Tell me about Speech evaluation and therapy for 5 year old

[niccig]

A friend was looking after DS for an hour for me today. I drop him off at her house, and her's son's speech therapist was there. When I pick DS up, my friend told me that the ST suggested I have DS evaluated. My friend was talking with DS and the ST stopped the therapy with my friend's son and asked DS a few questions, so she had a little conversation with him. She said there were a few sounds he is not making correctly and he tongue thrusts when he talks. At his age, the ST said he probably wouldn't improve on his own, and that I should have him evaluated to see for sure, as she only had a few minutes coversation with him. I have to call the ST tomorrow to find out more.

DS was evaluated at his preschool when he was 3, all the kids were evaluated if the parents wanted it. The report then said that he had problems with a few sounds that was developmentally appropriate, but if it didn't approve by a certain age, he should be evaluated. It's been in the back of my mind that I need to have it checked. I paid more attention to his speech today and sometimes he does stick his tongue out between his teeth when he talks, and it sounds like he's lisping - I had a lisp and ST as a kid. There have been some times when I can't understand a certain word, and he has to repeat himself or explain himself more. It's not all the time though, and no one has ever said he's difficult to understand. I've put it down to him not being able to say certain sounds correctly as reported when he was 3, and thought he still had some time to self-correct. But maybe not.

So what do I do? The ST said I could call the local public school to schedule an evaluation or I can have a private evaluation. I'm not sure if he would be eligible for anything through the schools, as he's going to a private elementary - he's in pre-K. Or, with the budget cuts would he even qualify for anything, as it might not be enough of a delay. I was going to call the ST tomorrow to find out more information from her and what she suggests. I can also see what our private insurance will cover, if any, and also call our ped. to ask for a referral. I can take him to my friend's ST as she works for early intervention and has private practice. Just wanted some BTDT advice.

I have no issues with taking DS for ST. I had it as a kid, and then had intensive sessions after complications from thyroid surgery. But, how do you explain to a 5 year old that they're not talking as well as they should be and not have them be self conscious about it???

Thanks all.

[Elilly]

"Tongue thrusts" as in a frontal lisp for an "S"? Our SLP does not een beging therapy for this until 6 or closer to 7. For us, DS we have always called it, "special play time" as our SLP makes it waay fun. Our DD is actually jealous!

[KrisM]

I think that he will be eligible for the public school assistance, regardless of whether he attends or not. In Michigan, age 3 is the cut-off - under 3 goes to Early Intervention and over 3 goes through the school system. I did have to "enroll" DD in the system, just to show we are at the right school. But, she's only 3 and obviously not in public school right now.

There are quite a few sounds that they aren't expected to master by 5 yo, too. If I were you, I'd call the school and set it up that way. Our process of getting started was way too long, IMO, but DD is making good progress on her speech now.

Good luck.

[zag95]

I would call the school district- if he needs speech, that is support that would be covered thru the public school. If you have an ESD (Education Service District) in your area, they may also do some early intervention for kiddos who are not yet in public school. I think getting support from your ped would be good- maybe they can make a referral for you.

HTH! My DD is 2 and is receiving speech svcs at home. She was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, and has been identified as verbal language delayed..... and has enough delay to receive support. If I was in your position, I'd get all the balls rolling, starting with Public school and referral from ped and contacting your ins.

GL!

[Indianamom2]

Well, I believe I am correct in that you can definitely receive services through the public school even if you are in a private school. Of course, you will have to qualify first, and that may be tough given what you're describing, I'm just not sure. He will likely not receive the services at his private school though. You would likely have to take him to his "home" public school, at least, that what we will be doing next year when DD starts K.

I would definitely talk with your pedi and check to see what your insurance covers. We've been doing speech since DD was 18 months, so we've done a bit of everything, including hiring a private speech therapist and paying through insurance. Ours covered up to 40 sessions a year, with a co-pay, if I remember correctly. I will say that we made the fastest/best progress with our private therapist, but she was amazing. Thus far, I've been a lot less impressed with the school system.

I don't know how to keep your son from feeling self-conscious about this, because for us, it's just always been this way for as long as DD knew. However I think she's becoming a lot more aware of how she has more trouble speaking lately, and so we just talk about how hard she has had to work and how proud we are of the progress she's made. It was a bit of an issue earlier this school year, but we talked about how everyone has certain things that are they have to really work hard at, and that she would get it eventually. I gave her examples from my life (I was a music major and the piano is my instrument, so I told her about all the years I had to spend practicing and how hard it was at times, and about how I wanted to quit, but how glad I was that I stuck with it...)

Good luck.

Oh, I will add that you should probably contact the school system ASAP to get the process started before the end of the school year. You probably won't get services this year, but you'll be ready to go when school starts next year. It can take quite a while.

[wendmatt]

When we were in KS DD went to private pre-K and got speech services through the school. She was evaluated at pre-k and they did the speech there, just a quick session after her class. Ask your Dss teacher, she should know what to do.

[niccig]

"Tongue thrusts" as in a frontal lisp for an "S"? Our SLP does not een beging therapy for this until 6 or closer to 7. For us, DS we have always called it, "special play time" as our SLP makes it waay fun. Our DD is actually jealous!

I don't think it's just with a lisp for an 'S'. I'm getting the information second hand through my friend, as the ST left before I got back to get DS. The ST said that the tongue thrust in combination with difficulty making a few sounds gives her enough concern to suggest he be evaluated. She did say that she only had a few minutes with him, but my friend said she zeroed in on DS's speech as soon as he started talking, so there was something that grabbed her attention.

I'll call the ST tomorrow and get some information first hand. I'll call the local school and our ped. I'll dig out our insurance policy. I know I got 30 sessions a year as long as medically necessary. There might be some hoops to jump through to get the "medically necessary". The evaluation results may be to wait another year or so. But I'll definitely get an evaluation done to see. Our local school is 5 minutes from us, so taking DS there won't be a problem. We could go the private route too - I had a great experience with my ST 2 years ago - I might call her and see if she can recommend anyone for children.

ETA. I did a little more research online and found out that the tongue thrusting alone probably will not be enough to qualify for speech through the schools, as it's not educationally relevant. It's a medical condition. They'll cover it if there's a serious enough articulation disorder along with the tongue thrusting. I'll still check out this option. Some people online said their health insurance wouldn't cover it as it's a habit that the child can control - well not without some help to learn how to control it! More to find out there. There are certified Orofacial Myologists that do therapy, often they're SLP as well. I found a clinic near us that will do a free consultation with the Orofacial Myologist, who is also a SLP, so that's another phone call to make. I'll see our ped. first though, as physical conditions like enlarged tonsils/adenoids can cause this, and our ped. might have a great referral. DS may also be too young to do much about it, many sites were saying 6-7 years old to start therapy, but their might be some things we can do now.

I was watching DS closely tonight and he'll sit there with mouth slightly open and tip of tongue is between his teeth. He asked me for something and said please with his tongue sticking out between his teeth, and he has trouble with s/z/th/t/d sounds. He was telling a story about a "medal" and he said it "metal", and then got annoyed when I didn't know what he was talking about - so reason enough to get things checked out.