Speech Therapy (long)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I need some advice. Our son is seven. He is taking individual speech

therapy twice a week for 30 minutes at our local public school. He has a new

therapist this year. She is as sweet as can be, but maybe a little too nice.

My husband and I have felt for some time that it has been a waste of time taking

to therapy there. She isn't getting anything accomplished. There have

been more than a few times where I have come in to find that he has been under

the table and refused to work for her. Those days admittedly have been when he

was tired or starting to come down with something and not feeling well.

But we have felt like she isn't really doing anything that we couldn't do much

better ourselves.

Thursday I told her I wanted her to focus more on oral motor therapy, and we

would work on language acquisition and articulation. He has excellent receptive

speech, and understands anything you ask. He can follow directions. We have

started making a word list of words he can say and we are at 75 words already.

His articulation is poor. Mostly those that know him well can understand him

very well. Strangers can understand some words he says like please and thank

you, etc.

The speech therapist has given up on trying to teach to speak. He

won't work for her, he speaks softly so she can't hear him, or just refuses to

say the words. She wants us to go back to signing with , something we

have almost extinguished at home, making him use words to request things

instead.

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

device. 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. 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.

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?

Roni