Speech Disorders

Has anyone dealt with speech disorders? DD's preschool teacher has recommended that she be screened by a language expert. DD has trouble with some of the letter sounds - ex. says 'mersion' instead of 'version', etc. I went ahead and signed her up for this. I realize as Mommy that I can understand 100% of what she is saying but I have noticed that other people sometimes have to ask her to repeat herself several times. She is 4. . .almost 4.5yo.

So if you have dealt with this, what was your experience? What is involved in the therapy, etc?

Thx.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: Speech Disorders

Haven't experienced it, but from people who have (my sister, friends), they play games. Usually the kids like it a lot. And they give you exercises to work on at home.

[madeintaiwan]

Re: Speech Disorders

DS was sent to a speech pathologists when he was in K. He was having trouble with his s-blends. They evaulated him (played games) for about an hour then gave us excercises to do at home. The "problem" was seriously gone in a week. They want to refer him now for th. He says ging instead os thing. I say go ahead. Can't hurt.

[houseelf]

Re: Speech Disorders

Both my brother and I went to speech therapy for years as children. I remember it being fun. Seriously. My dear friend is sending her first grader a couple a times a week. Her daughter's speech issues have been presented to her as semi-serious because it is affecting her ability to distinguish phonics and read. IMHO, I think that early detection and intervention is better.

Best of luck.

Kelly

[diggitydot]

Re: Speech Disorders

We've had some experiences with both speech and language issues. DD#2 has some speech issues, but they're completely age appropriate. She used to have problems with using a "k" sound when the word had a "t", and sometimes "s" was a "th" sound. But after doing some basic exercises such as sucking pudding through a short straw, blowing cotton balls around in a plastic bag, or blowing bubbles, these issues diminished quite a bit. She's now a 2nd grader with very few noticeable speech idiosyncrasies.

DS, on the other hand, has speech and language issues. For a long time he relied very heavily on his sisters to "interpret" for him with anyone who didn't understand him, which only exacerbated the problem far longer than we should have allowed it to.

He has been doing the same speech exercises as his sister, (on a much more regular and rigorous schedule). But he also has a language processing issue that makes recalling correct words tougher than normal. I think we all know how it feels to not be able to think of the word we want to use. (I call it a brain fart.) But he has that a lot, not just once in a while. His internal dictionary is jumbled and he has difficulty placing which word it is he wants to use. He has become MUCH better since beginning speech/language therapy at school and is so much more understandable to those who don't know him.

My opinion on any type of speech therapy is this: The earlier, the better. Since speech and language are so important in any future learning, nipping issues in the bud will make education a more pleasant experience for everyone involved.

[kaseymarie]

Re: Speech Disorders

I am a special ed teacher, however I work in the same room as the speech pathologist. I do know that it is "age appropriate" to not be able to make several of the sounds until the child is 8. But if the parent requests testing or feels it necessary it can be done. Most of the students she does work with under the age of 8 have rather severe speech deficits in articulation and are very very difficult to understand or they are in for language.