Speech therapy

[Miss H]

DD1 is 4 yrs 2 mnths and I am a little concerned about her speech. Her words aren't always clear and she does not put her tongue in the right place for some sounds like "s". The other children in her kindy class talk much clearer than she does. So when should I send her to speech therapy? Is she too young now? Do I have to be referred by a GP? Any ideas?

[feeb]

DS1 is seeing a speech path now at 2 years of age. If you go to GP and get a health care plan you get 5 govt subsidised sessions a year.

From what I can gather early is better so start now rather than leave it a year

Good luck

[appletree]

We called and spoke with the speech therapy dep of our local public hospital when DD developed a stutter. Friends of ours were going through their program for their DS who made sounds like he was talking but no actual words, he was making great progress so we chose them over a private speech therapist. We initially spoke with someone over the phone (they had days and times set aside for doing this) and they determined whether or not we needed to see a speech therapist. We then went in for an assessment with a therapist and a course of action was determined. It is a really great service and so far has not cost us anything.

In answer to your questions, no referral was required, no she's not too young, and it never hurts to get professional independent advice so i would give it a go. Perhaps speak with her teacher and get their opinion as well (this was asked as part of the assessment). Good luck!