My 3rd grader is fine in terms of speaking informally in short sentences but when he needs to tell a story or recount something that happened, he's missing chunks of key information so that the story makes no sense at all to the person he's talking to. He also sometimes has trouble understanding verbal and/or written instructions (i.e in homework) unless I explain it to him. He's always excelled in school and none of his former teachers had any concerns so I didn't do anything but it always kind of nagged at me. This year, I asked his teacher her thoughts and she said that she actually had noticed and was observing him as she was just getting to know him. She is going to talk to the school's speech therapists and think it's something to do with his comprehension. I'm kind of freaking out a little. I was hoping I was just paranoid since none of his previous teachers seemed concerned. All the information I can find on speech and language therapy is for toddlers and preschoolers. What can I expect for a 3rd grader?? Anyone else start late who can give me an idea of what to expect? Did your child improve even though intervention started later than preschool? Thanks!
Please get him evaluated. He sounds like he has expressive language deficits. There are many things that the therapist can do to help him. You need to get started as soon as possible.
You need to observe what the speech therapist does with him and work at home with him on a home program. Spend time with him every single day on it.
I think most people think articulation when they think of speech therapists. It's amazing just how many different things a speech therapist is qualified to address.
Our son has been in speech since he was about 2 1/2. It did start because of articulation. Well, really because he wasn't saying much. He had very few words. He is now in 3rd grade and in speech, but the articulation stopped being a concern when he was 5.
Our son in on the Autism Spectrum. He is in speech to help with social communication. His therapist plays games with him, works with him in groups, gives him situations, etc. All types of things to enhance his social skills. They also work on comprehension, organizing things (objects or pictures), putting them into categories or ordering them (biggest to smallest, darkest to lightest, etc). All of those things have greatly increased his reading comprehension and his ability to have conversations with others - other students, peers, teachers.
I know it's overwhelming to hear that your son is struggling, but this could be exactly what he needs. As a parent, it is so exciting to me that schools have these resources and teachers that have these specialties. Parents don't always know what to do. We often recognize that our child is struggling, but we often have no idea how to help them. Talk to the speech teacher yourself, if you can. Tell her (or him) what you've observed, what your concerns are, ask lots of questions. I think you'll find your young man to be in good hands.
I have to state that I am not a psychologist or doctor, but in my unprofessional opinion this sounds like what is called an "executive function" problem. It's not an issue of intelligence or cognition, it's difficulty in completing tasks, being able to organize one's time or thoughts, being able to plan ahead. And one executive function is the ability to tell a story or give directions without missing important sections of the instructions or the story. That skill requires one to have a beginning, a middle and an end, and to progress smoothly through all three parts.
My niece has Executive Function Disorder, and she too has great difficulty talking about her school day. She'll jump right from "so we were in math class" to "do you think our group should have gotten in trouble for that?". But she gets therapy, and has a 504 plan which helps her plan her work more thoroughly and other assistive aids, and her skills have improved significantly. And oh, she's in 9th grade. And she started therapy and got her 504 plan at about 5th or 6th grade.
You might do some research on Executive Functions and see if this might describe your son. Don't freak out! It's a teachable skill, and actually kids who need a little help with executive functions often benefit when they are older. The occupational or speech therapy they get helps them in high school and college and in a career when all those functions (organization, planning ahead, delivering cohesive and coherent instructions to a team or colleague, managing time, comprehending and following through on instructions, self-discipline and restraint) are invaluable.
Often, Executive Function Disorder doesn't show up in the very early years, because toddlers and kindergarten kids don't have to do a lot of planning. They're learning to sit still, to share, to listen to the teacher, to read and print and use a keyboard, but they don't have to plan projects or give a detailed talk to the class or give an oral report.
It's good that the teacher is aware, and it's good that you are too. It's great that you're willing to see that your child is having a problem, and that you're willing to seek help. That's one sign of a good parent! Your son is lucky to have you as his mom, on his side!
so shes talking to the therapists, but it may just be a comprehension problem not a speech one. don't freak out just yet. in any case the outcome will be that he needs some help with it and its not going to be horrible. the child will be fine.
breathe momma!
That is normal for kids that age. They are leaning how to put stories in sequence. Can their comprehension is not always on point. But I don't think it has to do with speech or language therapy. He may need some extra help. If the school is willing to do testing on him let them and see what they say. Stop freaking out until you know for sure there is something wrong. They you still should not freak-out. They will give you a course of action they feel needs to be taken.
My nephew started speech therapy around that age. He had his adenoids out after having years of trouble hearing and his speech just needed some help so they just went to some sessions, but mostly my sister worked with him (so she went to the sessions, and learned how to help him).
We did speech therapy when mine were younger, but again, a lot of it was me working with my son - so you learn the tools and tips yourself and work on it at home.
If they do this at school - I think that's wonderful. They did it through my son's preschool and it was fantastic. I went to a few sessions with him, then we all worked on it together.
Has he had his ears tested? My kids had fluid in their ears and tubes helped (and one had adenoids out). It was much worse (speech) after a cold or allergy season. Just wondering if that's why you're picking up on it now.
Speech Language Pathologists provide therapy for early language learning, articulation, and yes, complex language comprehension and usage in older children. It may be that your son's skills were just within typical range until this grade, and now more complex skills are needed. Kudos to you and the classroom teacher for approaching this from a "What can we do to help him improve these skills?" point of view. And yes, SLP's provide valuable services to third graders and beyond. All my best.
Hello W. W.:
I can only give you my experience as a parent of a now teenager who had expressive language issues ....He was in speech therapy from the time he was 2 thru 5th grade for an unspecified speech delay and subsequent related disfluency - he had early intervention(don't get me started there), a private speech therapist for a few years and also the speech therapists/pathologists at our local public schools. With that said the speech therapist he had in elementary school, did help him put his thoughts in order to express them properly and write more than: "I went to the movies. It was good" along with his artic. issues. It really shows now that he's in high school. Even though math and science are his strengths, he really does write some good stories. So....IMO: it probably wouldn't hurt to have him at least evaluated ....
Good luck
