My son had ear tubes put in approximately a month ago. The tubes were put in to correct mild hearing loss as a result of middle ear fluid from an ear infection several months prior. Since the tubes, his comprehension has improved significantly. We can give him single commands ("pick up your ball", "give mama the crayon", etc.) and he understands them and responds.
However, his speech has not jumped as much as I would have hoped. We had an Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) evaluation and they determined he does have a slight speech delay. We've just started working with a speech therapist, but I wanted to find out if there are any online or other resources other moms would suggest. We'll keep working with the speech therapist, and I'm confident he'll catch up soon, but I'm always looking for other things we can try, too. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
We use Our Childrens house at baylor in grapevine. We did the ECI route too, but it wasnt very helpful (had a therapist who was always a no show or called in sick for half the apts). Baylor has been amazing and they also take most insurances. Good luck.
Hi D. - my son was born profoundly deaf and he is going to be 3 in October. He received his first cochlear implant at 9 months and his second this summer. We have had ECI and SLPs since he was 6 months and with constant parental/family assistance where we talk and talk and talk to him no stop all day long - he is age appropriate (if not advance!) for his age. You would never know that he was deaf. SO, my advise is to talk talk talk talk to him all the time - narrate everything you do even if it seems silly. Just making a cup of coffee for yourself or stacking up a bunch of blocks - narrate as though you were telling someone on the phone what you were doing. Good luck!
I would suggest toys that talk to give him extra exposure to the sounds of speech. Not "noisy" toys. I'm thinking of some of the Leapfrog items that sing the alphabet and sound out the letters, etc. They also have a fridge phonics(all magnets on the front of your fridge) You put the letter in the central magnet and it sings a song about it. THere is also Starfall.com. He is obviously too young to do it on his own, but you could sit with him and push the buttons for him. It is very colorful and explores letter sounds and reads short little stories. Anything you do that exposes his little ears and brain to the sounds of speech (and song) will help him. When he mimics the sounds, be very positive and if he just points to something he wants, say the words for it before you give it to him. And of course, just read with him. Point and name the pictures as you go.
This is all just my personal advice- I am not a doctor or speech therapist. I've had a lot of exposure to therapy with young children, so I've seen what works, though.
The more time you spend talking, the better things will get.
However, I've been using a Kindergarten Vocabulary curriculum with my 3 year old. It probably too advanced for where you'll be in the next year, but you may want to look into it for the future. It is all picture based and focuses on age appropriate words for things that a preschooler can grasp. It even covers some words multiple meanings. Wordly Wise 3000 from Educator's Publishing System (EPS): They have books for K-12. K and 1 need the teacher's manual for stories, poems, and the picture cards that go with the workbook. It's great and only takes 10 minutes a day to master 120 words in a year. It's about $80 each for K and 1 and about $12 for 2-12. It's well worth the cost. I've seen my son's vocabulary soar. We also got to the library and read easy science books on topics from our vocabulary stories. We've read about plants, water, deer, owls, rabbits, and more.
Also consider going to story time at the library. It's great and will expose your little one to all sorts of new books and concepts you can narrate and/or read to him about.
READ, READ, READ!
My son had the same problem. ECI did a wonderful job, they give you advice on how to work with your son in between visits. One thing I realized is my son will talk when he's ready. Some take longer than others, but as long as your constantly reading to him and talking to him he'll get there. ECI is a great service, so definitely keep it up and have patience. Good Luck!!
Hi, I'm an occupational therapist and I have a good friend who is a speech therapist. Her name is Julie Liberman and she is the owner of Speech Tx in Plano. She has a fabulous monthly newsletter that she sends out with ALL kinds of online resources and speech ideas. Her website is: www.julie_slp.com and her email is: ____@____.com
You can just email her and ask to be put on her newsletter list. You can also ask her to send you any ideas now or previous issues now so you don't have to wait for the next issue in October.
There is a speach therapist on mama souce. Her office is at Hillcrest and 635. If you would like her info let me know. She seems to be great. Julie is her name.
