speech delay - Parenting Issues Message Board

mommyof5 · 01-25-2003, 11:52 AM

My 6 year old daughter is still speech delayed, she has come along 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

Cheryl3 · 01-27-2003, 09:17 PM

Hi there,
I am an occupational therapist with a public school district in the states. Your regulations in Canada are probably very different from ours, but when a parent signs for permission for the speech therapist to evaluate their child, the district has to state in writing on the form how long it will take to complete the evaluation. In the district I work in now, it says on the form something like, "the length of time needed to complete this evaluation is 45 days, and will be completed on or before such-and-such a date." That is the law, and if we go beyond that date we have to notify the parent and have them sign again, but everyone takes the law pretty seriously and the evaluation is almost always completed in that amount of time.

If you signed a form requesting a speech eval or granting permission for one, I would dig it out and read the fine print to see if they gave an estimated date of completion. If so, I would call the principal or director of special education in your district and complain. That kind of wait is ridiculous!

But to answer you question, yes, a lot of children have articulation problems at that age. They are very common. In fact, it may be that your daughter's problem, although very noticeable to you and others, is still considered "age-appropriate" in speech therapy terms. For example, kids in our district who haven't mastered the "r" sound do not even qualify for an eval until they have reached the age of seven. That's because even though a lot of kids have mastered the sound before then, it just isn't considered a "red flag" until the age of seven. In other words, they aren't going to give the kid a label and declare them "delayed" until they are really delayed.

I don't know if any of that made any sense (it's bedtime for me!), but rest assured that your daughter's problem is not uncommon and she may yet grow out of it, even without speech therapy. My son had a horrible stuttering problem at the age of 4 or 5 which was declared "age-appropriate" by the speech therapist (much to my consternation), but by jove she was right, and he did grow out of it. He's still not real quick verbally, but at least everyone can understand what he's saying. Lots of children with those types of problems improve by the later elementary school grades (and believe me, I've known a lot of them!). Good luck!

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Cheryl

mommyof5 · 01-29-2003, 04:54 AM

Well I spoke to the principal yesterday and he said he would leave a note for the speech pathologist to check into where she is at on the waiting list. I also explained to him that some of the kids at school are ridiculing her and that she's a sensitive child. He told me she needs to firm up a bit and tell them to stop, not just cry about it. He is right in a way, she does need to learn to defend herself but she's never conflicted with other children so she hasn't had to! Even at home ( with 4 other siblings) she gets along with all of them. In the school yard It's her older sister (13 months older -an inch shorter and 10 lbs lighter, lol!) who tells off the other kids for her, but she's not always right beside her to protect her. supposedly our speech pathologist comes in only on mondays and next monday is a ped day for the kids so the pricipal doesn't even know if she be in or if it'll be the monday after before she will even get my message,ugh. 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 know that other kids won't bother doing that and teachers don't really have the time, they had time at daycare because there were only 8-10 in a group). Her self esteem is low (I'm not surprised). Do you know of any message boards geared toward older speech delayed kids?
mommyof5

Cheryl3 · 01-29-2003, 04:49 PM

You might try Parentcenter.com

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Cheryl

mommyof5 · 02-09-2003, 11:04 AM

After speaking to the school principal 1 1/2 weeks ago, my daughter comes home Thursday to tell me that she spoke to the "girl" I had been asking her about. I kept asking her if a lady had taken her out of class to talk with her to see how she talks (for about 2 months now). So when she said "girl" I got confused. She kept telling me she couldn't remember her name but it was the "girl" I kept asking about, so I asked her what they talked about, she told they talked about her "K's" and "G's" (but the way my daughter talks she says "T's" and "B's"), and that they played "fish game" and something else. She also said the "girl would be back in 2 weeks". I hope that's a good sign!

That night I wrote a note in her agenda asking the teachers if what my daughter was talking about was her evaluation. The next day the response was "yes" and that I would be getting a letter from the SLP next week.

I'm SOOOO happy that something has finally started, I just hope they will actually provide services for her!!!!!!!!! Our school board seems to have a shortage on every possible Service I need (I have 3 others who require extra help also because they are ADHD). Resources are Very limited!

I will keep you posted about what the letter says when I receive it, but I'm still very nervous I'll get some response like "she'll grow out of it".

The SLP at the hospital had predicted that she wouldn't be at par with her peers come time for kindergarten but that her delay would be so slight that it really wouldn't be noticeable... not true!

mommyof5

[This message has been edited by mommyof5 (edited 02-19-2003).]

[This message has been edited by mommyof5 (edited 02-19-2003).]