DD just dx' with a speech delay....please help!

[daisy1234]

DD just got evaluated this week and was found to have a delay in articulation ...especially leaving off consanants at the end of words. She is almost 3. She speech is not very clear to strangers and other family members. She has an IEP scheduled for May. Speech services are really backed up from what I hear and are very expensive out of pocket. Does anyone have any tips, ideas for encouraging language? I just don't know what questions to ask...I am in a new state (PA) so I am sooo unfamiliar with their system. I was encouraged by the SLP that she is young and that she will be fine by Kindergarten. Also....NowI am a bit worried about preschool....Should I look for anything special when looking at pre-school ...Any ideas or encouragement welcome! Thank you! Also...she will be three in March...do you think I should try to get her in this year for a few months. Would this help? There is a nice little school and they already have 2 children in the 3 year old class that are receiving spreech services. I need to call them this week and talk with them. She just seems so little for school....we were going to wait until Fall.

[M&Mmom]

I'm a PT who works with early intervention (0-3 y/o's) and in Colorado at least there are specific public preschools that take kids who need intervention and they provide the intervention. I would recommend asking about that and if they don't have anything like that I'd probably go with a private preschool and talk with the teacher about special projects for your child. Your insurance may cover speech therapy and if not the therapist would probably work something out with you that you can afford.

I wouldn't worry too much. However, I would definitely start preschool and at least talk to a SLP and get some suggestions on what to work on at home. Even if you only get one or two visits they can often give you lots of resources and ideas. If you want to give me some more details of what they evaluators said I could ask my SLP co-workers for some advice/tips.

Good luck!

[mariza]

I would definately call your local Early Intervention office and see what they recommend. EI services stop at 3, so they may not be able to help, but I'm sure they could point you in the right dierection. At DD's 3 year checkup last month her pedi said the same thing about her articulation. We're lucky enough to live in a town that has an awesome Family Program for kids from birth to age 4 sponsored through a grant program through the public school system. It includes free playgroups, parent guidance/classes, etc.
The director there has been wonderful and got me connected with the local preschool for an evaluation. Normally there is a lottery to get into the public preschool, but if she is found to need services then we are given a confirmed spot!
I'm sure if you ask around you will find lots of resources. Good luck!

[kochh2]

I'm a pedi PT as well.. in NY... and those are all good suggestions-- I also wanted to say, there are simple things you can do at home to help strengthen her oral muscles, such as blowing bubbles, sucking from a straw vs. a sippy sup, and playing "copy me" in a mirror-- like, make a face, and have DD copy your face while looking in the mirror together...not earth shattering, bu ti hope it helps!!

[spanannie]

My son, had some speech issues (lacking speech) at 2+, and we did some EI for about 5 mos and he seemed fine; in fact, he never officially qualified for services, but they worked with him anyhow. In preschool, at 3, we found he had the articulation issues. 9 mos or so of Speech Therapy solved this. His language didn't seem affected. Around 4.5, preschool had concerns about his communication with others, and we discovered his expressive language was affected. It didn't take too much more therapy, 6 mos.?, but he's 5.5 and doing great! He still has trouble with word retreival at times, but he still is in the "normal" range. He's also still having some issues with the 'th' sound, but that is one of the last to come, IIRC about a 7 year old skill. 'L' was the last letter he was having trouble with, but has mastered it. They'll want us to check him later if the "Th" problem persists.

Our insurance did not cover any speech therapy. When we were working on artic., we went to a lady in her home, which was very nice, since it was $80/hr; a 30 min session 2x/week. Once we started working on expressive language, later, we were at a place that was $100/hr; 1 hr session 2x/week. It was expensive, but WELL WORTH IT, seeing that he is "normal" now. I think had we let this go, it could have had much more of an effect on expressive language/social skills than it did.

I would think that articulation problems are common at your DD's young age, so this may be something that she outgrows, however, I would take the steps necessary to intervene, since it can lead to other issues.

My son ended up in OT, as well, with Fine Motor Delay (at 4). They say that often problems with the mouth and hand come together. Yet another reason to get on top of it.

I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions on things you can do at home, but I can say positively that he did get past this, and it won't be a problem that affects him throughout school, since we tackled it early.

I wouldn't worry about finding a special preschool. Our preschool is mainstream and the teachers were open to implementing anything that was suggested by the therapists. I think that is what you would want to keep in mind. They were more than happy to do whatever it took to help him, and even met with the therapists, as necessary.

Best of Luck!