May. 30, 2006 - A Homeschooling Question
So I know I'd said I'd post on my Other Blog but this really is homeschooling related.
When and how would you decide to "do something" about a preschooler's speech? And what would be your first step? Would you try things at home, first, or would you have the child evaluated first?
Why do I ask? My 3 year old (turned 3 in March) has very difficult to understand speech. Even for us.
He's very good at making his wishes known with gestures. He's obviously bright and comprehending well. And many of the sounds that he doesn't pronouce correctly he seems to be able to, if we stop and correct him. He's amiable to try and re-pronouce things for awhile.
For example. He normally says "Hoos" for "shoes". He *can* make the shhhh sound, but doesn't, normally. If we ask him to repeat "Shoes" he will say "hoos" -- if we practice "shhh - oes" he will repeat "shhh - hoes" a few times. When we work on it for awhile he's even, occasionally, overcorrected, adding a thoughtful "shhh" to the wrong word (shhhh - happy) or the wrong place "Shhhh- Elmo Hoos" instead of Elmo Shoes. So anyway, my point being that he CAN make the sound, but it hasn't *stuck* ...
Other sounds he can approximate *closer* if we try -- like P he normally says with his upper teeth on his lower lip, rather than together. But gets closer if we practice,although maybe not quite achieving a mature p sound ....
So. Most of the time we work on it in a relaxed sometimes way, but chalk it up to being a late bloomer in the speech department, but not really a *problem* ... but occasionally I'll talk to a 2 year old who speaks leagues more clearly, and I start to wonder if I should be more concerned or pro-active. I know about the Straight Talk 1 program from NATTHAN but not sure it's time to invest $55 in it (and haven't seen it elsewhere, cheaper ...)
What do you think?
Comments
May. 30, 2006 - pre-schooler speech
Posted by Anonymous
The VERY FIRST thing I would do is have his hearing tested. That's what we did with Ben. That will at least answer the question of whether, under normal conversational volume conditions, he's maybe not hearing things as clearly as when you sit in front of him and clearly (and perhaps more loudly) repeat a sound.
~Betsy
May. 30, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ElCloud
Well, I bought Straight Talk used. I think I posted a wanted at vegsource, or something. Only, I found I never stuck with the lessons very long. :-/ However, R's speech improved on its own, slowly. Now, at age 9, if she is not going too fast, she's clearly understandable. We still need to work on F's with J and C, though. Apparently, these 3 are just slow to mature in speech. :-/ M is following in their footsteps. I wonder sometimes if I did something wrong with them ... like not speaking to them enough or correcting them enough. A didn't have any problems, really. But I still think Straight Talk was worth it. It helped me learn how to teach them, for one thing. Once I learned how, I could do it as part of everyday life, not a sitdown lesson.
May. 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by momofmore
G still has some speach problems, but some were corrected after his surgery to snip the cord under his tongue. You might check and see if he can stick his tongue out and touch his nose. That is what the dr said was the test to see if the frenulum (I think that is how it is spelled and what it is called) is tied. I would try working daily with slowing down the speach and working on a list of words that are daily used words.
Understanding and praying for you all. J still needs some help and is 11.
May. 31, 2006 - <i>Untitled Comment</i>
I'm not sure what to recommend for this...I had a similar problem with Natalie, and she eventually grew out of it. (Although, if you read my entry for today, you'll see that we still have some odd situations with her speech sometimes.) But I'm always hesitant to say, just wait, they'll probably outgrow it, because if they don't, I would feel horrible for giving bad advice. So...basically this is a useless comment. Just ignore me.
Edited by Leigh2 on May. 31, 2006 at 7:29 AM
May. 31, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by HoweyHomestead
When I was teaching, it was very rare for my students (1st graders) to be evaluated. The speech therapist would evaluate when they were in second or third grade to give them a chance to "grow out of it".
However, we have speech issues at our house and I wasn't overly comfortable with the "wait and see if they grow out if it" approach. So, I had a gal from church (former speech therapist) come over to listen to my little darling. She could hardly understand her, but wasn't overly concerned about her speech (at 4 years old) because we could understand her.
I would think that if you are having trouble understanding him, then maybe he should be evaluated. I know in our area there are lots of independent speech therapists that are available for that.
I will be interested to see what happens, since this is always something in the back of my mind.
Blessings to you!
Robbin
Jun. 7, 2006 - speech
Posted by blessedwoman
Hi Kim!
We took James to speech therapy at 3. He wasn't talking AT all though, just grunting-Teletubby talk. One thing they told us was NOT to have him repeat the words to you but in the course of the day just talk to him and label words.
Ex: Oh! Look at the blue bird. It's flying so high.
Just fill him full of words and they'll come out!
What we did though at speech therapy for a three year old was in a group class. There were three-four little ones and the teacher would read them a book with the lift-up flaps, do the parachute, or different games. She just pumped the info in and let them talk as they wanted. Eventually he had an individual class. He transferred to somewhere else and we stopped going because of the Autism behavior. It was too much to deal with. He did get involved again and just finished up at nine years of age. Now, I can't get him to stop talking!!!
Hope that was helpful!
Vikki
Jun. 14, 2006 - My experience
Posted by abcacademy
When our oldest son started Kindergarten, I was very concerned because he had several sounds he just simply did not say but would consistently substitute other letters for these sounds. I looked into getting him some speech therapy but the doctor told us that in our area, the public school was the only source for such a thing and because we try to fly under the radar of the public school, I wasn't too excited about asking them for help. I decided to wait. As he learned to read, every single speech issue resolved all by itself and by the time he turned 6, he had no problem at all. I am now concerned because my 4 year old has a similar problem but it seems even more severe. I am hopeful he will grow out of it as well. Our daughter spoke as clearly as an adult when she was 2 so I think it just really varies from kid to kid. I am no expert, but if he is only 3, I think I would give it some more time.
Jun. 15, 2006 - Speech and unspeech
Posted by Katartismosacademy
When Martin was a baby, he didn't make anything but grunt noises until he was almost two. I had his hearing tested and it was completely normal. One day he came out with a sentence and shocked me out of my socks. In 3rd grade, the PS sent him to speech therapy. It didn't help a bit. By age 13 he was completely understandable.
Blair and Jon both had trouble speaking understandably until they were about 7. I taught them sign language against the recommendation of everyone knowledgeable. They eventually became understandable and the sign language merely helped us avoid frustration on both our parts. Kate didn't have any trouble at all, but was not the big talker the other three were.
Then came Christi. She didn't nurse well, had trouble adjusting to a spoon, gagged a lot on solid food, got hiccups every time she ate, I thought for sure this kid was "tongue-tied." Nope, the frenula was perfect, the doctor said. There are still times (at age 8) that she can't be understood by anyone but me. We used Straight Talk with her a little, when she felt embarrassed by her speech, but sone enough she became comfortable with the idea that she would outgrow it.
Rose is only 6, but still has trouble with f, th, and other difficult sounds. But she is improving at her own rate.
I highly recommend a thorough hearing and frenula check. But if his speech doesn't bother him, don't let it bother you. Teach him a few signs to ease the frustration, if you like, and be his mouth for him until he's ready to be his own. If he still has a problem when he's old enough to be embarrassed by it, he'll take to the practice more easily and it will be important to him.
Jun. 15, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by JenIG
i just had to come by and tell you that your last comment on my page made me LAUGH! you are too funny.
and ps my son dippy is six and he still can barely talk. i have not started worrying about it yet.
Aug. 7, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by writmm
Hi there! It absolutely counts if you went to Amber's site first. I loved the way you said "it's our Melissa Markham" That made my evening:) I will try and email you a copy of the ebook now. It is in pdf format. I am going to see if I can get your email from your hsb site. Melissa
Aug. 9, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by JenIG
The last comment you left me (about your sloppiness) was SO funny. you totally killed me.
