Speech therapy

illya · Oct 10, 2002

konni by all means do for it. ian s problem can be remedied, my problem, stuttering, takes a lot more. by the way 4 years ago i improved my fluency from 60 to 93%

AlaskanRN · Oct 10, 2002

konni...my daughter was in speech therapy in second grade due to a lisp...by that time it had become more of a habit than a true speech impediment...she was in speech therapy (which she saw as special time with the therapist who she had so much fun with) for the latter half of her second grade year

that was enough to break those bad habits and therapy was discontinued at the end of the school year...we had a wonderful therapist who kept her in only long enough to correct the problem...and at that age there were enough other children with speech problems that she didn't feel like the odd-man-out

go with what you think is best for your child be it therapy at school...or by a private therapist...but do it now while he is still young and his speech is easily manipulated...the one bonus to having it done in the school system is that the teachers work hand in hand with the therapist to help reinforce the changes being sought...

anyway...whatever you decide...good luck to you both

whipping girl in 07, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Illya, thanks for your response. I'm glad to hear you've made progress with your stuttering. I remember when I was in 8th grade there was a guy in my French class who stuttered. Sometimes I wonder what happened to him. He was such a sweet guy (good football player too).

AlaskanRN, thank you too. I will definitely get therapy for Ian, there is no question about that. I will take him to private speech therapy after school. I will work with him at home and let his teacher know what is going on so she can work with him too. I just hate for him to be pulled out of class; if they did it at school AFTER school I would not mind (or even before school). My sister-in-law has a son the same age and is going through the exact same thing I am right now. She is struggling even more than I am because when she was little she remembers having to go to the special ed room for speech and the other kids in her class making fun of her. She is so tenderhearted that I cannot imagine how difficult that was for her. It truly makes me tear up thinking about anyone hurting her. I do remember the kids in my second grade class making fun of a little girl who wore hearing aids and had to go to speech every day. Kids can be so cruel, and I know that ALL kids get made fun of for something, but I want to minimize it as much as possible.

OBNURSEHEATHER · Oct 10, 2002

Hey Konni! I wouldn't feel bad about sending him to the school program. They're great programs, and they're of no cost to you. My son went in Kindergarden, and it nipped his problem in the bud quickly. He didn't even do it the entire year.

BTW - he was pulled out about the last hour or 2 of the school day, 2 times a week. I also helped that about 4 or 5 other kids went with him from his class.

Heather

live4today, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Hi konni :)

As a mother and grandmother, I can certainly FEEL your concerns regarding your precious little one. ((((((((hugs to you both)))))))

My youngest daughter's son needed the same thing due to him having frequent ear infections as a baby and toddler.......then having tubes placed in both ears a couple times......

The school's speech therapist was great for him. No regrets on the parents part.

However.......as Ian's mom......you take your son wherever you feel comfortable for his speech therapy.

This isn't an uncommon occurrence for children your son's age. Many children have these difficulties starting out in school for various reasons. It does NOT mean they are unable to learn, or unable to have their weak areas strengthened. I, for one, am thankful for speech therapist who work with children in situations like this, and especially thankful that the state hires them to give FREE service to school aged children in need of a little assistance to give them the boost they need.

Ask yourself this konni.........were you taunted as a child for any reason by other children? Is that why you are fearing for your little one possibly being teased by other children in school?

You don't have to answer that question here unless you want to, but I sense this may be a fear of yours that you are still holding onto after all those years of being teased as a child yourself for certain things.....or, maybe you had a sibling teased.......or, maybe your husband was teased.......this could make any parent leary of having their own child subjected to the cruelty of other children. :kiss :nurse:

These :balloons: are for your son, Ian! :)

live4today, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Hi konni :)

Sorry for the double post.....NOT my fault..... :nono: .....

Okay......since this post is here......I may as well give you all something to look at right? So......how about this for a great way to feel this early morning:

:kiss

prmenrs, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Speech Therapy also works on language processing, which is very important to reading development. At his age, the other kids won't care that he gets pulled--the teasing, etc., happens more @ 3rd grade and up.

You should at least meet w/ the school therapist, find out what s/he plans on doing, and if there will be a home program to follow.

A lot of times, the insurance will not cover what they consider to be "educational" as opposed to "rehabilitative", esp if the school is willing to provide it for free. So you might want to double check that issue.

Possibly, you could check some on line resources. Search on Google, or go to http://www.ldonline.org That's a VERY comprehensive site dealing w/all sorts of learning disabilities, but I'm sure they have info re: Speech Therapy.

Be grateful it's been detected and they're offering you help through the school system. More often than not, parents have to drag services out of them!!!

whipping girl in 07, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Thanks, Renee, Heather, and Prmenrs for your responses. I am going to call the counselor at school right now and talk to her about what to expect. I am also going to continue with the private speech therapy, which the insurance will pay for if it is Rx by the doctor.

It's good to hear from others who have gone through the same thing I'm going through.

You're right, Renee, about teasing. My sister-in-law was teased when she was little for going to speech therapy, and I was teased because I had this awful teacher in 4th grade who singled me out and told the entire class how well I'd done on the standardized tests that year. I was at such-and-such high levels in all the subjects, I was so much smarter than the rest of the class, etc. It was truly mortifying, and the last several weeks of school no one would talk to me at all and they made fun of me, not even BEHIND my back! I was never so thankful when we moved and I could put all that behind me.

Ian's already a little weird (truth hurts, but it is true) and I just don't want to give the other kids something to make fun of him for. He sees how the other kids in the neighborhood make fun of our neighbor, who's autistic, and he knows how hurtful it is to the kid's mom (the autistic kid doesn't realize he's being made fun of).

I guess we just want to protect our babies from the cruelties of the world. I know I didn't handle being teased well at all, really got my feelings hurt. I almost didn't go to my class reunion because of some of the things I remember from junior high and high school. But you know what? I sucked it up and went and everyone seemed to be happy to see me and just as friendly as could be. I realized that everyone there was probably nervous and remembered the things they went through that no one else remembers. One girl that I was always very competitive with (we were friends, but always trying to beat each other at sports, academics, boyfriends, etc) remembered how merciless one of our teachers was to her, and I didn't remember it at all.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Oct 10, 2002

Koni:

Thank God for teachers who recognize problems!

My youngest was premature by a month and always had to have repettitive instruction given to follow through with a directiced activity: Put right sock on, ok now left sock, now pants and allways seemed to be ddep in thought. His kindergarten teacher picked up by January that he was too easily distracted, always had his back to class during story time, work incomplete without prompts and never volunteered anything, but when called on could answer questions and when he spoke with classmates had very perceptive questions/great answers!

Testing and classroom obervation one month apart came up with problem of ADD--inatentive type. He had trouble reading in first and second grade and along with 12 other children had extra tutoring. by end of second grade had discussion with teacher re reading at inappropriate times: middle of science or math class.

Still had slight pronunciation problems at times which young kids will have---not outgrown by fourth grade, so was tutored at school 5th and 6th grade with need for speech exercises/tongue stick used at home to strengthen muscles.

Now I knew by age four he was more innatentive but husband ignored problem--"everything has medical issue cause your a nurse". Per pediatrician recomendation was started on Ritalin-----it makes akk the diffence in the world.

When he was 9, I discussed his ADD as I felt he could understand it. His comment" Mom when I take that pill I feel normal, otherwise my thoughts are all jumbled up in my head". We realize now that he will probably need medication lifelong---just like a diabetic or person with hypertension.

He is now 14, in 9th grade. Has received the outstanding reading award every year since 2nd grade and got special recognition at 8th grade graduation as the student who has read the most books ever in school history.

We were lucky that over 1/2 the students in early years are tutored on various issues, so teasing was minimal.

YOU know your child best. If outside school tutoring is in his best interest then do it that way. Your statement "Ian's already a little weird " rings bells with me as I know in my hear tmy son was a little different too. Please request a review by a DEVELOPMENTAL Pediatrician (ours specializes in this). They can help pinpoint services that will make it easier for him to succeed in life. AS you know, the earlier they start, the better.

Good luck!

whipping girl in 07, RN · Oct 10, 2002

Karen,

Thanks for your response. Ian had developmental tests when he was two and again when he started kindergarten, and he is on track or ahead developmentally, other than his articulation of speech. He is understanding and expressing well, sometimes he's just hard to understand when he speaks. I will be honest though; I had noticed he had not been hearing very well, but I had chalked it up to "selective" hearing. (You know, he doesn't "hear" when I tell him to clean his room.) He does have something of a quick temper (which my husband and I totally DO NOT get, because we are both slow burns) and he tends to get frustrated easily at times. He seems to have finally transitioned to the routine of school (not getting to do whatever he wants whenever he wants). Whoa, that sounded like I don't discipline him. What I meant was, in day care, they'd pick what they wanted to do (blocks, dolls, color) except for their little bit of instruction time. Now, he has to do this worksheet for so long, and if he's not done, he doesn't get extra time. They move on to whatever's next. In the afternoon, they go to different stations around the room, and the teacher chooses where they go, not them. So he may really want to play blocks, but instead he gets to go to the science station.

You're probably right about half the kids being tutored for something. I just remembered back when I was in elementary school (over 20 years ago when I started kindergarten) there were a couple of kids who had to leave class every day (or maybe every other day) during science/social studies/story time and the other kids made fun of them. I didn't because I was so quiet I didn't make fun of anyone.

When I said Ian was weird, I meant he just comes up with some really amazing things that I would not expect a five-year-old to figure out. I wish I could think of an example right now, but I'm just blank.:) He does like to play by himself though, and it never bothers him if other kids are outside playing down the street. He doesn't come beg to join them. He waits till they come to him and if they don't it doesn't matter. He just does his own thing. It took me twenty-five years to get that much self-confidence. So maybe if he was teased a little, it really wouldn't bother him. But it would bother me if I knew he was teased.

Mama bear, I guess.

Just Angi · Oct 10, 2002

Konni,

My daughter was in speech therapy at school for K-5 and 1st grade. She really enjoyed her time in ther because she was not the only one there. She is imtimadated easily, but no one at school ever picked on her for going to speech therapy. She went 1 hour/2 days a week. Now that she's through she actually misses it.