help me out, who had speech therapy?

lemen99

I've been mulling over the idea of having Andrew evaluated for speech therapy for a while now.

I don't want to scrutenize him just because he's a preemie, but I also don't want to ignore a problem either. I have a call in to the NICU doctor to see what his opinion is and what he looks for as far as signs of when a kid might need ST.

He's 17 1/2 months adjusted, 20 actual.  He says "Gagi" (Daddy and Doggy), he said "car" twice a few weeks ago, but that is all.  He also babbled late (11 1/2 months started with bababa).  He doesn't say "mama" or "dada" or attempt to say much of anything really.  He still gags a lot when eating and cannot handle much in the way of table food. (His weight gain is fine, though.)

So, if you are doing ST, when did you start?  At when point did you know your LO needed ST?

One of my good friends is a pedi and says if it were her kid, she'd have him in ST for sure. She asked about his hearing but it's been checked. He is showing signs of brain development b/c he just started pointing and he understands what we say.

Part of me thinks ST may be jumping the gun at this point, but part of me thinks it won't hurt and I don't want a problem to get out of hand.  He had OT until 1 year adjusted, but was on track for his adjusted age, so we stopped.  At the time she thought he might need ST in the future (gagging, later to babble), but at that time, he was doing okay and just to keep an eye on him.

Any thoughts to point me in the right direction?

Bippy798

I would probably do it just because, like you said, it won't hurt. Plus it always seems to take a while to get into a program. Who knows, maybe by the time you see someone he will have an explosion of words!

here4u

This is actually the perfect age to have him evaluated.  It sounds like he may be behind.  Does he point at all?   Like Sophie's EI Coordinator always tells me, it can't hurt it can only help!  Plus, if he doesn't qualify now, you can usually request it again after 6 months if he doesn't catch up on his own.  I'm sure they won't refuse it since he was a Preemie.  GL!

lemen99

here4u:

This is actually the perfect age to have him evaluated.  It sounds like he may be behind.  Does he point at all?   Like Sophie's EI Coordinator always tells me, it can't hurt it can only help!  Plus, if he doesn't qualify now, you can usually request it again after 6 months if he doesn't catch up on his own.  I'm sure they won't refuse it since he was a Preemie.  GL!

He started pointing about a month ago.  Now he points to everything!!! It's so so so helpful as really his only way to communicate. 

Do you think that is good or bad? I mean, I think it's a good sign that he is trying in some way.  He can identify lots and lots of things too if we ask him to point to them.

 

boolos2B05

We actually just had our speech eval a few weeks ago. They eval'd her at a 9-12 level for speech. SHe understands almost everything we say, indentifies lots of things, points to them when asked, really does not babble, have very few words, almost nothing consistant. We have been teaching her a few signs, which have actually helped alot, she picks them up quickly.

I agree that it would not hurt to have him eval'd. We were being watched through our OT and PT. But I had to ask them because you don't realize she doesn't talk she communicates soo well, she just doesn't talk.

lemen99

boolos2B05:

We actually just had our speech eval a few weeks ago. They eval'd her at a 9-12 level for speech. SHe understands almost everything we say, indentifies lots of things, points to them when asked, really does not babble, have very few words, almost nothing consistant. We have been teaching her a few signs, which have actually helped alot, she picks them up quickly.

I agree that it would not hurt to have him eval'd. We were being watched through our OT and PT. But I had to ask them because you don't realize she doesn't talk she communicates soo well, she just doesn't talk.

That sounds just like Andrew.  So, are you starting ST I am assuming?  I hope it helps a lot!

Does your LO also struggle with gagging and eating? I figure they are related.  Andrew is just getting good with drinking too (struggled so much getting him off the bottle) so I think that's a good sign.

goblue

Jake is in speech therapy.  He's too young to officially diagnose but we all think he has a condition known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS - great info here - https://www.apraxia-kids.org/).  He has made tremendous progress in the last six months and we are hopeful that his CAS is "mild."

We first had him evaluated by an SLP (speech language pathologist) via Early Intervention at 19 months (16 adjusted) because he did not have any real words yet.  He did know several signs, gestered quite a bit, and has a very expressive face! - so we usually knew what he wanted. At 19 months, the SLP determined that his receptive language was ahead of his actual age, but his expressive language was something closer to a 12 month old. 

At that point, we still thought he might have a language "explosion" and we continued to just have our developmental therapist come once per week and work with him on language things. 

We started speech therapy once a month at 21 months, which quickly became twice a month, then once a week, and then twice a week by the time he was 24 months.

That's just our story. CAS is fairly rare, so I'm not trying to imply that's what Andrew has.  But I would definitely get him evaluated.  I would also highly encourage taking a baby sign language class. It has helped us so much to have signs, even as he speaks more.  My friends with typically developing children find the signs really helpful as well.  And using sign language does NOT delay speech - in fact, research is showing the opposite might be true.

There's a great book I would recommend too - The Late Talker: What to do if Your Child Isn't Talking Yet.

Good luck!  Feel free to ask any questions...

irishdo

I would definitely do it.  Now is a great time to evaluate and in a lot of places, not sure about your state, it is so much easier to get them in before they are 3 years which seems a far way away but is not. 

lemen99

goblue:

Jake is in speech therapy.  He's too young to officially diagnose but we all think he has a condition known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS - great info here - https://www.apraxia-kids.org/).  He has made tremendous progress in the last six months and we are hopeful that his CAS is "mild."

We first had him evaluated by an SLP (speech language pathologist) via Early Intervention at 19 months (16 adjusted) because he did not have any real words yet.  He did know several signs, gestered quite a bit, and has a very expressive face! - so we usually knew what he wanted. At 19 months, the SLP determined that his receptive language was ahead of his actual age, but his expressive language was something closer to a 12 month old. 

At that point, we still thought he might have a language "explosion" and we continued to just have our developmental therapist come once per week and work with him on language things. 

We started speech therapy once a month at 21 months, which quickly became twice a month, then once a week, and then twice a week by the time he was 24 months.

That's just our story. CAS is fairly rare, so I'm not trying to imply that's what Andrew has.  But I would definitely get him evaluated.  I would also highly encourage taking a baby sign language class. It has helped us so much to have signs, even as he speaks more.  My friends with typically developing children find the signs really helpful as well.  And using sign language does NOT delay speech - in fact, research is showing the opposite might be true.

There's a great book I would recommend too - The Late Talker: What to do if Your Child Isn't Talking Yet.

Good luck!  Feel free to ask any questions...

Wow! thanks!!

TriciaJoy

Robbie's been in speech therapy since may. At that point he was just under 24 months actual (21 adjusted) and had about 7 words, but wasn't pointing hardly at all. (OCCASIONALLY he'd immitate me pointing to something in a book, but that was it.)
Since then, his receptive language has skyrocketed. He went from around 12 months to about 21 in 5 months time.

Speech is still slow. He's signing a lot more. (not too many more actual signs, but REALLY using them to communicate instead of just doing them when we say them) but it's come along. He's somewhere around 40 words now, which is still way behind (he's averaging around 15 months all around) but better than it was.

I definitely think it's worth an eval. I really don't think they can do a lot to MAKE them talk, though. but helping them understand will eventually lead to speaking.

LisaandBryan

Hi!  My boys are 19 months , almost 17 adjusted.  They have a few words each-Carter says mama, dada, up , ball, bubbles, hi, bye bye, ni ni(night night) and Dylan has about the same but doesn't use them as much.  They are also trying to imitate us when we say a word which I'm taking as a good sign. They have bee in sppech therapy for a coupld of months and to be honest I dont' think its helping that much. All the therapists do is narrate their play which really I coudl do at home of course.  However, it makes me feel better that I am doing something and addressing it so I plan on keeping them in it. As others have said, it can't hurt right? And I think now is the age to start them so they dont' get too far behind. Best of luck!

lemen99

LisaandBryan:

Hi!  My boys are 19 months , almost 17 adjusted.  They have a few words each-Carter says mama, dada, up , ball, bubbles, hi, bye bye, ni ni(night night) and Dylan has about the same but doesn't use them as much.  They are also trying to imitate us when we say a word which I'm taking as a good sign. They have bee in sppech therapy for a coupld of months and to be honest I dont' think its helping that much. All the therapists do is narrate their play which really I coudl do at home of course.  However, it makes me feel better that I am doing something and addressing it so I plan on keeping them in it. As others have said, it can't hurt right? And I think now is the age to start them so they dont' get too far behind. Best of luck!

I don't know though - after reading this - maybe speech therapy is helping more than you think...it sounds like your kids are talking a lot!!!! (Well, a heck of a lot more than Andrew and Andrew is a little older ajdusted!)