Re: speech therapy

[Guest guest]

My Son Alec is 2.9 and actually his ST LOOOOOVES when I ask how she is

working with Alec -

why not ask her how you can incorporate these things she is doing at home and

how it will help him (this will allow you to ask without hurting her

feelings) -

Alec's ST works with PECS with Alec (picture exchange) - She may be using

" bingo " to get him to learn the word she is saying and the word to look at on

the bingo card - or the letter -

Since each child has different things they need to work on you should just

ask how these games will help with his speech - Our therapist does exercises

that don't seem like much talking to me either but what they do is actually

strengthen the tongue so he can make the sound.

They use foods as well and if you don't know how lolli-pops and licorice can

help with speech then of course you would think they are just bribbing your

child to talk which they aren't.

There are many different " tricks " and exercises the therapist use - your son

may respond better to certain games then others but please ASK how you can

help at home - the therapists LOVE knowing the parents are interested and

want to help.

CA mom of Alec 7-26-98

[Guest guest]

My son has been going to speech for the past year now. The first two ST used

some games and activities. the second two sat him at a table and did a lot

of repition. Today We went to Children's Specialized and had a speech eval

done and the therapist spent two hours, with playdough, food and bowling,,

and taught me how to do touch cues like she was doing with my son, it was the

most cooperative I saw him be and kept his attention and cooperation the

whole time.

Ask the therapist for suggestions for at home, let her know you're trying to

learn from her and she won't think you're doubting her ability.

Lyn

[Guest guest]

Regarding the kids in speech tx and the activities they are doing:

All those activities listed are harmless but to get to the work of treating

the dyspraxia you NEED to incorporate oral-motor stimulation, oral exercises,

and oral activities, big time. Examples include brushing, sucking, blowing,

massaging, chewing, cold stimulation, vibrating stimulation, etc. This is

what gets the kids producing speech. However, this alone will not cure

language processing or articulation difficulty. But, it must be incorporated

according to the needs of the child.

Shari A. Gross

Speech-language Pathologist

Certified Elementary Educator

100 Craig Rd., Suite 104

Manalapan, NJ 07726

732-863-0080

Ganggross@...

[Guest guest]

> My son (Zack, 2.8) has been in speech therapy for 7 months. My

> question is this: for those of you who have children in speech

> therapy, what exactly does your therapist do with your children?

> Zack's therapist has been doing the same things with him since she

> started, i.e. making puzzles, playing with play doh, a " bingo "

game,

> and I am not sure how this is supposed to help him speak. I don't

> want to ask her because I don't want to hurt her feelings and make

> her think that she is not doing a good job. She is trained in the

> field, I just don't understand how these types of " games " are

> supposed to help him speak. Let me have your thoughts. Thank you

> and God bless.

> PS: He has been on ProEFA for one week - no change yet!

Hi I thought I put in my 2 cents worth, my son has been in speech for

3 months he is 23 months old. and also using PROEFA which has been a

help with his speech as well as cognitively and attention span

staying more focus. Regarding Speech therapy our SLP is using the

association method he has picture cards and she may lay down a

picture of a ball and a cup and she will ask him to give her the

ball. He has to determine which picture is the ball. Also she uses

letter sounds like H, A, D, M I and she has cards for them and she

will say the sound and he will point to it. Then she said now you say

M(sound) mmmmmm

it he won't say it she will say touch MMMMM the letter M and he will

then she will try to get him to say MMM. ect.. often by repetition.

That's what we are doing would like to hear from others too.

Becky in Ks

[Guest guest]

If you don't have a clear idea of the current therapy " goal " , even if that

involves working on ONE speech element ( words starting with " B " , or final

" P " pop, soap, drip, etc) than something is wrong. Go ahead and ask!

Therapists need us to be involved, and so do our kids. Aimless motor

exercises without some sound production behind it- preferably SPECIFIC sound

production, is not useful. A therapist needs to be demanding " use your

voice! " , as well as understanding and tolerant of any attempt. High

expectations, praise for any attempt.

If you are unclear about the therapist's " plan " , it may be time to shop for

someone else. Talk, ask, be annoyingly inquisitive. Your child needs your

message " I am fighting for you! And I know you CAN do it! " ...

Good luck.

Cowles Moir

jecowles@...

[Guest guest]

Shari, The SLP that I work for, I'm an SLP assistant, is looking for more

great and wonderful tx ideas for an 11 year old child who has not been in a

" regular " school system. Any ideas would be welcome. Idona

Cannaday-Kleinbeck

Re: [ ] Re: Speech Therapy

Regarding the kids in speech tx and the activities they are doing:

All those activities listed are harmless but to get to the work of treating

the dyspraxia you NEED to incorporate oral-motor stimulation, oral

exercises,

and oral activities, big time. Examples include brushing, sucking, blowing,

massaging, chewing, cold stimulation, vibrating stimulation, etc. This is

what gets the kids producing speech. However, this alone will not cure

language processing or articulation difficulty. But, it must be

incorporated

according to the needs of the child.

Shari A. Gross

Speech-language Pathologist

Certified Elementary Educator

100 Craig Rd., Suite 104

Manalapan, NJ 07726

732-863-0080

Ganggross@...

Like information but not emails? Choose the option of " no emails web only "

to read, respond to, or post messages directly from the website. For all

the emails sent in one choose " digest. "

URL to the home page to change options/or to search the archives:

Post message:

List owner: -owner

For more information: http://www.apraxia.cc

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 04/18/2001 1:37:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

idonac@... writes:

> Shari, The SLP that I work for, I'm an SLP assistant, is looking for more

> great and wonderful tx ideas for an 11 year old child who has not been in a

> " regular " school system. Any ideas would be welcome. Idona

> Cannaday-Kleinbeck

Tell me about the child.

Shari Gross

Speech-Lang. Pathologist

Certified Elementary Educator

Manalapan, NJ

732-863-0080

gangross@...

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi

My son has been in speech therapy for almost 1 year and his theapist does the

same routine as yours. It seems like play therapy and I did not feel he was

getting " enough " from it. Now he was assigned a 2nd therapist and she is

totally different. She specializes with oral motor problems and created a

program for him. He has a book and they sit and do each sound multiple times,

ah, a, e, eh etc......ofcourse he cannot say all the sounds but he tries. I

feel this therapy has shown much better progress and it is only 1 month. He

was able to say mmmmm and eee but was unable to put them together to say me.

3 sessions with this therapy and he is saying me. They also read wheres spot,

every week and he says NO SPOT as best he can. I feel the play therapy is not

as effective as this other type he is getting. Hope some of this was helpfu

lisa

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

When you speak of " play therapy " we are not talking about speech

therapy for older children or teenagers-we are talking about speech

(or any kind of therapy) for a preschooler.

Tanner's therapist who is awesome uses oral motor-PROMPT-Kaufman

techniques-etc. but she does all of it using fun stuff-toys, etc.

for rewards-encouragement, etc. which is what I call " play therapy "

Tanner has no clue what oral motor therapy is-or any of the rest of

it if you asked him-but is that what they do with him? YES!!

Tanner's therapist once said something very brilliant to me-she said

that a child with apraxia has a long road ahead of them, and you

don't want to burn them out by 4 years old so that they hate

therapy. Tanner is 4 years 10 months and has been in intensive

speech therapy (and OT, etc.) since he was 2 and a half!!

" Play therapy " is just a way to facilitate toys to get the child to

participate in the therapy. It's talking the language of the typical

child on their level. It's not that Speech Pathologists depend

solely on it-but it is something that can be incorporated into what

you want the child to do. You can also as a parent have constructive

play time that will encourage language development. (puppets, etc)

It may not have been the " play therapy " that didn't work for your

child-it may have been the therapist. Then again, statistically the

majority of preschoolers respond to play, or toys-that doesn't mean

all. Perhaps you have a unique child, and you were perceptive

enough to be aware that a change was needed.

No one person is always right for everyone, but as you know

everyone's got opinions. That's OK, but just remember that whatever

worked for your child is the right way for your child-maybe not for

all the rest. For example-Tanner did NOT respond to a therapist that

didn't incorporate play therapy into the therapy.

The important thing for all of us as parents is to find out what you

already found out-what works for YOUR child!

And that's great!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you for your e-mail so quick answered.

I haven't got the tape yet. But i think i will be receiving this

week when you have the address correct written.

Is the tape with an instruction to parents and speech therapists to

treath children with dyspraxia? It would be very nice to have it!!!

It would be nice if you have contact with Kaufman about my son.

But what the problem is that my son don't understands english. We

speak Dutch at home.

If nobody in Holland can help my son not with the instruction on the

tape too then we come over. We have family in Seattle, perhaps that

is an option we can bring with you.

Have a fine sunday!

Here in Holland the sun is shining and the children are playing

outside. What a nice feeling, winter is over.

[Guest guest]

" Here in Holland the sun is shining and the children are playing

outside. What a nice feeling, winter is over....But what the problem

is that my son don't understands english. We speak Dutch at home.

If nobody in Holland can help my son not with the instruction on the

tape too then we come over. "

Hi !

Mustafa who is one of CHERAB's outreach coordinators found the

following information that may help-and I know that you and

Kaufman MA CCC-SLP (Hi !) have been emailing each other back and

forth, so I'm sure something will come through soon that will really

help.

As far as " the sun is shining and the children are playing

outside... " It's been awesome here too (finally) I think even all

the adults want to play outside here!

Talk to you soon (and let us know when you receive the Inside

Edition TV segment!)

[Guest guest]

Just a note from a speech therapist: A good therapist does both " play

therapy " and work! It is sometimes difficult to do, but is the best approach

to keep language meaningful and speech sounds practiced.

Coleen- SLP Georgia

> My son has been in speech therapy for almost 1 year and his theapist does

the

> same routine as yours. It seems like play therapy and I did not feel he

was

> getting " enough " from it. Now he was assigned a 2nd therapist and she is

> totally different. She specializes with oral motor problems and created a

> program for him. He has a book and they sit and do each sound multiple

times,

> ah, a, e, eh etc......ofcourse he cannot say all the sounds but he tries.

I

> feel this therapy has shown much better progress and it is only 1 month.

[Guest guest]

From: " Hannah Bowyer " <rhbowyer@...>

Date: Tue Apr 24, 2001 7:06pm

Subject: Re: [ ] Speech Therapy

Coleen, where in Georgia are you a speech therapist? We are in NE

suburb Atlanta area. I think our ST is doing pretty good although it

is mostly play and we haven't seen any results in the past 6 mths. I

found out this week that she had listed my daughter as having apraxia

but had never told me until I found this group and mentioned it to

her last week. Then to my surprise she said " oh yeah, I have her

listed as having that " . I was disappointed in the fact that she

didn't bother telling me when I could have had all this support

sooner and started on the ProEFA sooner.

Hannah, Atlanta, GA - mom of LeAnne (31mths)

>Just a note from a speech therapist: A good therapist does

>both " play therapy " and work! It is sometimes difficult to do, but is the best

>approach to keep language meaningful and speech sounds practiced.

>

>Coleen- SLP Georgia

>

[Guest guest]

To all the parents who are confused or in disagreement with their children's

therapist's approach, I would suggest speaking with that therapist and

voicing your concerns as honestly as you would on this list. As a therapist,

I would welcome those comments. When I do my private practice, I make it a

rule to have the parents sit in on the sessions so they can see what I do and

carry out the goals with better clarity than they could if I were to give

them directions after a session. I spend as much time, some sessions,

explaining things to parents as I do therapy and, in the long run, this makes

the therapy more effective. See if the therapist would be amenable to have

you sit in on some sessions. Just my 2 cents

Jeff Korn

SLP, NY

http://expage.com/speech4all

[Guest guest]

Debbie- I feel your pain. My son is 4 and been in

speech therapy since he was 2. He is bored out of his

mind. He has been doing the same sounds for a year now

and his therapist even bores me. She says work is not

suppose to be fun. Well try to tell that to a 4 year

old boy. We go twice a week and it's a battle everytime.

I'll be thrilled to death when he can finally give up

speech therapy and so will he.

[Guest guest]

hi , this seems to be pretty common... there should be more special

trained speech therapist.. all of kaufman,s tapes even says these

children in a different way.. much more slower... i dread every Friday when

that girl comes to my house, the same toys, the same plastic frogs!..his

early intervention will be up in Nov... then we see what the school will

provide... i started telling his pre-school{will start a new one next

monday}...TEACHER THAT THEY HAVE TO HAVE SOMEONE THAT DOES SIGN

LANGUAGE..because he is more shy and quiet in public..he will sign some words

if nothing else.. i feel so much time is being wasted..what state are you

in??/....DEBBIE

[Guest guest]

Just to comment. Our Therapist wants one of us in the room. She feels it

makes Graham more comfortable and therefore they get more done.

> To all the parents who are confused or in disagreement with their

children's

> therapist's approach, I would suggest speaking with that therapist and

> voicing your concerns as honestly as you would on this list. As a

therapist,

> I would welcome those comments. When I do my private practice, I make it

a

> rule to have the parents sit in on the sessions so they can see what I do

and

> carry out the goals with better clarity than they could if I were to give

> them directions after a session. I spend as much time, some sessions,

> explaining things to parents as I do therapy and, in the long run, this

makes

> the therapy more effective. See if the therapist would be amenable to

have

> you sit in on some sessions. Just my 2 cents

>

> Jeff Korn

> SLP, NY

> http://expage.com/speech4all

>

>

[Guest guest]

I would suggest seeing a different therapist. Someone that will be exciting

to your child. Maybe you will see faster results with a new person and new

way of doing things. Just a suggestion

[Guest guest]

,

I'm not a speech professional but it seems to me that young children learn best

when they are having fun. Probably 50% of my almost 5 year old son's SP

sessions center around play and verbalizing about play. He works VERY hard and

is completely fried by the end of the session bit also has a great deal of fun.

Kurt was dx'd with apraxia just about 2 years ago and has been in SP for about

20 months. He has progressed from completely non verbal to conversational, if

not always understandable. If your child is bored during therapy and not

progressing it might be time to have a conversation with your SLP or look for a

new one. Remember, even if it makes you uncomfortable to challenge a

professional, if you're not your child's advocate no one else will be either.

Good luck and keep working,

Doug

Debbie- I feel your pain. My son is 4 and been in

speech therapy since he was 2. He is bored out of his

mind. He has been doing the same sounds for a year now

and his therapist even bores me. She says work is not

suppose to be fun. Well try to tell that to a 4 year

old boy. We go twice a week and it's a battle everytime.

I'll be thrilled to death when he can finally give up

speech therapy and so will he.

[Guest guest]

Hello -

We have twin boys and they see different private speech therapist. We do not

stay in the room, we tried that and they would not listen to the therapist at

all. But after a month they go into their room fine, without a fuss. BUT

the problem is one of the therapist is very good and really prompts and gets

one talking and pronouncing the words great and the other therapist is a push

over and my son tells her what he wants and she isn't that strict with him

and after a year he is the one that is not talking so great and still yells

if he doesn't say the word correctly. I saw this problem way in the

beginning and tried to address this but the therapist are good friends and

they back each one up and it was a dead end issue so for now I am trying to

work with the one that needs catching up.....Never a dull day!!!

Joya111@...

[Guest guest]

Michele -

This is all personal decisions. Here in America there is Early Intervention

which ran by each individual state, which gives services to children ages birth

to three. On the child's third birthday they begin getting services through the

Public School System - which is run by each County within the state. Confusing

huh??!! The quality and quantity of services a child receives this way depends

on the child, the state and the circumstances - and sometimes luck. I know

people who are getting EXCELLEN services, but I also know of others who are

fighting and fighting and not getting what their child so desperatly needs.

Private therapy is always an option, but quite expensive too. Not all insurance

companies cover this - as most do not. I fought the insurance company for

almost 2 years and eventually lost. I appealed and appealed, had letters from

every Dr. imaginable (neurologists, Dev. Ped. etc...) saying this was a

neurological condition and speech therapy was ESSENTIAL - it didn't matter. Now

that my son just started preschool (he is 4) he is getting therapy through our

county and Public School system and I am very pleased.

If you are pleased with your child's progression, his therpist, and the quantity

and quality of therapy he is receiving through special education - then leave

him. You are not guaranteed to get better services if you go private - it is

all about the Therpist him/herself.

I hope this helps a little!! Let me know if I can do anything else - i will do

anything to help!!

Carnell

North Carolina

www.verbaldyspraxia.com

CHERAB Outreach Coordinator

[ ] Speech Therapy

Hi,

Is the speech therapy in the states done through specialist education

service or is it private? If it is private is it covered by health

insurance? I have made contact with a person here in New Zealand and

she has told me that I should stick with the special education

service as they offer the best service. I am so confused I don't

know what to do. Help!!!! Private and pay. Or public and get stuff

all help!!!

Michele

[Guest guest]

Does anyone whose child is on the protocol have a speech therapist who

would be willing to consult with a speech therapist who is working with one

of my kids who is also on the protocol? Thanks in advance. Kathy -NNY

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I had an independent oral motor speech evaluation done with my son so we would

know what we need to work on. He has low muscle tone in his face, he has some

incorrect placement of his tongue and lip closure, his breathe support needs

help. And he can do words and sounds in isolation but they usually loose

intelligibility when you put words together--he just can't do it (motor planning

prob, globally praxic)

So, knowing this, we have incorporated 3 specific programs to help

that get run every teaching session.

To address the low muscle tone, we have a whistle program. We bought the whistle

hierarchy set from Sara Rosenfeld- Talk Tools catalog (innovative therapy

international ITI website:

http://shop.azstarnet.com/cgi-bin/iti.storefront/3f698c910179a098271ea9c53672073\

1/Catalog/1016

Each whistle has a specific purpose and he has to blow one for one second a

total of 25 times in a row before it is mastered and we move onto the next in

the hierarchy.

We also use bite sticks. We place the bite stick on the left side, he bites down

and you gently pull on it while he's biting...the goal is 15

seconds. We alternate left and right sides 10 times each side.

We are also now using the Kaufman praxic Kit for echoic training.

Learned about it briefly first at Dr. Carbone's #1 workshop and got even more

info at his #2 workshop and we've decided to try it.

I really really REALLY like using the Kaufman Kit...

http://www.kidspeech.com/ksp.html

It's been almost 2 weeks now since we started it, he had about 4 out of 10 we

needed to target in the CVCV pattern (tweet tweet, neigh neigh, peep peep etc),

now he has 1 left. Once that is mastered and he can do all 10 fluently with all

4 teachers, we will move to the next section. Also, one of my ABA teachers is

an SLP so she helps to keep us all consistent and on track with ideas and

materials and making sure we are doing things correctly, I'm very lucky to have

her on the team. I think it is really amazing how speech therapists can hear

things we don't. Ex, my son says chipa when he wants a chip, the SLP pointed out

he's not saying chipa he's saying tipuh...she was right.

good luck,

Jennica

[ ] Speech Therapy

Dear List,

Does anyone know what materials to use to do " speech therapy " at home? I want

to incorporate that into my son's program but not sure what to get.

Thank you,

[Guest guest]

only get speech 1x per week now.

> I just want to say Thanks to Speechville Speech and their

wonderful

> resources. I was able to get our insurance company to cover for

> speech therapy for my son. I asked for a referral and was denied

> based on their reasoning that he should be getting it at school.

> After having to do some researching, I found your sites and got

some

> excerps from different doctors and incorporated into my letter.

It

> took 25 days, they came back with an approval. I am so estatic,

> words cannot discribe how happy I am that my son is given this

> opportunity to get more speech.

>

> My son is 6 years old and is diagnosed with PDD-NOS, asphasia and

> complex partial seizures. He has a photographic memory, and has

no

> mental retardation. The only thing that is holding him back is

his

> speech. His school gives him only 3 days of speech therapy at 25

> minutes per day, one day of one on one, and 2 days with a small

> group. I have been struggling with the school to give him more

> speech therapy and has been told that he is getting more than most

> and that is all they can give him.

>

> My frustration for these 3 years has lead me to seek outside help.

I

> hit a dead end with my insurance until I found your site. Thank

you

> Speech Ville. I just want to let other parents know that you to

can

> get the help your child need, just don't give up!

[Guest guest]

hi lori,

i'd base the opinion on your son. if he is having issues with 2 different

teachers then see if they can get him with one. to be honest I think having 2

is good. 2 heads are better then one, and they each can work on their own

strengths and the each hopefully covering each others weaknesses. also he's

older now and probably can tolerate a afternoon speech.

lor, you know your child of course so if you feel that things have to tweeked

than speak to the therapist. but i would give it time and see.

chris

lorijla <lorijla@...> wrote:

Could use some insight here. My son who is in a self contained 1st

grade class, dx with severe verbal apraxia and is to get speech

therapy 5x's week as well as other therapies.

School started 9/7, yesterday (9/15)I received 2 seperate notes from

two different ST about his therapy. One ST is doing 2x's and one ST

3x's. Only one of the ST notes indicated the times on it: one day am

one day PM.

Further, I was very distaisfied with his ST last year and sent a

formal request to have him switched to a new ST in what I perceived

to be a tactful letter. Although we are not a big district there are

other FT ST. (cant help but feel this was in some way retialiation

because of my request)

Too add, his classroom has k and 1st graders (only 2 first graders).

The k are only in the class in am. So of course it makes sense all

pull outs would be in the am.

I know that it is in the best interest for my child to have ST by the

same person - and in the am session. I immediately placed calls to

the school and waiting to hear. But understand the schedule and

could deal with some days am some pm.

I did first contact one of the ST and she assured me that she is

working closely with the other ST, blah blah.

Based on my brief information - could use some thoughts/advice.

Also, if someone wants to I can be contacted privately.

P.S. My side concern is how much therapy he has already missed - it

feels wrong.

Thanks to a wonderful group.

Lori J.

Mother to age 6 severe verbal apraxia.