[bannya]

I have a 3 (almost 4) year old foster son with some pretty significant speech delays. He is supposed to be receiving individual speech therapy through our Area Education Agency, but it hasn't happened yet. I have asked our social worker several times if she knows of any place where I can get some resources (books, flash cards, or advice), but she keeps telling me that I should check with the Area Education Agency when they start speech therapy. I would like to start working on this at home, but I am not sure how or where to start. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

[Barksum]

I haven't been out and about much (in cyberspace) during Nov. Maybe Dec. will be less hectic. (HA! LOL)

Our son (27 months) is about a year delayed in speech. This is considered fairly significant delay, but I can't remember what level they've given his delay. Moderately severe? Something like that. He has good receptive language but very, very little expressive.

Here's what we've been doing with the Early Intervention program and the speech therapist:

1) developmental steps of expressive lang. development. Basically it is 3 steps or stages. The first is "cooing", the second is "babbling" and the third is actual words. So the child needs to go through the stages before he'll speak. We are working on babbling right now. Our speech therapist said that because of his age he may go through the stages more quickly than an infant does, but he would definitely go through them.

2) mimic back to the child any vocalizations he makes. We have some mini "microphones" that are toys. They kind of reverberate a little and make it fun to use. My son likes to use our funnel as a megaphone and makes all kinds of noises with that. Also a papertowel tube or other megaphone-like instrument would be good to encourage vocalizations. My son has a very few words (about 4 spoken words, about 4 sign language), so we are working more with any vocalizations he makes at all. So if he just screeches, we screech. Amazingly, we've made a little progress! I mimic his noise, then he will do it again. Sometimes I can mimic the same noise, but softer or louder and he will copy that now too.

3) encourage any noises that he makes during play. Be sure to "vrrrrroooooomm" for all those cars, exaggerate animals sounds when reading to your son, etc.

4) talk with him. Keep up a running commentary on whatever you are doing. "UH OH!! I dropped the soap in the tub!" or whatever. Be sure to include him in the conversation as much as possible.

5) reward, reward, reward. If he makes a noise, recognize it. "Wow!! I heard you!!" and clap your hands. If he points to an object and makes a sound, respond with an appropriate comment ("Yes, that is the doggie's toy.") and then applaud his effort at communication.

6) sign language. I don't know if you'll want to or not, but we've introduced some sign language. We fully anticipate that our son will be able to speak at some point, just not right this minute. So we've taught him a few basic signs. "more" - we're still working on this one, "thank you", "drink / thirsty", "food", "please", and "come". We're working on "mama" and "daddy", but he's not that interested in those. And the sign he uses for "come" isn't ASL, pidgen or any other formal sign language -- it's one he made up himself!! LOL


There is a program using picture cards, too, but we've not done that -- yet. Here's a web site that sells that program, so you could look at it and see what it is. http://www.mayer-johnson.com You can also do a web search for "speech delay" or "language delay" and find info that way. Alot of what we are doing was part of the speech therapy program, but we've done a fair amount of research on our own to flesh out what we do with our son.

Again, I feel guilty for not sharing our experiences with you sooner. I hope this is some help!

[secretme0289]

Have they given you a diagnosis yet? What kind of delay it is?

My youngest had severe articulation delay. He understood speech, could form the words in his head, but just couldn't create them with his mouth.

Therapy will be different depending on why his speech is delayed.

Have they tested hearing? What about having the family Dr. push the issue for you? He will need speech in order to go to school.
Do you have a Child Development Centre near you, or is that your Area Education Agency?

Go over your social worker's head...this is important!!! You will end up with a child with frustration and behavioural difficulties if he cannot communicate.


Tell your social worker that intervention now will save them money in the long run...if he develops behavioural problems because of this you will struggle forever with them.