Re: Speech Therapy (long)

[Guest guest]

Please remember that both Sign and Aug Com's can be bridges towards speech

and not just substitutes, it's all in how you use them.

However, if you are feeling that your speech therapist needs to work on

articulation more. ....say so. Do you help her write her goals? Who makes the

final decisions on what she is to work on or what you want for your son? Mav's

speech is pretty bad and we are focusing on articulation. We have had several

speech therapists and not all of them agree with us, but we ARE the parents.

I would ask what the goals are and who wrote them and can you please rewrite

them to meet the needs that YOU as his family feel are important. And, if you

need to invite her supervisor to that meeting do it!

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[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/6/04 7:07:28 PM Eastern Standard Time,

writes:

> Our son is seven. He is taking individual speech therapy twice a

> week for 30 minutes at our local public school.

At seven Sheila had only one thing that she said on a regular basis, " Idodat "

(I do that)-LOL. She didn't say mom, dad, either of her siblings names,

nothing but this slurred I do that. She had been receiving speech therapy 5

times a

week since she was 2 years old. Our school district had hired a new speech

therapist at the beginning of the school year when she was 7. But the district

was very careful to find someone who had skills in getting non-verbal children

and children with apraxia talking. So many times the STs hired in school

districts just don't have the skills that some of our kids need. It took about a

year and a half of intensive work with this speech therapist before Sheila

started getting more single words out (she was neraly 9) and she was 11 before

she

spoke in sentences, but now she just never stops talking! The right type of

therapist is so important. Are there any places where another speech therapist

could evaluate your son? We have both the Center for the Disabled and a college

that has a wonderful Speech Therapist program that can do ST evaluations.

Good luck.

nancy, mom of (RPI student), Sheila-16 Ds & multiple health issues and

Colleen-12

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/6/2004 10:06:32 AM Eastern Standard Time,

srssjm@... writes:

> She also brought up wanting to refer him for using an assistive

> communication device. & amp;nbsp; My husband feels this would be a step in the

wrong

> direction, that it would defeat the purpose of requiring him to at least

attempt to

> verbalize the words. & amp;nbsp; We used a fairly basic one, back when he was

still

> in the 0-3 program, but felt he has long since outgrown the need for one.

> He is able to make it quite clear to us what his needs are, and what he

> wants. & amp;nbsp; The only times he feels frustration is when he is fighting

with his

> brothers over a toy or something he wants to play with that belongs to them.

> What would you suggest as a plan of action?

Nick is 9 and has used a DynaMyte since he was about 6. & amp;nbsp; We rarely use

it at home, since (like you) we can understand Nick's verbal approximations,

but they use it extensively at school as a teaching tool as well as for

communication. & amp;nbsp; For example, he can practice spelling words on it,

strings

sentences, do math problems, etc. & amp;nbsp; They program it with information

from books

he is reading and geography lessons like the continents. & amp;nbsp; I was amazed

at

it's capabilities as well as Nick's ability to navigate the menus and even

program it himself. & amp;nbsp; We made it clear that the expectation is that he

will

still attempt to verbalize requests, and I believe they try to do

this. & amp;nbsp;

Just a thought that it doesn't necessarily have to be viewed as a step in the

wrong direction.

Donna