Speech Therapy????

Question

Good morning. My almost 3 year old Mia has a few little speaking issues. For example--"Over there" she would say " O-Bee Day" or "right there" would be "White they" She uses the p-sound and b-sounds instead of C's and F's , example- clap=plap, fox=box. She has several other little quirks too. I can understand her fine...but when she is speaking to others they can hardly understand her b/c they aren't familiar with her "language" I understand that a lot of these things will work out on there own but I would like to work with her as best I can now. I am teaching her older sister to read right now and Mia really like for me to give her "school" time too . So I thought that would be a constructive use of our play "school" time. Are there any good web sites or books that give little exercises or tip/techniques to use with her. When do speech issues become actual issues that need a speech therapist? Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

check out preschooleducation.com...they have lots of good ideas...also what i do with my kiddos that seems to help with speech is we constantly are talking and pointing out what the object is color ect...we repeat words alot in a fun way so the kiddos hear the correct sounds...as far as when do you seek speech therapy...i would check with your local headstart program and see what testing they do...good luck and have fun with your kiddos!

Answer 2

Hi,

I work for a public school district, in preschool for children with special needs, on the assessment team.  I am the social worker for the team, and perform intake services for families who are concerned that their child may have some type of delay, whether it be speech, autism, etc.  If you have concerns about your child's speech, you can contact your local school district special education department, and request an evaluation.  Preschool special education services are available to all children between the ages of three until they reach kindergarten age.  The school district provides both the evaluation and the speech services at no cost to the family (taxes pay for the program).  The evaluation will let you know whether or not her speech issues are developmentally typical, or if she needs speech therapy to help her develop speech correctly.  Early intervention is very helpful for children who are having difficulty with speech.  Many of the children in our program who start speech therapy at age 3, do not need speech therapy when they become elementary school age.  There is no guarantee, but the earlier intervention occurs, the better the results.  In addition, it would be very important to have a hearing test to make sure that hearing is not the source of her speech errors.  Often time, children are able to hear enough sound to respond, and it seems as if they are hearing, but there are many levels of hearing loss.  If your child is not hearing all the sounds it will interfere with her speech.  The only way to determine how well your child is hearing is through a hearing test.  I hope this information is helpful, and I wish you the best.

Answer 3

If your daughter isn't quite 3, I'd say you have zero to worry about at this stage.

Most kids do subsitute earlier-developing sounds like p/b and m/n for later-developing ones, like f/v, and s/z. As a general rule, strangers should be able to understand between 50 and 75% of what a 36-40 month-old produces. By age 4, it should be 100%. This does not mean that all speech sounds should be fully developed by then; some of the more difficult ones (s,z,sh,ch,j, dj) may not be totally mastered until second grade.

It's great you are reading to your kids. Dr. Seuss is especially great for language development since there is a simple story line, contrasting speech sounds and lots of silliness, which kids love.

Your daughter should be using simple sentences by now, which means more than 2-word utterances. However, plurals and endings/changes in verb tense such as words that end in "ed" count toward language complexity, too.

I agree a hearing test with a qualified audiologist would be a good idea.

If she isn't using 4-5 word sentences by 40 months, I'd recommend at least a speech screening and possibly an evaluation, which can be done through your local public elementary school at no charge. If she does need therapy, she can get it, too.

I DO NOT recommend you correct her speech yourself, other than modeling it for her. You are NOT a speech pathologist, nor have you any directive from one about how you can best help at home. There's a reason it takes a master's degree to be a speech pathologist-- it's much more involved than you think.

Answer 4

My oldest boy had speech issues and I took him to a local elementary school one day a week for an hour where he worked with a speech pathologist for free.  She helped him recognize and pronouce sounds and then he would take a fishing pole and fish for words to pronounce.  If he got it right, he put it in the fishing bucket, if he got it wrong, throw it back!  By the end of the year, he could read!  By the end of kindergarten, he was on a fifth grade reading level!  Please call your local school board office and see if you can have her screened and into a short, simple program like the one I took part in.  It was great!

Answer 5

I work in a preschool with PT OT and Speech therapists.  "Mia" should be evaluated for speech language delays at this time.  Call your local school district and find out where to take her for testing.

Answer 6

Kristi,

My daughter, like many children with speech issues, has speech delays stemming from a hearing problem (from ear infections, etc.).  So the first thing to do is to contact your pediatrician for a referral to an ENT.  Mia must be able to hear in order to improve her speech.

Also, reading is a huge component of how children learn to speak properly, so the more reading you can do aloud, the better.   Also, try playing a game with Mia while you are riding in the car or while you are coloring/playing/etc. together; you say a word or a sentence and let her repeat it after you, with stickers as rewards.  

There are a few websites out there that offer free info for therapists and parents- I have included the links below.  If you try this with no results, try contacting your local Early Intervention program (check with your city or town).  They can evaluate Mia and determine if she needs services from a Speech Therapist.  Good luck!

Answer 7

You seem to be very proactive in educating your children. A simple technique, which you are probably already using is modeling. For example, a child mispronounces the word clap and says "plap." The mother corrects her and says out loud the word "clap" and has the child pronounce it correctly or attempt to. This helps a lot in pronouncing words and using correct grammar - modeling and correcting the correct pronunciation or the way words should be said in a meaningful way.

This is a preschool website you can go to help your children in various subjects including the alphabet and sounds.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/prek....

In some universities, they provide free or very cheap services for speech therapy. This is probably an option you don't need, because it does not seem like your children have speech difficulties. They might be able to provide you exercises and tips to use with your children to enhance their speech, though.

Answer 8

How can you incorporate Mia's love of opera into something that will exercise her diction? You said she's interested in reading and school time. She could learn to read stories about operas and explore familiar and interesting topics at the same time she's practicing  pronunciation.

I found that non-verbal indications of errors (like a raised finger or touch on the forearm) alerted the learner and they would repeat the word or phrase.

The Muse

P.S. When my brother was facing challenges similar to this we found out it was simply that other, older people in the house were in a hurry and didn't give him time to learn and say what he needed to spit out. They spoke for him.

P.P.S. Does she have playmates outside of the family? Oftentimes, children change radically when they have to be understood elsewhere and especially in a peer group.