speech therapy?

[bluesky]

My darling two year old granddaughter just had a hearing and speech evaluation and was diagnosed with a significant speech delay, possibly speech apraxia, although the speech pathlogist at the children's hospital said she's a bit young for a firm diagnosis. Her ability to understand language is at about 3 years and her expressive language is at about 1 year.

We're trying to come up with the funds for intensive and long-term speech therapy. DD and SIL have health insurance but it does not cover any speech therapy. It's very expensive - and at two visits a week for two to three years or more it looks like a mountain right now.

Does anybody have experience or advice to share?

And just because I think she's so darned cute...

[Kmac15]

My sister, son and nephew had at least a couple years of speech therapy each. Now for all of them it was diagnosed in kindergarten. My sister started therapy in kindergarten and continued it through middle school. For my son and nephew they started in first grade and stopped in third.

Can you check if your school system offers it and what age?

[ya-ni-sa_song]

With a diagnosis you should be able to get services through your local school district. My recommendation would be to contact the head of special education or SELPA in your area.

Good luck!

I had a severe speech impediment caused by an undiagnosed severe bi-lateral hearing loss. Years of speech therapy did not help me. But with the guidance of an AMAZING linguist (a 30 minute conversation to be exact) I was able to learn how to speak so that no one is able to discern my impediment. Though it does slip in sometimes when I don't notice.

Best.

[Ravenlost]

Oh my, she IS adorable!

When my daughter was three she attended the speech center at the college I was attending. Even though they were students, the budding speech therapists (under the guidance of professional instructors) was able to help her overcome her stutter.

Do you have a local university that has a speech center? Costs are usually minimal.

[Kstornado11]

Is she also in Ohio? Check into Early Intervention ASAP, they go based on income.

http://www.olrs.ohio.gov/faq-ei-services

If not Ohio just Google Early Intervention/state

She is absolutely adorable!!

Opps I was wrong---

In Ohio, early intervention services are free.

http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/s...tervention.htm

[PollySC]

She's precious! My DS (now 18) was diagnosed with a severe speech delay at 2 1/2 yrs. The speech therapy wasn't that expensive then and I took him as suggested but it didn't help. He learned to talk around age 4, just as did an uncle of mine many years ago. Speech delay is very different than an impediment and it's much more common than you'd think. She's bright because her comprehension is above her age so I pray you will have a turning point soon. pm me if you want to know what we did to encourage speech (it's a little too long to type out here)

[katydidagain]

People who know me know would never guess that I didn't speak intelligently (okay, a few might argue I still don't) until I was 3. Delays aren't necessarily bad but just caused by a person's own path. BTW. when I finally spoke my mother expected full, profound sentences. Ha! Fooled her! I lisped and stuttered horribly until I was 6.

[bluesky]

According to the speech pathlogist the provisional diagnosis involves much more than just a delay:

Developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) occurs in children and is present from birth. It appears to affect more boys than girls. DAS is different from what is known as a developmental delay of speech, in which a child follows the “typical” path of speech development but does so more slowly than normal.

The cause or causes of DAS are not yet known. Some scientists believe that DAS is a disorder related to a child’s overall language development. Others believe it is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to send the proper signals to move the muscles involved in speech.

People with apraxia of speech usually need frequent and intensive one-on-one therapy. Support and encouragement from family members and friends are also important.

In severe cases, people with acquired or developmental apraxia of speech may need to use other ways to express themselves. These might include formal or informal sign language, a language notebook with pictures or written words that the person can show to other people, or an electronic communication device such as a portable computer that writes and produces speech.

We have checked early intervention services and DD has started the application process and we are really, really hoping that the diagnosis proves incorrect.

[katydidagain]

Originally Posted by bluesky

According to the speech pathlogist the provisional diagnosis involves much more than just a delay:

Does she have older siblings? I had 2 and 2 parents who responded to my incoherent "barks" just to shut me up; I had no need to "talk". When I was 6, I was sent to a group speech class in public school to fix my communication issues. The teacher would be known as a pedophile by today's standards (this was 50 years ago) because he pulled down the pants of any "bad speaker" and spanked them in front of the group; my lisp and stutter were gone in 2 weeks flat.

I'm not saying there aren't real reasons why children don't talk but sometimes there aren't. I wouldn't for a minute 2nd guess you; that was my experience and I hope you get yours resolved soon. Cute baby.

[Terri in WV]

My son was diagnosed with apraxia at 2 1/2. The only things he said at that age was ommy(mommy) and when he was mad he could say no and when he got really upset he meowed. He started using sign at about 14mths(my oldest uses sign so it was natural to teach the young ones early). He also has a 30% hearing loss in his right ear and is on a list for comprehensive diagnosis for Asperger's and dyslexia.

I got him into early intervention/birth to three program and then into head start so that he could get speech through school. The E.I. speech pathologist had us work on sounds using play. things like touching his nose and saying bop, bop, bop then touch his knee and say da, da, da etc... He didn't really start to talk until he was 5-5 1/2.

She should be able to get into head start and depending on their income they could check into ssi and possibly get a medical card to cover services for her. Teaching her simple signs like eat, drink, milk, ball, sleep etc. will help her communicate and keep her frustration down.

On the up side, my son is now 10 and NEVER shuts up!!

[Terri in WV]

I should also add that when Brandon did start talking he would have trouble getting some of the words out that he wanted and when they wouldn't come he'd say well, you know or I'll tell you later or he would sometimes replace a similar word with the one he couldn't get out(ie. baseball for football, slide for swing...). As he gets older it's becoming less frequent.

[bluesky]

Thank you Terri - that's encouraging. Fortunately Ava's hearing is fine so that's one barrier we don't have to worry about. I'll pass along the info to my daughter.

[Lizza]

This should be covered fully by her school district and/or the Head Start program (they don't go to Head Start, at least my nephew didn't, only to the Speech Therapy). Give a call to the school district and work your way from there.

Good luck!

p.s. what a darling baby!!!

[Joshie]

Early Intervention (EI) will pay for speech therapy until the day she turns 3. After that the school system will pay. Our DD even went to EI developmental preschool. Each state has a 0 to 3 program. EI will take your insurance as payment. Therapy won't break you through EI. I can't believe that the speech therapist didn't refer you to that program. They're supposed to refer those who may need it.

http://www.olrs.ohio.gov/topic-ei

Public schools will pay from the day she turns 3. I'd also call now for a screen. She should be able to start Early Childhood Education (ECE) when she turns 3. It was a wonderful program that really helped my daughter's development.

http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templat...RelationID=467

[HOTW]

Speech issues run in our family esp with the girls. Some of it is developmental as their ability to make sounds improves with age. Both of my girls had speech therapy thru the schools, my eldest had it worse and to this day people think she is British/New Englander because of the way she pronounces words. My son barely spoke as a child but at 3 1/2 sat himself down on my dad's lap and told him exactly how to drive a car! My eldest brother spoke very little til he was 5. My middle brother required intensive work because hs speech was unitelligible. But thru the years many speech therapists have told many of us that it is a developmental issue with the muscles as all the kids have exceptional speech at present.

Sometiems speech can be an issue with parents or siblings who anticipate the desires of the child. My youngest didn't speak much because her siblings didn;t require her to and I stepped in to tell them they had to make her ask. My nephew whose mother is a hoverer has poor speech but I blame it more on her than any other issue as he will speak well if she is not around but once she is in the room she erodes his confidence significantly and his speech deteriorates.

Check around and see what programs are available as other posters have suggested but don't worry too much as that will emphasize to her something is wrong. In out family it was W,S,TH, GR, F that seemed common issues.

[happycat]

My ds (now 17) has uni-lateral hearing loss, and he went through speech therapy at about age 5 or 6; we had to fight with the insurance company for many months to get them to cover it, but finally they did.

We had the option of speech therapy through the public school system (even though he was in private) but it was such a hassle with scheduling and red tape, we pursued the private. No regrets. Nobody now can tell he is deaf in one ear.

Having explored it at an earlier age, we elected to wait until he was a little older - that may not work for your granddaughter, but perhaps she's just developing at her own pace, which happens to be behind "average". Just saying not all kids are on the fast-track, but we usually all end up in about the same place.

[nancy237]

bluesky...
What is she able to do expressively??
Repeating small words, using one word to ask for something,
2 word combinations?? I have some experience and am wondering
exactly where she is expressively...

Does she seem frustrated with the gap between what she understands and what she can express??

[beccachow]

I am going to be in the minority here and postulate that some kids just develop at different rates than others. My DD is now 5, pretty much taught herself to read, uses big words regularly, and everyone is impressed at how articulate she is. However, she didn't begin to really speak until 2 1/2. Myself, I was the younger sis to a big brother who spoke for me, I had no need to speak. I learned with my DD, who is extremely intelligent by any standards, that the "milestones" don't always match. She was on the late end of everything...rolling over, crawling, walking, speaking. But clever as a whip. I just worry about how quickly some docs diagnose all sorts of issues and start a "treatment therapy" when it isn't indicated in reality...like how many diagnosis ADHD and such and start to medicate early on.

I don't want to offend you, and hope I haven't by wondering if you have gotten a second opinion. Really, a diagnosis of speech disorder from birth?! All that said, I know you can get state help with the coverage for the treatment programs. Good luck!

[ELOCN]

I would definitely get her started in speech therapy. My ex-husband definitely needed speech therapy, but he was one of six children and he never got it. As a grown man, he would say "wainbow" for rainbow, "ivory" for ivy, "golf" for gulf, "valves" for vowels, "singles" for signals, etc.

[stirfamily]

I have a bachelors degree in speech therapy. We had a free clinic at the college. If there's something like that near you check it out. All the student practioners are at least seniors and know what they are doing.
karen in NE Indiana