Advice for Daughter with Speech Delays

K.,

My son had/has the same problem. we had a speech teacher come in so many times a week and worked with him on it. and we did the sign language which helped a lot. I have not heard of the "bee smart Baby" but my husband and i worked on talking slower and tell our son to slow down because we can not understand him. it was the hardest thing to see our son fight so hard to talk to us. but he is now 5 and is talkin so much better. i would talk to ECFE or Minnesota Valley Action Councel and see what they can do to help you. I hope this helps. Good luck.

P.

I have been through speech therapy with nearly all the hospitals in twin cities. My daughter has a severe speech disability. (Her rehab specialist was adamant about labeling it a disability instead of a delay for insurance reasons- as they tend to place the burden on the school district if its called a delay).

I have to say the the courage center (we go to the Burnsville location)has worked out the best for us. They offer the most well-rounded therapy in my mind- offering homework and ideas to parents etc. They have been a god send. I also have a great home therapy book/program you can work on and would be happy to send you the website info if you are interested. We ordered it from a therapy/toy catalog for special needs children.

Fraser school and St. Davids probably have the best integrated therapy curriculum in the state in my opinion. My daughter went to Fraser there and although its convenient to have them work with them during school hours- I feel that we missed out on some things we could have learned from attending as parents (although I don't think they would have been opposed to us attending.

Again, we love the Courage center, it's facilities and everything it has to offer!

You may also want to look into ASL classes offered through community education. They tend to be very affordable. moreover, you may wish to collaborate with a county social worker- you may be able to have some of this stuff reimbursed.

Hi - I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's speech delays. That is great that you are taking such a proactive role and getting her to see a speech therapist. As for daycare centers that work with sign language or speech delays, I think the "chains" (New Horizons, La Petite) do offer some sign language curriculum, but maybe you can ask your speech therapist for recommendations?

As for sign lang videos, we use the Signing Times series and they are WONDERFUL. They sell them on amazon.com and www.signingtimes.com

Good luck - keep us posted!

Hi K. I dont know where you live but the New Horizon in Chaska is wonderfull. They teach sign language and they work with the kids on langusge and speech everyday. My daughter is also a little behind and went there for almost a year. She learned 50 new words in that one year I was so happy that I could start to understand her. She is now at home with me because I am on bedrest and can not work untill after the baby is born. We work on things everyday but I think she learned more in daycare cause the other kids were there too. I hope that you find something to help you and your little girl.

B.
sahm of mika marie 2 yr old with another little girl on the way.