Worried again

[Rouge]

I really really urge you to get yourself on that list for the free speech therapist. I have quite a few friends who's children have speech issues, and not only does it impact learning (I have one friend who's son is currently seeing a speech therapist and her child is in grade 1) but it also impacts on the siblings and even if siblings do not have issues, they can imitate and it is extremely common.

Its not worth the wait iykwim? Lily deserves to learn at the same pace as everyone else don't wait till she's in school and its too late and is impacting, do something now before it does impact. If alls well then it alleviates your mind, but IMO this is not something to sit on. Don't mean to be horrible, but out of all my friends with kids who have or are seeing a speech therapist they always say they wish they'd done something about it sooner.

[Astrolady]

Tegan, I 100% Agree with Cailin get your name on the waiting lists.

I have had Kameron go through intensive speech therapy. Like you I knew he was slow and behind, but didn't realise how much till he started Kindergarten. He had very severe delays in both expressive and receptive language. i.e could not communicate with how he was feeling etc, and could not follow simple 2 or 3 instruction sentences. for example "can you get the bucket and put it next to the chair"

He had intensive speech therapy through his kindy which for us was free as it came from DECS. This lasted for 18mths, and to this day he still has follow up appointments with the DECS speech therapist at school.

Our kindy director advised us to get Lachlan on the waiting list for the public system, and like you I was like "yeah whatever" knowing there could be at least a 6mth wait or more to be seen. She kept stressing it every time I saw her and kept telling me it is very common for a younger sibling to follow in the older siblings footsteps cause they learn from them alot.

Lachlan has been seeing the public speech therapist now since 3rd term last year (aged 3.5 when started), and as from the next school term he will go under the DECS speech therapist through the Kindy. Lachlan at the same age talks and responds to instructions a hell of a lot better than Kameron ever did at the same age, but he still needs therapy in some areas. He has made huge improvements since therapy and I am pretty certain it has been the therapy that has helped, not just cause he has developed that much more iykwim

I saw our kindy director the other week (she is currently on maternity leave) and she said to me "how about Ashton (17mths like Charlie), have you got him on the waiting list" I said but he is only 17mths, surely they don't take them now I spoke to Lachlan's speech therapist last monday, and they definitely do take them at such a young age. The younger the better. Also the younger they are the quicker they will get through the waiting list because they get to teach them the right way from word go.

The therapist said to me what is Ashton saying. I said "ah, mum (rarely), dad, bub (rarely) and nan (rarely). She said "yep when you leave today put his name down for the list"

So I would strongly recommend getting both Lily and Charlies name down on the list. When Lily starts Kindergarten then I would be mentioning it to them as well, and they may have a system in place with speech therapists as well that you can utilise.

I hope this helps somewhat. I know how you must be feeling about it, I went through those same emotions.

Love

[Mollygirl]

I agree, with putting your name on the waiting list. I am worried about my DS stuttering, and even though they said it is 3 yr wait, I still put him on. He is very articulate but stutters so I took him to a private ST who said it wasn't too bad but took notes at what level he was at so we could compare in 6 months. I haven't taken him back (approx $150 and I got back $29 from our health fund), but I will take him to the free one when his name comes up.

One thing the ST said, which someone else said on here too, was for us to say the correct sentence or words etc because they learn through imitation and what they hear. That is working quite well for us, luckily.

Wishing you all the best.

[mrsmac]

I wholeheartedly agree with getting her into a speech therapist, its not just about her oral language its about getting her expressive and receptive language skills checked too. Expressive language is being able to express what information is in her mind and receptive is being able to process the language that other people use to her ( a very simplistic explanation) The sooner you get her checked the better as early intervention is so much more helpful.
You may get her checked and all is fine but if it were my child I would rather be safe than sorry.

[Astrolady]

Tegan,

I just wanted you to know that during the week I got a phone call from the speech therapist for Ashton. They are seeing him on Monday for his initial review. So from putting him on our waiting list to getting his initial appointment it was only about 3 weeks.

Lachlan had to wait a bit longer than that cause he was older

Love

[Antheia]

Well that's not too long. Goodluck with it.

I haven't put Lily on the list yet as i keep getting conflicting advice from family. Half say take her the other half say she talks fine. I have no idea anymore.

[Astrolady]

You have to do what you think is right. You can't listen to what family says. Does she go anywhere where you can compare her to a range of other kids around her age??

We never knew Kameron had an issue till he started playgroup and kids 18mths younger were talking better than what he was.

Love

[AnyDream]

Antheia, you won't really know unless you get her assessed. I was in the same position with my DD1, i had a feeling that she wasn't quite up to speed, and when I got her assessed it turned out it was a "mild delay". It needed some work to get her up to speed. Even so she still has a few problems from time to time.

I would absolutely put her on the waiting list and if it's longer than a month or two to wait, WRITE A LETTER to your state MP and the minister for health in your state. (I did this and it resulted in more funding for another speechie, cutting the waiting list from 14 mths to about 2 months). I can't impress upon you how important it is if you are worried to get it checked. Often the solutions involve strategies like reminding your child to "use her words" and also getting her to watch your mouth when you are modelling a word she finds hard. But you need to learn in what way she needs your help.

The really interesting end to our own story is we only just discovered last year (DD was 9!!!) that she has a mild Auditory Processing Disorder...that means the sounds get jumbled between her ears and her brain so the meaning is distorted (her hearing is fine). Suddenly everything falls into place...it explains a lot of avoidance behaviour with her school work. So now she has a set of classroom strategies and the teacher teaches using visual cues as well as just talking at the kids and she's going great guns. If your DD is having trouble understanding what is being said, you need to get this checked out...a normal hearing test is needed but also asked for the Auditory processing tests as well.

Good luck, it's not something to be afraid of, you will feel so much better (relieved I mean) when you have seen a speechie and discussed your concerns.