speech delay in 6 year old - Learning Disorders Message Board

mommyof5 · 01-27-2003, 10:50 AM

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post. I've tried posting in childrens health and parenting issues but didn't get any replies, maybe someone here can help or direct me to the right place to post?
My 6 year old daughter is still speech delayed, she has come a long way over the last 4 years but there are still times where Daddy, Grandma, aunt, siblings, teachers, or sparks (girl guides) leaders have trouble understanding her. Strangers often ask me what she has said. She had speech therapy at the hospital from 3 years old until 5 1/2 years old,but once you enter school the hospital stops and you have to rely on the school. She has been on the priority waiting list since September and still hasn't been assessed by the school speech pathologist! Does anyone else have a child this old with this problem?

mommyof5

Cnwannwn · 03-14-2003, 10:11 PM

Hello, I just came across your post and being a speech and reading psychologist I was disturbed to hear that you have not been able to have your daughter evaluated yet. I hope she has been since you posted the message but what I would do and have suggested to others is to contact a researcher at the local university's psychology or communication sciences departments. For you, it may be the university of Montreal? Either way, being a Langauge and reading researcher I have found that often for a small fee or even perhaps for free university researchers will do evaluations--in this case for your daughter's speech deficit.
Just to warn you, they may ask you for permission to use your daughter's data for research purposes but the evaluation should not be contingent on participating in research. In these cases the data collected is anonymous but you can say "no" and they should still do the evaluation. If you would like I can provide you with some names of individuals at Universities local to you who you could contact. By the way, dont post your address just what universities are closest to you.-tom

mommyof5 · 03-15-2003, 06:40 AM

GOOD NEWS! My daughter really was evaluated and will receive speech therapy through the school, unfortunatly it'll only be once every 2 weeks, but something is better than nothing!. The speech therapist will send home some exercises to do at home. She also would like my daughter to see an ENT to check her because she has a hoarse voice (always has) and I've been told before that most likely she has nodules on her voacl cords. She is also going to ask the school permission to allow her to have a water bottle with her at all times so she can drink a bit before speaking to help with the voice problem. I'll keep you updated if there is any more news.

mommyof5

kippy6 · 03-22-2003, 09:37 PM

Do you know what your daughter's diagnosis was...what she's having trouble with in speech?

Was just wondering if you had her hearing tested too? My daughter had a simple hearing test, and that was fine. But her Speech Teacher did some research (long story) and suggested she get tested for CAPD, which is Central Auditory Processing Disorder (or Delay). It just means that she hears faster in one ear than the other. The school could not perform this testing because it has to be performed by an audiologist. Turns out she does have it. Good thing is that she just goes to Speech Therapy (through the local Children's Hospital Network), and it can be corrected. Insurance is covering it for 30 visits. Just a thought.

mommyof5 · 03-23-2003, 04:38 AM

kippy6

My dd's problem is mostly articulation at the moment. She's never been given a "name" for her problem. She has gone through a lot to be able to speak. Here's a few examples of her words "tat" for "cat". "brama" for Grandma", "tootie" for "cookie", "tatie" for "katie", "prim" for "trim".
that's just a few, the "k" and "g" sounds she has never been able to get out! there are also others "th" but she can do that one if she concentrates really hard. Up until a year ago her vocabulary was very limited and she couldn't say words longer than 2 sylables (sp?). She will still use 3-4 word sentences but can carry on a conversation. I end up asking her a lot of questions to try and fill in the blanks and make sense of what she is talking about.

I am familiar with CAPD, my eldest dd - 12 and my eldest ds - 9 both have it. They can test for it at my childrens hospital starting at 5-6 but prefer to wait until the children are 7 1/2. I don't mind waiting as she is actually doing well in school (kindergarten) despite the speech problem. (The other 2 were having great difficulties). The other 2 also have ADHD and I suspect maybe she might have ADD (she's not hyper). My other dd - 7 also has ADHD but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have CAPD because her marks are VERY good (grade 1) and she learns things and retains the information very quickly and easily.

As far as hearing tests: yes, yes, yes. She's had so many ear infections and hearing test I've lost count. She had pe tubes put in when she was 2 1/2 but that only helped with the hearing and ear infections, not the speech. The tubes came out when she was 4 1/2 (1 1/2 years ago), they lasted a long time. She started getting ear infections again after they came out. Last fall/winter she had at least 6 ear infections and this fall/ winter she's had about 4-5. She'll be seeing another ENT in May to check whether or not they will put tubes back in (it's been recommended by her ped and local clinic and because she nodules on her vocal cords, especially because she still has the speech problems.) She is also scheduled to have another hearing test done sometime in April/may (they usually call a week in advance but I always ask the waiting time)

Gotta go the 3 year old ds is calling for me!

mommyof5