Hi ladies. New here and this was cross posted from another board. I APOLOGIZE if this is long lol, but I wanted to give some background.
DD is 3 1/2 and started started speech the end of April last year from our DOE school system. She is only given 2 - 30 min sessions a week and had NO speech for the summer. She ended up getting the therapist who evaluated her. Me and her became pretty friendly on a personal level and DD really likes her and talks about her all the time. Her main job is a ST at a pre-school and she works for the school agency part-time. DD was evaluated by her to have a severe expressive articulation delay, along with fronting and dropping, making her extremely hard to understand, except for me. Even I have to say "what" a few times a day though to certain things.
From the get go, I have never been sufficient feedback on how DD does during her sessions nor given any nightly homework to do. She did give me flash cards to do drills and work on her final constant deletion. Maybe once or 2x she told me that they were working on the P sound. Every week I still continued to ask what or how she did, and I get answers like "Oh good" then silence or "She listens so well." DD would come out with Scholastic 4 page magazines in her hand. The ST would tell me to finish reading them to her at home. So she's just reading to her? Sometimes she'd say "We learned about fire safety or about the Fall." Then she'd hand me a blank coloring sheet and say you can do this with her. A coloring sheet.? Or a worksheet where you match pictures. I thought there was some method to what she was doing, but started getting concerned about what was going during her sessions. The ST made a big thing about enrolling her in preschool saying it would help with her speech. We had NO plan on sending her this year at 3, but we did thinking it would help. We are on a strict budget to afford this. We found a low cost, play based preschool and DD LOVES it. She goes 2x a week for half a day.But as far as helping her speech, no help at all.
The ST has mentioned 3 times in the past few months how she wants to quit working for the school system, how parents are always canceling on her and complaining about the commute for her. Then she said she feels the therapy the kids get from the agency is inadequate. Huh? I mean she works there. Isn't the THERAPIST responsible for making sure the kid gets what they need. There were also times the ST would show up late cutting into DD's session time. Or one time she texted me asking me for a time change for that day. I said ok. In convo after the session, she said "I'm glad this time works for you bc I got new cases at my school I work at. If it didn't, you'd have to be assigned a differed ST." So, she would just drop us like that?
During DD's sessions at the agency, sometimes there would be 3 other kids with 3 therapists in a room. I would hear them talking to DD, though she was supposed to be getting a 1:1 session with ONLY her therapist. I KNOW this was not helping DD. We were lucky that the ST started letting us come 1x a week to her office at the preschool she worked at, but DD didn't seem show any improvement from the change of locations. I sort of felt stuck throughout this bc we couldn't afford private speech and bc her ST was so nice to DD and I. I kept thinking DD would progress. A few weeks ago I started thinking that perhaps somehow, someway we needed to come up with the money for private speech.
Last week, the last time I saw her, we had a convo that sort of made me "know" DD needed a new ST. She comes out, I ask what they did, I get "Oh the gingerbread man." Then I ask, "Is there anything for me to work on her with?" And get told AGAIN no. So I said, "Ok, bc I really don't see her speech getting any better." She then tells me she was going to wait until after the new year, but she's concerned her language isn't at where it should be and how she was really quiet again. Also, she thinks DD needs more hours of speech week. This was never expressed to me before and the kid talks up a storm at home, in stores, etc. So perhaps whatever she is doing isn't getting DD so speak much. Then she confuses me and starts saying how "her school" has a 5 day a week program where they could work on her numbers and we could go that "route." How pre-k now requires so much (yeah I know, I'm certified to teach). I was thinking she meant to bring her 5 days for speech, but what she wanted was for me to enroll DD at her school. What does this have to do with speech problem? I said to her, "She's enrolled already in a school we like and I'm not pulling her out mid year." She seemed kind of disappointed when I said that. Then she says how she doen't want to push her school on me. What was she doing then? Then "Oh you have an education background, how do you feel she is doing with her numers." I said fine, bc I think she is doing fine. AGAIN she says how she thinks she's going to quit working at the school agency. So how was DD going to even stay with her for speech services then? I just didn't understand what she was getting at and sort of felt like she was deflecting the fact that whatever she is doing with DD is not working Also, making it seem that DD's preschool is inadequate.
I told DH what had happened and he said maybe she gets financial kickbacks from getting people in her school. I was pissed off too that yet again I'm ASKING to help my kid at home, but get told there's not a single thing I can do. From what I read, that doesn't make sense. So I made the decision to call my case coordinator, change agencies and get a new therapist. And I STILL feel bad that I did this bc she was so nice to DD and I. She even gave me paperwork to sub at her school if I wanted. But I felt like we were getting NO WHERE with DD's speech. Also, DD told me there was another lady in the room with her that day. Her ST really should not be having any of her friends from her school in the room with DD. The next day she texted me saying she was sorry to see us leave and when her IEP evaluation date is.
I started googling stuff recently and began thinking maybe DD has apraxia, though that has never been mentioned to me. Maybe that's why she hasn't made any progress and she's so hard to understand when she speaks? Though, it may just be she had bad speech therapy. So, she's starting up in 2 weeks with the NEW therapist. It will only be DD and the therapist in the room too. DD keeps asking when she's seeing her old ST and I feel really bad saying she won't see her again ;(
So do you all think I did the right choice by switching? And why do I feel bad that we switched? I know speech can be a long process, but I've also heard stories about speech from the school system that sucks and them doing a one size fits all kind of therapy. I'm just really frustrated and feel like we wasted almost a year and got no where. Would you ask her new ST if I should have her re-avaluated again, or do they do this at her annual IEP meeting come March? Would you explain to the new ST what happened with the old ST? I am just really worried she's going to go into pre-k 4 next year being as hard to understand as she is now. I even scheduled a hearing test for her next week. Help!
Re: Did I make the right decision switching speech therapists? What to do now?
She had 3 evaluations last year in order to qualify for services: speech, an assessment with a developmental psychologist and someone in education (not sure what her exact specialty was.) She scored fine on the education one and above average with the developmental psychologist. Actually, she completed a task that he's only seen 4 kids ever be able to complete. He said most 4 year olds had a hard time with it.
I get the feeling that the person who was in the room was a teacher at her school. Only reason I say this is bc she mentioned talking to the teacher friend who told her they have openings. The only time the ST told me DD wasn't talking much, was when she first started, for like the first month. DD was very shy last year at 2 1/2, but now talks to everyone. The ST actually went on and on come September how much DD was talking during her sessions and pre-school must be going great. Even then, at this point in time, I just feel like if DD is having "quiet sessions", then maybe she should be trying some other technique to get her talking. I voiced my concerns a few times that she still couldn't get the letter P for example and dropping the endings of her words. The ST would just say "Yeah I know."
As far as homework, from what I saw from the other therapists at her agency and from what I've read a lot on here and other places, the ST should be giving at least something to do with your kid, even if you're blowing bubbles lol. Every other therapist would come our and specifically state what they did with the kid and how it went. To go 5-6 days between sessions and think having me color with her is going to help her articulation or reading magazines to her that she didn't finish reading to her during her session.
Maybe she was repeatedly telling me she wanted to quit the agency bc she knows for certain she is quitting and didn't want to come out and tell me. Maybe she was hoping we'd find another therapist? I don't know. And telling a parent how inadequate the speech therapy is from the agency YOU work at, well that don't sound too re-assuring.
Both DH and I went to speech therapy as young children. I pronounced my first name the same way DD does, which is funny. We actually went to the same hospital for speech. I was in and out in under a year. And I HATED going. That's one of my earliest memories that I had. Hiding under the table, crying and refusing to do anything for the therapist sometimes. DH was in speech for over 5 years and still today has trouble pronouncing certain words. He also went to 3 years of preschool before grade k, which seems like it didn't do much. I never went to preschool a day before starting grade K.
Preschool for 3 year olds is extremely expensive in my area and I'm also a SAHM. Pre-K next year for 4 year olds is free in my state. DD does not qualify for any type of free preschool services now. So unless our ST was paying for a 5 day a week program at her school, I dunno. And even if we could afford it, I would put that money towards private speech therapy or more speech therapy on top of the ones she was already receiving.
The 2 ST's are from different agencies. People switch ST's all the time. I did not go "at her" saying oh you're a bad ST or bad mouth her to case coordinator. I wouldn't do that. My discussion to the case coordinator was that I did not see any progress and I would like to switch agenices and what the process was. This agency is closer to my house too. Not sure how any of that is going to classify me as THAT mom.
While scholastic handouts may be useful to your school age child, I do not understand, nor was it EVER explained to me how this is going to be useful to a 3 year old. The ST when she was telling me over and over how she thinks she is quitting this agency and the services the kids receive is adequate, said outright how she doesn't think it's beneficial to have 3 kids in a room at a time during sessions. She said this new agency office had space issues (they changed buildings over the summer), so this is why it was done. I still feel more comfortable having my daughter in a room alone with just her ST.
She works at a PRIVATE Montessori (sp) pre-school. Most of the kids she works with are the children from the school. Not sure if they are coming in already with IEPs or if she evaluates them per the parents request. But like I previously posted, DD loves her current school and I'm happy with her there. Plus, there is no way we can afford 5 day a week preschool now at this or ANY school. It also seemed that becoming "friendly" with the parents was her thing. As she was yelling out to another parents once how she just "texted" her telling her something funny and told me in convo how she has become friendly with many of her kids parents.
I think I will take your advice though and have her re-evaluated. Thanks for all your helpful advice!
Also, you don't think I will sound like "THAT" "know it all mom" who isn't a ST, going in to the new ST saying "Oh, I think my kid has apraxia?"
I forgot to include, she was the one who wrote my kids IEP. I never got any written progress reports or notes. I never knew I was supposed to get that. Just "She did good or she was quiet." That was it. Also, I'm getting her hearing tested next week too.
DH thinks I'm off my rocker doing all this, but I'm concerned, very concerned.
I also got good new yesterday that our insurance now will cover speech at 80% once our deductible has been met, but only for 24 sessions per calendar year. Last year ours was met in May, so we can also get private then. Not sure how a private place would feel about only having her for 24 sessions, unless I don't tell them.
And yeah, for us it probably was a little different from many because his earlier services were:
* Early Intervention, and he continued with those same therapists for a while after he turned 3.