Anyone with a child that needed speech thrapy at school?

I am MASSIVELY stressed.. DSS is starting prep in exactly 2 weeks and his speech is like that of a 3-4yr old. We can understand a lot of what he says because we are around him but everyone else can only understand every 3rd or 4th word. I have been pushing to get him to a speech pathologist for the past year only to be met with a "He'll be right" attitude from everyone..

DP has really made me angry because I think it's important and he refuses to discuss it with DSS' mother!!

Anyway looking on his schools website last night I saw they actually have a speech pathologist at his school. I am really hoping they pick him up quickly as I am not sure if his mother has even acknowledged it. On the enrolment form it asks about any problems and has speech as an example but I have no idea what she would have written.(again blame DP for such terrible communication)

I am so frustrated and feel like I am the only one that cares enough to be worried about it. I am really harping on and I am correcting his speech all the time, and I know he CAN pronounce words correctly when he tries but I guess his old habits are hard to break. He can't even pronounce the name of his school :( I am so angry at DP for letting it get to this stage. But that's his way of dealing with everything! Grr.. (Also I am careful of correcting his speech too much because I don't want him to get low self esteem.)

This turned into a bit of a vent but I guess my question is: Has anyone had a child with delayed speech that didn't have any speech therapy before school? If so, how did the therapy go and how long did it take to correct? I am really worried about him and I also don't want him to be teased.

yep i saw a dr gt a referal...stressed to him my concerns as i could only undertand a few words and dd was the only one who could sometimes communicate with my son.

he did therapy for some time and is good now but still does this "ha" sound like breathing heavy out on the last word of every sentence and some words we pick him up on still he is 8 but yes worked wonders:)

best advice keep on at them about him needing help, my friends did, my dh refused to listen but eventually did:)

hey,
I'm not sure about other states but in WA the teacher in preschool and kindy ( the 2 years before yr1) asses the children in the classroom and are very quick to refer and child that needs it.
My DS was sent to the speach Patholigist as the teacher thought he may need it but it turns out there was nothing wrong. I guess what i am trying to say is even if his mother/ father do not want to admit there is a problem the teacher should pick it up!

As a person who stutters (i guess its not the same as delayed speech) and had speech therapy at my school as a young kid, i would highly recommend seeing a private speech therapist if you can afford it. I found the ones at school were half hearted ITMS.
GL babes.

We have an appointment with a private speech therapist on Monday hopefully.. DP finally spoke to DSS' mother about the situation. The phone convo went something like this..

DP: We have an appointment on monday with a speech pathologist,

Her: F*** off, what for.. He's fine stop puttin Sh** on him! Tell that S*** (me) to mind her own business.

and slammed down the phone.. DP just looked at me and said "See why I didn't want to tell her"

Then she rang back and organised to have him dropped back to her Monday night.. So yes against her wishes I am still taking him. I think it is so sad that she wont admit he has a problem. It's like she thinks it is a reflection on her. Which it isn't. He has a problem, big deal, lets just fix it!! This is exactly why I am so worried about him.. If she doesn't want to do anything about it, he could just get lost in the school system.. Once DSS is at school we will only be having him from after school Friday's til Monday which means I will have to try and make appointments for Friday arvo's and if I can't get in then too bad he doesn't go! GRRRR............ I am so frustrated!!!!

you got the result you wanted in the end and if he is fine GREAT and if he needs help he will be at the right place so good on ya for pushing let us know how it all goes:)

sorry you had to struggle to get to this point but at least its now done and things can get sorted.

blessed how did the appointment go???? thinking of you :)

As a teacher I have advised a lot of parents over the years to get their children looked at by a speech therapist, you'd be amazed how many say "oh no they'll be fine.." etc This is in Yr 1or 2 as well.
Make sure its a good speech therapist, I took DS to a complete dud this year!!

You are doing the best thing you can for your DSS and in the long run he will be much better off for having you in his life.

Hey There

Kameron our oldest had speech issues that were not picked up until he was 4.5yrs old. We had to get special permission to keep him in Kindergarten for an extra 6mths to help both improve his speech and his social interaction. He was very shy. When he finally got to school he continued to see the departement of Educations speech therapist for the first year of his schooling.

He is now 8 years old and you would never know that he had excessive speech delays in both the receptive and expressive areas.

Hi,

Well took DSS to the speech therapist and she concluded he had a mild speech delay, possibly from minor hearing loss. She also said he had immature language. Eg: (Me went to the shop or can we go to hims house) She had advised when we made the appointment to have his hearing checked but I was unable to get an appointment before his speech appointment and she was still happy to assess him. So hearing is next priority, but he is back at his Mums then starts prep next Wednesday, so I will have to try and get him in on a Friday afternoon somewhere.. The speech therapist said that she she has seen kids from his school and the teachers there are really good and should be quick to pick anything up but he may not get intervention at the school as there may be other children a higher priority. The teacher then will give feedback to parent and see what happens.. SO... I will get his hearing checked when I can get him in and then take it from there.. I will be going with DP next Friday to pick him up from school so I will meet with his teacher and hopefully be able to build up some form of relationship with her (or him)..

Thanks for your replies an concern Squid ;)
Mrs Mac - How will I know if she's good or not? I don't really know what to look for.. At the assessment she seemed good.. Had a heap of flash cards and pages with a range of pics on them and just asked him to say what was happening on the picture. Every 3 pages she would reward him with a game.. I guess it would be the actually therapy and progress that would tell me more??

Dss' mother knew we were taking him and didn't even ask how it went :( Denial is not a river in Egypt (just had to throw that in there :D)

My DD2 is starting kinder this year with a speech delay. She's been seeing a speech therapist for the last 6 - 8 months. Its only about once a fortnight or once a month though, so I don't think its enough. I'm sending her this year, a bit early, as 1 - she's more than ready in every other way, 2 - I think school will really help her improve.

Try your local MCHN for a hearing test. Mine when DS was born was actually able to do it for me, but not many do. They know all the right people though :)

Good luck....now to break up a massive fight in the shower :rolleyes:

let us know when and how the hearing test goes best of luck xoxo