Speech Therapy

[Deejoy17]

I have a few questions about those of you who have young children seeing a speech therapist....

When did you decide that it was time to see a speech therapist?

What happens at each session?

I`m just starting to wonder if Matthew should be seen by a speech therapist, in the last few weeks he`s been replacing d in some words for b such as drink is now brink, dripping is now bripping, he didn`t have a problem with these words before but now he does, he`s still fine with other d words such as dog, door.

I`d rather take Matthew to see a speech therapist sooner rather then later IYKWIM but wanting other people`s advice, do you think he should be seen to or should I just wait and see, he`s just gone 2.5 years.

I`m also a bit concerned as to how they tackle young children of this age, Matthew is always very quiet and reserve with new people/surroundings until he gets familiar with the situation then he comes out of his shell (a bit like Mummy and Daddy here), I don`t want him to be scared off going if it`s going to be a frightening situation to him and they force him to do things when he`s not ready.

[New Dawn]

Both my kids have had speech therapy go asap as once in school you then have to wait for the school system and DS has been on the wait list for 2yrs now. They have the same problem dat for cat bath insead of path and so on. at a young age they will try to fix it with play ie farm animals, with DD she started at 4yrs so a bit easier she had flash cards and if she said the wrong word IE if it was a picture of a peach and she said beach I would have a picture of a beach and say " did you say Beach and point to it or did you say peach and point " she then got that what she was saying and what I was hearing where two different things. Plus we had to get her to repeat after me " Heach heach heach heach peach " I have know idea how this worked but it did.

They do also try maybe with your little one they give you a sheet of paper with a whole lot of words and saying on them all your child has to do is lession to you things like " Car " " the lady drives a red car " with this they are ment to just hear the word said the write way and be able to correct it themselves. this didnt work with us. But I was told that if you have one child doing this missing the first sound then its likely the younger sibs will also as they talk move to ther sib then you and will pick up there bad habits like I said both of my kids have this and DD2 my also when she starts to talk.

sorry if this is a bit of a ramble hope some of this will help

before I forget you will have to geta referal from you GP of health sister.

[visitor2]

Talk to your health nurse Deeanne and they should do you a referal.
I'm still waiting for Alex to goto speech theraphy. But if we didn't have that referal we wouldn't have know Alex had hearing problems.

[Visitor9]

Hi Dee
I hads Eliza at speech therapy at 2 well it was a week before 2 as she was not speaking at all, so this is probably at different scenario.
I was like you and wanted to have E assessed before it was said..."well if you brought her in 6 months ago it would of been a small problem now it is huge". Needless to say I was happy that I took her.

1st appointment was just a chat mainly with me to discuss what was a problem for me and what E would do in different circumstances. E was playing around the ST never pushed her to "talk" or do anything she felt was going to make her uncomfortable. We sat on the floor playing with glitter sticks for 20 minutes just mainly ST observing what was going on. She then gave me the notes from the session and planned some stratagies to get her to vocalise rather than pulling or pushing to get her way.
2nd appointment: We had to keep a diary of speech advancement and with the "praise reward" system she really came in to herself. Once again there was more games on the floor and observing. She then again gave us the notes and a few more progessive tools to get E to talk in sentances.
3rd appointment: LOL cancelled it she was speaking far better than anyone would imagine.

This was over 3 months and just by refering back to my notes that she had set for us..it prompted me to either praise..her system was never to correct a child in the sence it was more...say if Matthew said "brink" you would repeat back does Matthew want a Drink?. You often sound like a bit of a dill but it does work..just repeating the words back..like mummys thirsty she is having a drink.
I know it is an age for confusion sometimes it may last a few days, months and then they correct it themselves.

I think if it is an issue that you are worried about, there is never a wrong time to contact a speechie.
I was suprised I didnt need a referal to see a ST, I went to my GP and they said private speachies dont require them. If you go thru the public system you will need one thou, we were told that they dont really address ST for children until they are kinder age so I think my best $200 was spent seeing one.

We went to the MCHN yesterday, she could not believe that E was the same child. And she said Do you think Eliza needed to go to ST? I said I needed to go! To learn how to help her
Good luck
Bec

[Deejoy17]

Thanks girls for your thoughts.

Bec - I`m so glad E is doing so well, yay for her. LOL Bec that`s exactly what I say to Matthew - Does Matthew want a drink? and yep also the Mummy is Thirsty Mummy is having a drink... your right I do feel like a dill at times but I certainly cansee how it would work.

I spoke to me health nurse on Monday about this issue, she didn`t think it was of any concern at this stage.

My own thoughts are that I`ll keep an eye on him over the next couple of months and if I`m still concerned I`ll take him to a private ST, I`d much perfer to go privately then publicy, I should imagine the waiting lists here would be very long in the public system.

Thank you Girls

[Astrolady]

Kameron's speech was picked up in kindergarten, so he went under the DECS speech therapist that came weekly to the kindy. Our director at the time advised me that the next child could follow suit as they learn alot from the older one, so I took Lachlan in for a free assessment and it was discovered he had a delay too, but it wasn't as bad as Kamerons.

We did a term of 45min sessions once per week for Lachlan and we are currently having a term's break, as he was accepted to early entry kindy cause of the delay. He will get picked up again in Term 1 next year and then in Term 2 will be under full time Kindy therapist.

Love

[visitor2]

Deeanne I've just booked Kimberley in to a private ST and it's going to cost $180 for the first appt. For Alex to go through the CYN it's taken 6mths for his appt to come through and he goes next week.

I would get a referral sooner if you can as it may take a while going public and at least you are on a list. Even if in the end you do go private.

[StellaSun]

You can ask your GP for a Enhanced Care Plan (ECP) - a scheme through Medicare that allows 5 sessions of Allied Health Services (eg. speech therapy) over a 2 month period. We went to a private ST to have DS assessed, she says (and I agree) he has *delays*. We only waited a week to get in, paid $120.00 for the hour and follow ups are $55 for half hour, we will go fortnightly. I am going back to GP to get this referal (ECP) so the rebate will be $47.00 each visit - yay!

It is best to go sooner than you *think* you need too, and help prevent alot of problems before they worsen as the months/years go on. At home strategies are most effective but you'l need guidance with these. They wil often also recommend a hearing test, only for over 3yrs with the *puppet show*, and if you get a referall from GP for this too another medicare rebate.

We dont have private health insurance thats why I'm savvy with the rebates!

[Phteven]

Dee, at his age a lot of it will be learning exercises that you can do at home with him so it doesn't matter a great deal that he's reserved with strangers.

[Jac]

Deejoy,
The sound errors you are describing are quite normal for a child Matthew's age. If it is just blends (2 consonant sounds together - dr, br, bl, ect) that this is happening on then not to worry - a speech therapist would not/should not provide any intervention for such sound errors until a child is at least 5, as it takes until then (longer actually) to consolidate blends. He may be learning a new skill with regards to his language development hence the apparent regression but it's totally normal at his age. Getting a hearing check wouldn't hurt though at any age where speech concerns are noticed.
Pop him on a public waiting list JIC but no need to hurry for this particular concern as it's like getting physiotherpy for a 9mth old who's not walking yet IYKWIM.

HTH