Speech Therapy for children..

[Barman]

Has anyone been through this?

Caeden is almost 2 and half and although really trying so hard and has come on much over the last few months, hes still very delayed and he can say lots of single words (not all pronounced correctly but i can understand what he means) but when he speaks in setences its like hes talking in another language. Sometime i can just make out what he is going on about (no one else would be able to!) but most the time i just agree and go along with it but have no clue what hes saying.

He repeats himself as if to say 'why are you not listening mum!' so he obviously makes sense to himself.

Anyway he starts speech therapy next month, has his first session on the 8th of April.

Anyone know what i should expect, what kind of things do they do with a 2 yr old? Will i be in with him or do i have to leave him I really hoped it would come to this but if its going to help him communicate with me better ill try anything! Maybe then his tantrums wont be so uncontrolable.. or is that just a normal 2 yr old lol

 

[laceyfreckle]

Hi

Speech therapy - well your first time will be an assessment but everything they do is through play. You stay with your son the whole time and they take family history as well. They will look at whether he just needs help pronouncing his words more clearly, or whether it is a more muscular problem such as verbal dyspraxia.

Three of my children have had speech therapy, my eldest had speech therapy from 2-8yrs she's now nearly 11 and although her speech is a bit immature it is almost 'normal' she does have other 'processing' probs though.

Mt 8yr old had speech therapy at 2yrs for 6 months and then talked very clearly.

My now nearly 5yr old is dyspraxic and had speech therapy since 2yrs and still does at school. He goes to a mainstream primary school wih a statmented speech unit attatched. His dyspraxia makes it hard for him to control the muscles that you use to speak clearly. He also has general dyspraxia.

If your son isn't being understood clearly he will get very fustrated and possibly be 'more naughty' then he would be otherwise. We also learnt simple makaton signs so my 5yr old son says the word and if we can't understand he signs it too so he doesn't get fustrated. Academically he has no problems at school and isn't majorly behind.

(I also have two other children aged 3yrs and 19 months who I can't get to shut up and speak very well )

 

[Barman]

Hi. Thankyou for your reply Its good to read about other peoples experience with this.

He is very clever and he knows everything we say. He knows alot more words than he can say and is really very intelligent, he can count to 10 on his own (He doesnt pronounce all the numbers correctly.. 3 is Bee and 7 for some reason is wow wow ) He just cant seem to get words out, the faster he talks the less it makes sense so we try to talk slower for him so he can hear the word properly.

I was worried its my fault for ages, if i didnt do something right as he was growing up. But its always been me and him on our own so i talk to him all the time, everything we do i explain what and why im doing it.

Im looking forward to taking him in a couple of week, hopefully we'll see an improvement soon

Thanks! xx

 

[Chiicken]

My sister had speech therapy when she was your son's age, I think they make it all very much like games for them, drawing pictures and describing them, talking about and playing with toys. My mum used to go with her and she used to bring some cards home with her to practice. I remember her loving it!

 

[kayjayhorses]

I have a boy thats 2yrs and 3 months, he's stringing lots of words together but they dont always sound very clear, does the HV think he's not talking how he should be at his age? Just wondering what makes you think he is behind in his talking? I have friends who have kids the same age as my boy - they were actually born a few days apart from each other and they are always at different stages in their development, but they always catch up.

 

[daftdraught]

My youngest is nearly 2 and he speaks fluent guinea pig! I'm not at all worried about his speach developement he will get there in the end. I think the tantrums are normal for 2 year olds, just wait until they get to 3. What would worry me more is if he made no attempt at comunicating with you and had very little baby babble. Basically I'm trying to say I think he will be fine. My oldest had an assessement when he was 4 because there where some words he couldn't pronounce and I was worried because I had a stammer as a child. The appointment was very informal and I was told he didn't have a problem and he would grow out of it.

 

[laceyfreckle]

Just want to add, that while yes most children do grow out of speech problems, speech therapy can also really help some that might need some help. They do assess speech and general intelligence differently and it is perfectly normal to have a child that is advanced or normal in every way but struggles with speech.

there are some children that can't/don't grow out of it without help but it is hard to tell which children these are at a early age (the whole can they physically pronounce words properly or 'won't/don't' they pronounce words properly.) Unfortunately I believed my now 4 yr old would 'grow out' of his speech problem and I felt very very bad when he was diagnosed with dyspraxia and I had held him back from getting the help he needed.

'normal' is such a big range at two though, My youngest daughter was speaking in sentences at 2 and my baby says two words clearly together and his letter sounds and names at 19 months, however my eldest son (who now spreaks fine) only said single words until he was about 3 and none of them clearly. My eldest daughter spoke very well until she was 2.5 and then she became mute for about a year. It all varies but the speech therapist will know what they are looking for.

sorry for the soapbox and to the OP hope everything goes really well.

It is also very very worthwhile to get it checked OP if you have a appointment, what harm can it do? They can also give you games to play at home as well.

 

[lucycw]

I'm a speech and language therapy assistant (with adults not children mind you!) but what everyone has said here is about right. You will be in there with your child so that you can be involved and learn from the therapist and he/she can teach you about techniques and ways of helping your son when you're at home and outside of his speech therapy sessions. Speech therapy with children involves a lot of activities and playing so that it's not too intense for them, it'll just be playing and using language to describe what they're doing, if your child has difficulties when combining more than one word then they might focus on using multiple word utterances. Through assessment they'll be able to decide whether it's just normal development or whether he has something else holding him back, it's good that you've got him so speech therapy because it's so complex and there's so much that can effect your speech so you need someone professional to assess if there is something abnormal and if so what's causing it.

If you want to see what sort of things they do at speech therapy there are loads of speech therapy sessions with children on you tube, some of them are more to do with autism and more advanced disorders but they would give you a general idea of what happens in a speech therapy session.

I had speech therapy when I was a child, I can't remember anything about it but it turned out that I actually couldn't hear properly but my parents had never known until I started to talk and it was all jibberish! Because of my hearing problems I could only hear the middle of words and so I got the middle sounds right but the rest of it was just a bit of a muddle, my parents still tease me about the words I used to use! Apparently slippers were bappies and hippopotamus was spottythomas!

 

[Barman]

Thanks everyone

Kayjayhorses - It was the HV who referred him for speech therapy not myself.

Lucycw- Thanks, its interesting to hear from someone who actually works in speech and language and i think your alternative words for slipper and hippopotamus are great lol

Daftdraught - Fluent guinea pig.. ooh that made me laugh I actually quite like his own language its quite cute and have become rather used to it But of course i cant have him continue not being understood because i think its cute lol

He had his 2 yr assessment not long ago and the HV says he's quite delayed and isnt showing many signs of saying words indepentantly, he copies what we tell him to say, anything else he says on his own doesnt really make sense.

They are also trying to get him a place in a nursery that focuses more on speech and language. Which at first i was a little upset about but i think it will be great for him and if its going to help him then i will take up all the help im offered.

I will let you know how it goes in a couple of weeks