Do you do Speech Therapy with your child?

amother

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 1:55 pm

After consulting with a Speech Therapist I will be starting to do Speech Therapy with my DS. I have session plans and will need to practice with him every day.

Any ideas how to keep it exciting?

I would also appreciate any ideas to keep him from being self-conscious. He totally can't hear that he speaks unclear and I'd like to rectify the problem without it becoming too much of an issue.
For starters I will try to have those sessions when no other children are around. I will also need to encourage him to talk using the techniques I've taught him for ten minutes each day. During that time I will need to keep reminding him and I really don't want him to feel pressurized. What can I do to help him feel positive about the whole experience?

Thanks in advance! Very Happy

Kugglegirl

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 2:12 pm

Try to observe when the Speech Therapist works with him. See what toys & activities she uses. Put aside a box & keep the things you use for your activities special for that time.

You could include other children in your session, as long as they do not dominate. The idea is to let the child who needs the reinforcement have reciprocal turns & hear correct modeled examples. Unless you think it is more motivating for the kiddo to have 1:1 mommy time.

Ask the therapist to write down or give you some handouts so you have more ideas for play and reinforcement throughout the day. You will probably start to find that there are teachable moments throughout the day.

Give your child time to response when you give a prompt. Like, with some kids, you need to wait 30-60 seconds while the child works to respond. Don't keep nudging while they are trying to get their response out.

Expand your child's response with a complete sentence. Ie. Kid said "Want milk." Mommy says "YOu want some milk to drink. (Pause) I will get you milk" --note that this is a statement affirming your child's utterance, not a question they need to respond to again.

Look directly at your child when you speak so that the child can see your mouth when you talk.

amother

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 3:07 pm

OP here. Thanks for your ideas Kugglegirl!

I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. *I* will be doing the speech therapy with him, not a therapist. Wink

Hence my question on how to keep the experience positive. My DS already has a full vocabulary, we're just working on a bad lisp.

I really want this to be something he looks forward to, rather then a tedious chore.

cbsmommy

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 3:22 pm

Honestly? Don't do it as "therapy". Don't sit down and spend an hour a week drilling him or making him say words.

That:
A) Won't work (60 minutes once a week isn't going to do anything)
B) Will make him resistant to working with you
C) Will make him self conscious of the lisp

Instead, slip the therapeutic activities into your regular routine. So when he says "I'm borrreeedddd!" instead of saying "Go play with Shmuli", say "Do you want to play Chutes and Ladders?" Or whatever game he likes. Then, while playing, have him say the words correctly, and give him an extra "something" for doing it right. Or each time he shakes the dice have him say "My turn to roll!"

When you are shopping, model the word "Those are tomatoes" (and when he says) "Dose" you gently explain that you make the th by putting your tongue between your teeth while blowing air at the same time.
- See more at: http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/......dpuf

Read together, play together, cook together...but don't call it a one-hour therapy session.

Kugglegirl

Sun, Mar 23 2014, 4:34 pm

Get some books, check out some websites & educate yourself if you intend to do this on your own.

Start following some speech therapists on pintrest for ideas. http://www.pinterest.com/speec.....deas/

Would be worthwhile to pay for some sessions that you could observe. Not sure why your insurance won't cover or why you can't get something through your school district if you are in the US. Imagine in EY you should be able to get some service as well.

amother

Mon, Mar 24 2014, 11:50 am

OP here. Thanks for your responses.

He's already been evaluated by a speech therapist and she feels I could deal with it myself using her guidelines. It's very difficult to get this sort of problem covered here so I've had to go private for this.
No hour needed, just say, ten minutes a day.

animeme

Tue, Mar 25 2014, 8:33 pm

I would use the guidelines the therapist gave and then schedule an appointment every month to have the therapist check in on the progress and give you more guidelines. Find out what tools you might need and if she can get them for you. (We needed those kiddie flossers- they helped a lot.)And check your insurance coverage- you very well may be able to get partial coverage.

I like the idea of putting it into daily interactions. If you're not doing a set time each day (or even if you are), I'd make yourself a chart to check off each day if you've done it, and possibly reward yourself for remembering and doing it consistently. If you are doing it as a set activity, he will benefit from a small reward. Using board games as a context can be useful. In order to take my turn at candy land, I do as asked, then pick a card and go.

A rule my kids' speech therapist always taught me is not to push a child past three tries. If he doesn't get it right by the third try, move on to something you know he can do so he can feel success. And remember to praise partial progress. For example, if he notices he's got it wrong even if he still can't get it right.

You would be amazed at what consistent work by a parent can do. One of my kids was missing basic consonant sounds- they all sounded the same. He had no clue. We took him to twice a month therapy and I actually did all the homework daily the first two weeks and we came back and she was amazed at the progress; he really learned to say a "t". She said the reason most kids don't make that kind of progress is lack of follow-through with homework.