not sure if DH is patient enough... turned out LONG
I don't know else to say what I'm thinking, but, I"m not trying to paint a bad picture of DH - just that he doesn't understand as well, perhaps?!
DS is verbally apraxic. He's been in speech (EI) for almost 1 year -started off 1x 45 min and since APril is up to 2x 45 min - the progress he's made is fantastic, its amazing really.
However, it seems he's plateaued. I agree, but, I am the one who sits and watches the sessions, I as a SN teacher know the effort that it takes on behalf of the SN child to overcome any obstacle.
DH thinks "its time for a change of therapists" since we're transitioning him to CPSE (preschool) due to his age -- I disagree and will fight to the death on it.
His SLP is wonderful and knows her stuff for apraxia, its just that DS has reached a stage that he has plateaued slightly and with more drill work and other type practice he will get over this hurdle.
For preschool the sessions decrease to 30 min so we are requesting 3x 30 min to make up for the time that will be lost.
i guess I didn't really ask a question. but It gets frustrating because I dont think DS really "gets" that speech isnt' something that will just naturally progress for all kids, and plateauing is normal as long as he works he'll get it... and I'm stuck between trying to convince my DH why our SLP is so great and be the advocate for DS to everyone... I shouldn't have to advocate to DH...
Sorry for rambling... I didn't realize I had so much to blabber about.
Re: not sure if DH is patient enough... turned out LONG
I don't really have any advice. Just wanted to say I know how you fell. I had the same exact issue with my DH. He wanted to find a new SLP and I'm the one going to the appts and seeing the work that is being done and I say no. My DD has autism and apraixa and my dh just wants nothing more than for her to talk and he wants it to happen overnight.
They just want to see their babies thrive and it hurts them that this is such a long process.
Again, I'm sorry I know what a pain it is to deal with a DH wanting to change the game plan up.
I started losing count of the words he can say, he was repeating everything we were saying and using new words so quickly. I think he has well over 150-200 words and that's me being conservative. So obviously DS was somehow soaking it all in for those 3 months and now he feels confident enough to speak. His intelligibility is still low, he drops many ending sounds, can't really say the "L" sound but at least he is actually speaking and using words to express wants and needs vs. The horrible screaming he was doing!
I think your husband, like me, is just scared and wants to see quicker progress. I really don't think anything my husband would have told me during the lull would have made me agree with him. I wanted to blame something for the lull and the easiest and most "logical" thing to blame was the slp or the type of therapy. Don't get me wrong though, sometimes you do have to change SLPs or therapy, like we did in the beginning because I just knew it wasn't working vs. being frustrated there was no progress. With the PROMPT therapy DS was making progress but very very slowly and only during the sessions while not implementing any of it outside the sessions, I guess that's how DH knew it was working and we just needed to be patient. But with the EI therapy DS was making NO progress even within the sessions and that's how we knew it was going nowhere.
I don't really have any specific advice to give you, just wanted to share my own experince and let you know that your husbands reaction is a normal one, and I think many parents go through it. It's frustrating, and probably exhausting for you to keep trying to convince your husband that the therapy is working. Just make sure you are seeing actual progress within each session and relay each little progress you see to your husband and maybe it would help. sorry for all the typos and spelling mistakes! I bump from my iPhone while breastfeeding my 2 month old in the wee hours of the morning! Hope I helped!
thank you to all that replied-
Auntie, I appreciate the different perspective- yes, you're right in many ways I have bonded with the SLP because I've seen what she's done with and for our son - so perhaps I am hesitant to let her go from "our family". I hadn't thought of that.
I also hate to think I am disregarding my husbands feelings - but I guess the way he reacts makes me feel that he expects after tuesdays session DS will now be 55% intelligible and after Thursday's session he'll be 60% intelligible...
All in all... maybe instead of he and I having small snippits of discussion about it we should just sit and chat about what we see happening in the near future in regards to DS tx plan - since he is in the process of transitioinign the time is right.
Thanks to all.