talk to me about speech therapy

perry7285

DS has his 18 month check-up next week and i want to discuss his speech with the pedi, since he seems a bit behind. he has three words that he definitely knows and then maybe five more "maybe" words--words that he's said once or twice but we're not sure if it was just babbling (and he babbles constantly). more concerning to me is the fact that he hasn't discovered half of the consonants in the alphabet--basically he only says the voiced consonants. so he can say "b" but not "p", "d" but not "t", etc.

my instinct is to just not worry about it and let him develop at his own pace; some of the delay is probably due to the fact that we're raising him with three languages. but i don't want to dismiss speech therapy if it could help him. if your toddler has had speech therapy, can you tell me a little bit about it? what its goals are, how it works, whether you think it is worthwhile?

TIA! 

EastCoastBride

DS started therapy right before his 2nd b-day.  Our first therapist sucked. Once he started seeing a new one about 3 months later, I noticed a distinct improvement in his speech, the # of words he knew, etc.

Now, it's more for ennunciation that he still goes.  He's changed programs due to his age (3) and goes to the local elementary school.  Each week, I've continued to see great improvement. 

 

kafunder

My LOs started speech around 18 months. At 15 months, neither of them at had any words (including mama or dada). The pedi said to call EI for an evaluation if nothing improved by 16 months. When it hadn't, we had them evaluated. DD tested at a 12 month level for expressive speech and a higher level (can't remember the number) for receptive speech. DS tested at 10-12 months for both expressive and receptive speech. So, they both qualified for services. However, it took a few months to go through that process, so they didn't start ST until 18 months.

So far, we've seen good results. DD probably has about 5 words she uses regularly, and 10-15 more that she knows but only uses on occasion. DS, on other hand, is working more on the basic play skills required for communicating, such as pointing to things he wants and mimic-ing sounds when he babbles. These are the skills needed in order to improve expressive and receptive speech. They're both progressing, and we've been seeing improvement. 

LALASEPT05

At our 16 month check up I talked about this with my pedi regarding DS. Mostly it was because he was not moving his mouth/ tongue in a way that would get him to make different sounds. Your pedi will probably tell you that it could be nothing and that you can call early intervention for an evaluation. We did this. EI said he was definitely behind and recommended occuaptional therapy and sessions with a developmental professional. Their opinion was that at 18 months he was too young for speech therapy and that he wouldn't really benefit until at least two when speech should devlop. I also had him evaluated privately by a speech therapist who said he would benefit. I elected to try EI first. I think EI is just overwhelmed and so for a speech therapist they try to reduce requests until they are older. If you are persuing privately of course a therapist will say they think they can help.

Here we are 7 months later and we've seen virtually no improvement in speech even with developmental intervention and ot. We are now looking at a developmental pediatrician appointment (long wait list) a hearing assessment, and for an appointment with the speech therapist.

Bottom line I think is to start early with early intervention if you have concerns. All of these appointments and doctors take so long to get so if you are at concerned have the evalations and see what happens. It could be just a slight delay and not much to be worried about but it's really hard to assess on your own and to navigate a path through all of this. Good luck! 

 

sliz

I just wanted to say that I think Asha is a bit "behind" as well. At months she isn't saying 2 word sentences like our pedi said she should. I don't know exactly how many words she has because she doesn't say every word daily. I do see improvements and we use things like flash cards (on an iPhone so I can take it with me) and a magnet board to learn words. She babbles and pretend talks on the phone all day. I want to wait a bit on therapy because she was also a late walker but she went from not taking any steps on her own to running across the living room overnight. I don't think therapy will hurt but I think your gut is right and he is just developing his own way.

ladychicago

If the pedi expresses any concern, you can always do the evaluation.   There's no harm in it and I think it is reassuring and informative to have an "expert" weigh in.   Doing the eval doesn't mean you have to do therapy if he qualifies.   It can just be helpful tool in helping you to decide what you want to do.  

My guess is that his delay has a TON to do with him being taught three languages.  During the evaluation process, they asked us multiple times how many languages were spoken in the home and by her caregivers.   Our answer was one, but they definitely took that into consideration.   With multi-lingual kids, I know there is a different set of guidelines for when they should be talking.  

Anna is, without any question, behind.   She is almost 22 months and is no where even close to 2-word phrases.   Maybe 15ish words (three of which are uh-oh, wow, and woah), plus some animal sounds.    She just started saying Mama and Dada, but definitely isn't saying them all the time - most of the time she needs prompting to say them.   Since starting speech therapy at 20 months, though, she has picked up at least 1-2 words or sounds every week.   Therapy sessions are really just intensive play with the therapist emphasizing and encouraging certain words or sounds each session.   It is hard to watch a therapy session and feel like it is helping, but the way she is picking stuff up more quickly these days tells me that it is worthwhile.   The goal is simply to improve her expressive speech - get her to say more words.   We will do a repeat evaluation in August to evaluate her progress. 

If you have any questions about the IL- program specifics (programs vary by state), don't hesitate to send me a message over FB to chat.    

Kenberlin

Speech therapy is very useful for a child to hep him in learning how to speak frequently. A child of age 18-20 months is able to speak up to 20-30 words and he is able to combine two words and ca speak two word sentence. A speech therapist help your child in developing his communication skill and motivate them to speak in front of all.

 

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