Speech Delay - San Antonio,TX

Is this where their tongue tends to not always be where it should be with trying to say words... It has been over 30 years since my daughter had speech problems...the Apraxia seemed to ring bells in my head... If that is indeed his problem... He will do great... get a good speech therapist. We started my daughter with a speech therapist when she was about three or three and a half and continued for several years... But when she entered school and found out that she was seeing a speech therapist.. they said WHY (by that time she and the speech therapist were friends and the rate this lady charged was very little .... so they continued till the Speech Therapist moved when she was in lst grade. The Therapist made up fun things for her to do to help her tongue be where it needed to be.. and showed her where her tongue should be with various words and had her practice before a mirror... Worked well.. Blowing Bubble with the will bubble blower was another practice thing she did.

Good luck.

J.

My son (who will be 4 this weekend) was diagnosed with apraxia and phonological disorder this summer after we had read a lot about apraxia and were fairly sure that was what we were dealing with. He has been taking an Omega-3-6-9 supplement, which has been shown anecdotally to specifically help brain development in the area of speech, and we definitely noticed an improvement within the first few weeks of him taking it. He started speech therapy once a week in July and has made enormous progress. Just this week he started consistently making the ch and j sounds clearly...we were so excited! We don't have much luck with practicing the speech exercises at home (he gets quite aggravated), so I've left that alone and he still makes progress every week. Good luck with everything and get in touch with me privately through this board if you want more specifics!

Elisa,
No worries. My daughter was diagnosed with same at age 2, she is now 8. We cannot keep her from talking!!! We continued with private speech tutor and public at the same time. She is still in speech through the school district = working on her R's. You need to remind him to talk slowly and make sounds. I was VERY worried, but we are proof it will be okay. Take advantage of any programs you can.
Private speech really did the trick for us, yet I use public in school district as sorta a back up/tutor to keep it going and hit her twice a week. Hope this helps.

Don't wait for intervention. The sooner you tackle this the better. Speech delays can bleed over into a reading delay, which then effects the rest of their education. The a good speech pathologist or language therapist and start going. Do all you can to make sure the names of letters are learned. Then you can attach sounds once the letter names are learned. I work with the kids once they are older to learn letters and sounds so if you are working with a four year old. Get going. Whomever diagnosed the situation should be able to reccommend someone in your area. You will need a multi day program so make sure it is close. Good luck. A lot of work now will pay great rewards in the future.

Elisa,

My son was diagnosed with phonetic awareness disorder (I am not sure this is the same or even close) at age 6. After finding a great speech pathologist and undergoing therapy and reaching all his goals I can say he is doing great. He is now in 4th grade. He is a straight A student and you would never know he had any problems.

Hope this helps.

C. - A little about me. SAHM to T. boys - ages 9 soon to be 10 and age 5 soon to be 6. Married to my knight in shinning amour.

*Power blip-I don't think my previous reply went through* Our son made the best progress in private therapy. The school speech therapists are drowning in mounds of paperwork and often have to work with children in groups. We learned that a speech impairment is often associated with handwriting difficulty (I highly recommend the Handwritng Without Tears program) You can expect to spend extra time with spelling homework, as it is difficult to correctly spell a sound that you cannot properly pronunciate. Do not think that this is a reflection of your child's intelligence! Our son started speech therapy while still in diapers and didn't complete until in driver's ed! I used to have many a restless night concerned for his future. Let me assure you that the investment of time and money is well worth it. Our son is now in grad school with no hint of a previous speech impairment. The prognosis IS very good!

Hi Elisa~

My daughter is also 4. She too has been diagnosed with a phonological disorder. She started working with ECI (early childhood intervention) when she was 2. When she turned 3 she was turned over to the school and referred to the speech therapist there. She went once a week all during the school year last year. She just started back again and the speech therapist is amazed at her progress. You can understand most everything she is saying. She has a little problem pronouncing her "j" and "r" but that is about it.

So my advice is get him into speech therapy with your school asap. You will be amazed at his progress. The outcome for phonological disorders are extremely positive. Good luck!!!

Hi Elisa

I am a speech/language pathologist in Midland and yes both of those disorders are treatable and children do get better! The key is to get as much speech therapy as possible and for you as a mom to watch therapy and do the same activities at home. Going to speech 1 or 2 times a week and then nothing at home will not result in much improvement. So, get involved with therapy and learn how to play games and with toys WHILE you work with your son on his speech. Best of luck

L. Irvin, M.S., CCC/SLP

I've not dealt with this specifically, but I was wondering if you have your son in any speech / occupational therapy programs?