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esperanza Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Jan 30 2006 at 9:05am | IP Logged
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My 4 yr ds has been attending speech therapy at the local elem. school three times a week during this school yr. I have been going into the sessions with him. He knows that people do not understand him most of the time and he uses me quite a bit. I was just informed last Fri that I was not supposed to be going back w/ him (therapist didn't know it was a problem either). Anyway I have a feeling I am going to have a difficult time getting him to go without me. He keeps telling me he is afraid and being quite adamant about his "No". He is my 7th dc and I am not one to force my little ones into separating when not ready. Not sure how to coax him, yet.
He has been learning sign lang. in Speech and with Signing Times dvds. I am sure I can do what is done in his speech class..after seeing first hand what is done..its not much. We also listen to some of the Kids Express Train cds. I think I just need to step these up and do the offered activities.
I just don't know the tips and techniques to help them produce certain sounds...
Does anyone recommend something..a book or online resource for help with these tips?
__________________ In His Peace,
Tammy Gonzalez in VA
dh-Johnny
mom to Tara-'85, Noelle-'88, Jeremy-'91, Elizabeth-'93, Emma-'96, Dominic-'99, Gabriel-'01, Elijah-03
and Jacinta-06
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tovlo4801 Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 28 2005 Location: Minnesota
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Posted: Jan 30 2006 at 12:11pm | IP Logged
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Tammy,
I'm surprised that you can't attend with him! Both of my sons have attended speech therapy for years both at the school and privately. My youngest since he was preschool age. I've always attended with him.
I would ask some more questions about why you can't attend with him. Is your presence interferring with the therapy? Perhaps you could sit off to the side silently, but still be there to observe?
Maybe you could look into doing speech privately. It would involve a cost but you can find someone who meets your need to be there that way. We've seen two private therapists and both are perfectly fine with parents observing. One had special rooms with the special glass that you could see through, but looked like a mirror on the other side. There were headphones so that parents could see and hear what was going on but the child was not distracted by the parent's presence. Now we don't have that, but I sit in a chair off to the side and try to make my presence as minimally felt as possible. It's really important to me to see what going on. Especially with my little one who is too little to take on the speech practice at home without my help.
I've considered the same thing you have with just doing speech practice at home on my own. I probably have some issues with authority (investing them with more powers than they should have :) ), but I decided against it. The reason was because while I'd seen what they were doing at the time and felt I could replicate it at home easily what I felt I couldn't offer was the assessment of changing needs and access to new therapy options as my children's needs changed (improvement or decline in speech skills). Something to consider. Depending on the needs of your child you might be able to do it at home, but you may want to leave the option open for further therapy if things change.
I would also say that my experience was that private therapy was a better service. My son's both stutter and the expertise of the private therapists with their particular needs was much higher. Many health insurance companies will cover speech therapy if the severity is enough.
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esperanza Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Jan 30 2006 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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Richelle,
My son attends twice a week w/ 2 other boys and I was told it was due to confidentiality.
I'm going to see how this week goes with my ds. I'm going to look into home therapy if needed ..I was considering this as an added resource anyway.
My 9 yr dd stutters as does my dh. My dd receives therapy w/ the same therapist...for some articulation, too. She is like her dad. My dh is Cuban and can't roll his "r's"
__________________ In His Peace,
Tammy Gonzalez in VA
dh-Johnny
mom to Tara-'85, Noelle-'88, Jeremy-'91, Elizabeth-'93, Emma-'96, Dominic-'99, Gabriel-'01, Elijah-03
and Jacinta-06
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Willa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Jan 30 2006 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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Tammy,
We get home therapy for speech, through the school.
Besides the separation concerns you mention, I think that as Richelle says it would be awfully difficult to reinforce the therapy at home if you did not know what was going on during the sessions.
We have private physical therapy and since we can't afford it more than monthly, the therapists evaluate him and give us follow-up work to do at home. Maybe if you can't get the school to cooperate, you could do something like that.
This is only my personal experience, but I found that my child got very little out of his direct therapy -- speech, PT or OT -- until he was about five. Where he benefited was in MY seeing what the therapist did and learning what his issues were so I could continue to reinforce throughout day to day life.
Here's Linguisystems whose resources I have heard recommended by parents of kids with speech issues. I have the apraxia preschool book but Aidan made such a leap just after I got it that it became obsolete before I'd really used it. So I don't have personal experience with it, but I thought I'd mention that as a possible resource.
__________________ AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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esperanza Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 17 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Jan 31 2006 at 5:54am | IP Logged
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Thanks Willa...this site is not as overwhelming as the Super Duper site that I have looked at.
__________________ In His Peace,
Tammy Gonzalez in VA
dh-Johnny
mom to Tara-'85, Noelle-'88, Jeremy-'91, Elizabeth-'93, Emma-'96, Dominic-'99, Gabriel-'01, Elijah-03
and Jacinta-06
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garflick Forum Rookie
Joined: March 09 2005
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Posted: March 10 2006 at 8:35am | IP Logged
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I totally believe you can do speech therapy at home. If you have watched the therapist you know what to do. If she needs to work on vocabulary, I like the 1000 things books by Usborne. For articulation you can have her look in the mirror. Remember some sounds are developmental adn may not sound ok until they are almost 8 years old. And correcting her in her everyday language
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abcmommy Forum All-Star
Joined: March 09 2006 Location: Indiana
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Posted: March 13 2006 at 12:35pm | IP Logged
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My children both do speech through our school too.
I dont feel qualified to help them in this area.
I wonder if you spoke with the therapist privately, whether she could accomodate you in a better way- either by grouping your children together (even tho they have different issues and ages) or by helping you transition from the room sloooowly so your ds feels more comfortable with the situation. Or if she has an empty slot maybe she'd be willing to give your ds a private session for a while, again with the goal of transitioning you out into the hallway.
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