Telling Child about impending speech therapy?

[Trillian]

We have booked Paige in for spech therapy and Im not sure how we go about telling her about it, or if we even should tell her. My gut feeling is that we should, so when we get there she is somewhat prepared for it, but I have no idea how to really tackle it with her. She will be 4 at the end of next month, so it's not like she is too young to understand, but her speech is starting to be embarrassing for her when we talk to her about it or try to correct her speech. Its almost like she thinks she is in trouble or something, so I don't want her to feel like she has done something wrong kwim?

Any advice would be appreciated

[Phteven]

I think you can put a positive spin on. Emphasise that it will be fun and that it's going to help her to make the words she want to. You can tell her that you want her to be happy and you've noticed that not being able to talk as well as she likes makes her feel unhappy sometimes so you've found a nice person to help her.
As far as I know a lot of it is teaching parents and children excercises that you can do at home so it's for you as well as her. They try to make it fun so after the first session she'll probably look forward to the next one.

[ll80]

My daughter attended speech therapy for about a yr when she was 2-3. She still is slightly behind but much much better.
She was a little younger than your DD and not self conscious but you'll find they play a lot of games and make it a lot of fun for the kids.
Perhaps you could describe it as going to play word games. I wouldn't emphasize anything about going to learn to talk properly or help you say what you want as it suggests, even though it is definitely not your intention, that she has a problem. Kids always find a way to take it to heart.

Try to make it something special like going to the park rather than like a doctors appointment.
My daughter loved it and may need to return when she starts school, you'll be surprised at how quickly she'll pick up.

GL with it, HTH a bit

...Laura

[AnyDream]

Trillian, I just told H we were going to visit (insert speechie's name) to play some games. That's all she really needed to know at that age. The aim is to integrate the speech stuff you do pretty seamlessly into your life and the less overt attention the better, KWIM? If she asks a specific question then you can talk about it in greater detail.

ETA - I just asked her what she remembered about it and she said at the time she just thought she was playing games but now she's realised it was to help her speak more clearly.