun to play appropriately with toys, his attention spanned has lengthened considerably. He is babbling so much more and can approximate ball, cat, and can now say "no." I can't say enough good things about speech therapy! They will be more than happy to work with your dc in intonation and pronunciation. Again, it certainly won't hurt him and my DS seems to really enjoy going to speech. We go twice per week for 45 minutes each time. Hope this helps!

smerka · September 2011

DS#1 will be 2 in this month and got evaluated in July (after a kidney surgery in June which is why we waited). At his 18 appt, he wasn't really saying anything regularly. He would randomly say whole sentences though. He was tested to be speaking at the level of a nine month old. He's qualified for speech therapy and they come twice a month. Mostly she plays on the floor with him showing him books and toys while over pronouncing words. Last visit she taught him the sign for more in about 20 minutes. I had been trying sign language for a long time and it never seemed to click. Since that visit, he's starting saying about 10 words pretty consistently. So far I'm pretty happy about it.

Insurance covers a lot of it. The state picks up some of it. Based on our income level (my DH teaches high school and I'm a SAHM), we pay $30 per month.

just_peachy · September 2011

Thank you so much girls!

This has been helpful and I surely will be posting this over on Special Needs as well.

He knows a lot of words and talks pretty normal (as far as I know) but i noticed that many of his words sound similar and he makes syllable sounds for words without a lot of expressions in consonants and vowels.

I'm not quite sure what is considered normal or not so I wanted to pick some of your brains.

Really appreciate the feedback.

SeaStar430 · September 2011

I normally say go with your gut, but based solely on what you're telling us, I don't see any reason to be concerned. Allie says over 250 words I'm sure, but many of them sound the same, and many of them only I recognize. And I'm home with her all day long so I'm really in tune with what she wants and what she's saying. AND Allie is very verbal compared to most of the kids I meet that are her age. Enough that people always make comments about it, and yet she still says a lot of things that sound the same.

Yesterday I was at a friend's house and Allie was chatting the whole time, but my friend probably only understood 40% of it, while I could understand full sentences.

If he's getting frustrated, maybe teach him some signs for his most often used words. We don't have any formal signs, but Allie does know "show me what you want" which is very similar. She had a whole conversation with me this morning about colored beads shaped like stars going onto a pipe cleaner, she talked about the colors and the shapes and sizes....but most people would have thought she was just saying gibberish.

just_peachy · September 2011

sometimes I understand him, sometimes I don't. It's those times that I can see the poor little baby brain getting frustrated.

Like yesterday "Ahbaez" was "Mickey Mouse"

It took me over an hour to understand that and it wasn't until I put his Mickey Mouse Airplane video on that I "got it".

rohansmom · September 2011

My guy was NT until kindergarten, or so I thought.I just didn't want to see the signs. If you have a gut instinct trust it. The worse that happens is you waste time and a co pay. I am following my gut too. We go to get a possible dx in november for aspergers. Good luck

those that take their LO to Speech Evals/Therapy

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