Comments on: Speech Therapy

By: fuzzymom

fuzzymom — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:11:42 +0000

Both of my kiddos were in speech therapy. ( my son for preschool only, my dd is in 4th grade and still gets services)

Here are some fun things we tried at home. They are simple enough and I am of the “it can`t hurt” mentality.

drinking thinned pudding through a straw

blowing cotton balls across the table using a straw

and of course simple kid things like blowing bubbles, chewing gum etc.

By: jemchina

jemchina — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:30:26 +0000

We are currently having our DD re-evaluated to see if she can “qualify” for speech therapy. Her Early Steps “teacher” thinks she may have speech apraxia, which is quite similar to what you described; such as, not having the muscle tone to form her speech pattern correctly. She trys, but the brain just does not fire off correctly. I attribute this to lack of stimulation and orphanage life. Anyway, she had suggested the evaluation be done by a speech pathologist, and therapy at least twice a week if it turn out she has this.

By: mom2be

mom2be — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:58:29 +0000

Please remember that English is your daughters 2nd language – I don’t know where she was language wise when you adopted her – hopefully at about 50 chinese words & maybe some 2 word Chinese phrases… She’s been home 18 months so one word uttrances & more vocabulary building for the English language would be about right… Once that vocabulary builds – look out! My own daughter (adoptd @ 19 months) has been home for 14 months & is just now starting to use 3 & 4 word phrases… That’s really hard for me to take as I’m an SLP & that would be delayed if English was her only language – I have a few resources I can share with you if you PM me. You’re doing the right thing by getting her evaluated – you’re a good parent to be concerned!

By: DoctorH

DoctorH — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:54:56 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve been here … but this post really speaks to me. My younger daughter is just over 48 months and shares a similar history to yours, RQ. We adopted her at 26 months in Feb 2008. She did not speak any English words –was babbling–until around 38 months (6 months ago, if you don’t want to do the math). She now is a one-word wonder, repeats everything, but her pronunciation still seems pretty bad to me. Does not yet use two words or express herself independently of phrases that she has been “given”. Evaluation by our speech therapist has said that so far development is “normal” but delayed. It confirms (as we suspected) that there are no other recognizable cognitive or physical impediments other than delay.

My biggest “issue” with this issue is finding information on kids like her. In fact, RQ, if it weren’t for your regular postings on Twinkle Toes, I would lack any concrete point of reference. I have looked very hard to find online examples and prognoses for kids with early deprivation issues and there is very very little. Very parents have raised this issue even in the China Adopt Talk forum. Moreover, discussions about early deprivation seem to always be aimed at kids who have been adopted at 4 or older and these also are not relevant for my child. The ages are so different and attachment also plays a role. Very hard to compare my girl with these kids.

The nagging question I have is whether her brain development is forever compromised? I would like to read/hear examples of kids with a similar profile not just neurological studies (not that there are many). Does anybody know of any forums where this is the main discussion point? I so identify with the parents here who have said that they worry that their child will never sound like kids their age. Will they ever? Our therapist says that one of the good signs of her potential is that her development areas are in disharmony. (Motor skills development has caught up quickly and she has grown 2 years physically in 18 months – now the size of a 3 year old.)
But will she ever catch up cognitively? I would love to have some idea of what “catching up” looks like. How long does it take? Is she following a normal trend line or is she definitely lagging?

Its particularly important for me to have some access to information because we are US/UK citizens overseas. However, as I read through these posts, I get the feeling that no one in the States has much better access than we do to information. We have access to therapy over here and State side, but I really seek independent sources of information from experiences of other parents and from published sources. It would help us feel more in control of her treatment plan and eventually her academic life.

By: nanbwill

nanbwill — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:52:26 +0000

My DD who will turn 6 in January was adopted at 3 yrs 10 months. She was not eligible for EI due to age and the school system said she would be eligible for ESL, but not speech therapy since she has only been in this country less than 2 years. She is also very petite, 29 lbs and size 2T or 3T, but very bright, like TT. We have her in a Montessori school in the pre-primary class (ages 3-5) as a “4 year old” so she can be with the 5 year olds where she is ready and yet still work on skills of the 3 & 4 year olds. She is learning to read and do phonics through school, big sister and mom (who is a reading teacher) which has really helped with beginning, middle and ending sounds. She has no trouble communicating, even when we don’t understand the words…she will draw or show us what she means. We pay for part of her private speech therapy (high deductible and co-pay) but the therapist works with her on grammar, parts of speech and concepts as much as the actual mechanics of speech. The main reason we held her back from kindergarten was speech.

By: sammarshall

sammarshall — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:28:02 +0000

It would definitely be worth looking into speech options through the communications dept at any local colleges/universities. Our 3 yr old has a significant articulation delay buts tests ahead in all other areas (including receptive). She is not eligible for services through the school here due to her scores and having only one issue (they will waive scores if there is a second delay). She is not eligible through our insurance since there is no medical cause. She currently gets 2 one hour sessions a week at our local University. One is a small group session with 2 SP students and a faculty member the second is a one on one with 1 student and a faculty member. She loves it, it is working and it’s free. Another great program for kids in this Gray area is the Elks Major Project. We have an sp who comes into our home one day a week for 45 min to work with our daughter as well, also free. Their focus is kids who fall through the cracks after they age out of EI.

We couldn’t pay for 3x a week speech but going that often makes all the difference for our daughter. The $300 an hour we were quoted is being saved for college instead.

By: fromchinawith3

fromchinawith3 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:41:44 +0000

While my daughter (home 3 years now, adopted at 27 months), doesn’t have speech pronunciation issues, she still struggles with vocabulary and forming sentences when she is frustrated. She was very delayed for about the first 2 years home with non-existent sentence structure and a very limited vocabulary. Sometime in the last 9 months, however, something just clicked with her. Her vocabulary has improved tremendously, and she is only about 6 months behind where she should be. We never did speech therapy with her, but had her evaluated by a pathologist and worked with things at home with her that were suggested to us. When she is stressed, her ability to communicate still goes out the window, but at least those times are far fewer than they used to be. We homeschool, so the school system was never an option for us. However, I think it has helped her speech b/c we can really work intensively on vocabulary and sentence development.

By: bahk

bahk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:16:48 +0000

I have never posted on the blog before, but felt that I had to reply to this post. I am an Early Intervention Special Educator and work with children in the birth to 5 population. RQ, what you have talked about is against the law. No one can tell you that because speech won’t effect test scores your child does not qualify. The law states that you only need a 25% delay in speech to qualify for services. I know someone said this, but I would send a letter or hand present a letter to the public school your girls would go to and have them stamp the date on the letter. They have 10 days to set up a meeting to respond to that letter and 30 days to hold an IEP meeting. You can, in the letter, request that you are willing to waive your 10 day notification of the meeting to get a meeting as soon as possible. If the assessments are more then a year old they have to redo the assessments. You as a parent have the right to request those assessments be done and they can not tell you they don’t have to do them. Depending on the results of those assessments (language and articulation) not the educational assessments (they do not count for speech services) those will determine if TT should get services. There are timelines for everything, so don’t let them put anything out to long.

On another note we use our insurance to cover PT and OT for my oldest son. Both of my children have been through Infant and Toddlers, but my oldest has a genetic disorder that has required that he get PT, but he is functionally mobil and doesn’t qualify through the school system. He is also very tiny, at 4 1/2 he doesn’t weigh 30 lbs and he is a good size 3T, but the 2T still fall his bottom. The OT is our choice to deal with sensory issues that have developed due to an anxiety disorder. We did switch insurance so we can bill for out of network service, but that covers the psychologist, OT, PT and other holistic doctors that we have chosen to seek out for him to help.

Hope things work out.

By: sophie_mom

sophie_mom — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:52:23 +0000

I understand the frustration.

While my 3.5 year old doesn’t have any speech issues, she is very tiny for her age and often gets mistaken for a baby. The other day we were at a store and a girl who was younger than her said to her mom loudly, “Awww…look at that baby”, to which Sophie shouted at her, “I’m NOT a baby!”

At 3.5 years old she still wears size 18 month clothes. Kids in her classroom at daycare attempt to pick her up and treat her like a baby. Very frustrating.

By: BeiLeesmom

BeiLeesmom — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:38:37 +0000

All of this reminds me that I used to say that IA would prepare me for the part of motherhood that requires coordinating 50 forms and dealing with bureaucracy. I always said it as a joke, then I discovered the joys of navigating the early childhood programs. They are no match for any parent who did the paperwork for China, and we just need to ask for the rules so we can figure out how to work within them for our children.