Re: speech therapy homework

[Guest guest]

This is a great idea for a post! I was just wondering if we are

doing the " proper " therapy for apraxia. I love our ST but I get the

impression she may not have tons of experience with this disorder

and since my child hasn't been officially diagnosed, I wonder if he

is getting the right course of treatment. I think it would be great

too if people would describe their therapy sessions and give the age

of their child--though I don't want to hijack this thread!

Right then, so here's mine:

Son - 24 mos

Therapy - play based, puzzles and books mainly. Lots of language

oriented stuff, narrating his actions, using signs, trying to engage

him.

Homework - hide and seek where we get him to call mama and dada,

reinforce play techniques learned in therapy, stroke sides of tongue

with nuk brush

If anyone would like to give feedback on this and let me know if it

seems like enough or the correct course of action, I'd appreciate it.

>

> Hello everyone:

> Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you to

do

> with your child?

> Thanks

> Tina

>

[Guest guest]

Hi.....we just started with a new SLP, but so far we are practicing on

some words that end with certain consonants, and also practicing

blowing bubbles by positioning his mouth the right way with my hand.

>

> Hello everyone:

> Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you to do

> with your child?

> Thanks

> Tina

>

[Guest guest]

hi tina- we practice blowing . flash cards from the kaufman kit, worked on

getting josh to follow a schedule, different sounds like th and f -charlotte

henry- mom to josh

[Guest guest]

Our first ST did much more play-based therapy, and it seemed kind of

random, and hard to gauge if there was progress. We didn't see a

whole lot. We are now with an ST that has a much more rigid approach

(I think it's kaufmannn approach). They have broken down speech into

very small pieces, and work their way up the speech hierarchy. They

work on each vowel or consonant/vowel sound, until my son has

consistent, 80% accuracy during ST, and then they move on to the next

sound or group of sounds. They set very specific goals each 3

months, and then measure how he is doing against those goals. At the

end of the 3 months, we sit down and talk about how he did, and they

show me graphs of his progress with each goal/sound. Then they set

new, specific goals for the next 3 months. During the first 3 months

of therapy they gave us no homework, and yet everyone from friends

tot teachers noticed great improvement in his speech. Now that we

have finished the first 3 months, they have given us a few words and

specific sounds to work on at home. But they are only words/sounds

that the ST feels he has mastered in ST, and that she want us to

reinforce at home. They specifically said do not try to make him do

sounds at home that he hasn't mastered in ST yet, because he just

won't be able to do them and it will frustrate him. This makes sense

to me.

He is going to ST 5 times a week for 1/2 hour.

Another interesting thing the ST just said is that there's a new

study that says apraxic kids' future language/spelling skills can be

helped if you start familiarizing them with the alphabet a few

letters at a time. She is going to send me specific groupings of

letters to work on together, rather than throwing the whole alphabet

at him at once.

> >

> > Hello everyone:

> > Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you to

> do

> > with your child?

> > Thanks

> > Tina

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your replys. I was hoping to hear these types of

homework based activities. I had an IFSP meeting on Tuesday and the

EI Developmental evaluator was here at my house and she just made me

feel like I wasn't doing enough with Landon. Her theory is once a

week speech therapy is good enough because I should be the one mainly

working with him. She pretty much made me feel like it was my fault

he hasn't made a lot of progress this year expressive speech wise.

Once a week speech therapy is all that is available in my area right

now. She was just such a horrible, ugly, know it all type of person.

Thanks again

Tina

>

> Hello everyone:

> Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you to do

> with your child?

> Thanks

> Tina

>

[Guest guest]

The EI people I work with kind of say the same thing (but in a nicer

way). They say the 1 day a week of therapy won't do anything; it's

up to me to provide the therapy the rest of the time. I'm happy to

act as therapist, but I never know if I'm doing enough or doing it

right! After all, we aren't trained for that, are we?

> >

> > Hello everyone:

> > Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you

to do

> > with your child?

> > Thanks

> > Tina

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Same here - We just did a private SLP eval and she said " likely apraxa "

.....needs to finsh scoring the testing. So I told my EI " teacher " that we need

speech therapy (have been saying this all along but now I have some proof).

Their idea of speech therapy? They sent us home with flash cards to work on

sounds - buh for bee, etc - starting with the sounds he can make now. The SLP

(at EI) said they are based in the Kaufman or Association method (?) but she

kind of made up her own version!!!!!! I reiterated that he needs one on one

therapy with a professional 3-5 times a week. We'll see what happens. I only

hope that this form of " therapy " is due to lack of funding and not because they

actually think that sending flashcards home is the key to my son's voice.

Can't speak for Alabama but the EI here in Kansas leave much to be desired. We

started in Nov of last year with a non-verbal 2.5 yr old and as of today have

yet to recieve any real theraputic intervention. The " teacher " comes once a week

to basically play with a therapy ball and do puzzles. No work on sounds or

speech. They are focused on getting him to make choices off a PECS board....but

that is for another post.

Good Luck - Stay strong and follow your instincts.

Martha

momma to Will 2.5 yrs and Isabelle 3 mo

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

I feel the same. I am more than willing to do whatever it takes to

help Landon start talking. I reinforce the words and sounds the slp

is working on. I never felt like I wasn't doing enough until

Tuesday. She left and I just felt like someone had beat me up! It

was horrible. I called my service coordinator and told her I know

longer want to work with that Dev. specialist. I told her I didn't

want to deal with her again until July when we start the school

process for evaluations. I knew from the begining when my service

coordinator mentioned this person to do the evaluation. I said it

can go two ways. She could get a sneak peak of Landon before July

and it helps us or it could bite me in the hiney!! She also said

Landon's disability is nothing compared to what she deals with in

her classroom! (special Ed. teacher also) I am telling you she is

the ugliest person I have ever met!!!

Tina

> > >

> > > Hello everyone:

> > > Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives you

> to do

> > > with your child?

> > > Thanks

> > > Tina

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I'm so sorry. Why do people like that choose fields that require

social graces and empathy? It's so hard to get the message--

implicitly or explicity--that you are failing your child and not

doing enough, especially when deep down I think we all kind of feel

like that anyway. You wouldn't be on this group and you wouldn't be

doing what you are doing to get your child therapy and early

treatment if you weren't a good mom determined to help your child!

> > > >

> > > > Hello everyone:

> > > > Can some of you post what types of homework your SLP gives

you

> > to do

> > > > with your child?

> > > > Thanks

> > > > Tina

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

At 08:52 AM 4/22/2006, you wrote:

>I'm so sorry. Why do people like that choose fields that require

>social graces and empathy? It's so hard to get the message--

>implicitly or explicity--that you are failing your child and not

>doing enough, especially when deep down I think we all kind of feel

>like that anyway. You wouldn't be on this group and you wouldn't be

>doing what you are doing to get your child therapy and early

>treatment if you weren't a good mom determined to help your child!

There was a woman like this in our public pre-K program. She was a

complete bully to me! She was condescending and treated me as if I was a

moron. If she treated the parent like that how would she treat the

child! At my son's first IEP she stated that she particularly liked

working with kids on the ASD spectrum as well as those with severe speech

issues. HA! Now I think that she chose those kids so they couldn't

communicate how awful she was to them! I heard she retired this

year. Last summer after an altercation in the hallway while I was

registering my child I requested a meeting with the principal and this

teacher got taken off my son's IEP team. They fully understood. Guess I

haven't been the only parent with complaints!

I'd encourage you not to deal with her again if she is this upsetting to

you and there are others who can do the same role. There is enough

challenges advocating for our children with people who are sympathetic and

on the same page as us. Any emotions you can take out of these discussions

will help you work more effectively for you child.

Miche

[Guest guest]

>Their idea of speech therapy? They sent us home with flash cards to work

>on sounds - buh for bee, etc - starting with the sounds he can make now.

>The SLP (at EI) said they are based in the Kaufman or Association method

>(?) but she kind of made up her own version!!!!!! I reiterated that he

>needs one on one therapy with a professional 3-5 times a week. We'll see

>what happens. I only hope that this form of " therapy " is due to lack of

>funding and not because they actually think that sending flashcards home

>is the key to my son's voice.

I found that working in this way with my son at home did help. It

certainly was not enough, but keeping things fun and low-pressure he gained

the confidence to try to speak more. He's a perfectionist by nature and

would rather be silent than say something wrong. When he did make mistakes

I still praised him and he learned that it was ok to try to say a word or

sound even though it might not come out the right way! His vocabulary

exploded during the time I worked with him daily. This was during a time

when he was getting to speech therapy through EI due to his therapist

having moved and their inability to provide a new one for his last three

months of service eligibility. This was also more proof that while his SLP

was as sweet caring person she was not the appropriate therapist for him!

>Can't speak for Alabama but the EI here in Kansas leave much to be

>desired. We started in Nov of last year with a non-verbal 2.5 yr old and

>as of today have yet to recieve any real theraputic intervention. The

> " teacher " comes once a week to basically play with a therapy ball and do

>puzzles. No work on sounds or speech. They are focused on getting him to

>make choices off a PECS board....but that is for another post.

Heh, hopefully it is a little better than our PECS experience. I can't say

much good about the EI therapy my son received here in NM either. It

wasn't effective aside from one therapist (OT/cranial sacral.) Nothing

else helped much and some harmed. In their defense I do have to say they

truly did try and cared about my child. The intentions were right, and

unfortunately they were working with what is probably a misdiagnosis which

didn't help either. I am more upset about his early childhood diagnosis

through the university than I am about the therapists. His EI team has

really come through to help fight the public schools for us now that he has

transitioned. They are livid about how illegal and awful this process has

been for my son.

> Good Luck - Stay strong and follow your instincts.

I agree! I try not to beat myself up about the past, but I wish I had

followed this advice much earlier!

Miche

[Guest guest]

> I'd encourage you not to deal with her again if she is this

upsetting to

> you and there are others who can do the same role. There is

enough

> challenges advocating for our children with people who are

sympathetic and

> on the same page as us. Any emotions you can take out of these

discussions

> will help you work more effectively for you child.

>

> Miche

Hi Miche:

I have thought about talking with the director to see if we could

get someone else. There is only three people in the special

education department that you can deal with. This teacher is the

assistant director. Everone also raves about how good she is at

what she does! So most put her on a pedestal. If we could deal

with someone else that would be great, but if we can't I think that

would set us up for a bad meeting. I am sure they all would discuss

this in private and come up with their own ideas of what type of

person (me) they are dealing with. I guess I am just torn as to

what I should do at this point. I still have till July before we

meet again.

Tina