Childhood speech impediments

[MichelleVW]

Hear, hear!

There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a kid's speech assessed if you're worried. There are mobile clinics in my town, that will assess any preschooler without an appointment. And if a child is frustrated trying to communicate, then getting them help only makes sense. But the primary reason shouldn't EVER be a fear of the kid getting teased.

My daughter has a complicated birthmark on her upper lip. We opted (with her doctor) to take a wait-and-see approach, instead of diving in there to try and surgically "fix" her when she was still a baby. She's chosen to have a couple surgeries since then, but her mouth is still crooked. And you know what? She says she's never been teased because of it! In fact, she's refused to have any more plastic surgery done on her lip, because she says she's comfortable as she is. I respect her decision.

I've worked hard to "bully-proof" the kid by teaching her to be confident and speak up for herself, and I think I've done a decent job. One way or another, almost all kids get teased. Trying to change them so that they don't offend the bullies is sending the wrong message. It's pretty much saying, "You deserve to be teased."

That's very different from, "You're frustrated because no one understands you? Let's see what we can do about that, together!"

It shouldn't be the primary reason but I do think it should be taken into consideration.

 

[ols386]

I am very happy for your son (and you) that he grew out of it.
I couldn't wait to see what happened with my ds. He couldn't get a full sentenence out without stuttering and face contortion. It was so painful to watch and terribly upsetting and scary for him. I would have given my life if it was an option if threapy didn't work for him to no longer stutter (so happy the speech pathologist worked LOL)

I understand what you're saying. It is painful to watch and frustrating for the child. I'm glad your son is now doing well!

 

[Magpie]

It shouldn't be the primary reason but I do think it should be taken into consideration.

Why? I mean, sure, if the kid gets teased less that's a bonus. But what if you do all this work on speech, and the kid still gets teased? What are you going to do then? Get the kid a nose job?

Here's a story that illustrates why I feel "my child might be teased" should never be a consideration:

My son spent time and effort over the summer growing his hair out into a giant curly Afro. I could have insisted that he cut his hair to look more normal and I could have told he he'd get teased at school if he didn't. However, I decided it was his hair and he could do what he liked with it.

Then, he came home in a panic one Friday last Fall, insisting that he had to have his hair cut before Monday. I questioned him and discovered that he'd succumbed to teasing and peer pressure. I told him he had to go deal with the other kid, before I'd agree to him getting his hair cut. "Yes, son you can cut your hair. But not until after school on Monday. You are NOT giving that kid that kind of power over you."

He whined. He pouted. He sulked. He told told me I was mean, and didn't I always say it was HIS hair? He didn't want to go to school Monday morning, but he finally pulled himself together and went, looking like the end of the world had arrived. And when he came home, he was smiling!

I asked him, "Do you want to go and get a haircut now?"

"Nope," he said, happily. "It's MY hair. I'm keeping it!"

He'd dealt with his bully. And he did it without changing himself to please someone else. I'm proud of him!

 

[asta]

I need to point something out about my earlier post regarding how children respond to other children with speech problems. The advice I received was not meant to appease bullies but was aimed at a problem in younger children. The pre-school teachers explained that young children just seem to avoid other children that they can't understand. I don't see that as being a bully. It is just natural that given a choice a child would rather interact with those that he doesn't have to work as hard to understand. Parents and teachers should work to teach acceptance but your child will not always be in situations controlled by an adult. I would also hope that older children learn to treat others without bullying.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Not with me.



DS still says "w" instead of an L or double L (so if he says "I like you, Molly", it comes out a little differently), but he CAN say L if he tries. So I'm fine with it.

DH and his brother both have a bit of a lisp, just b/c of the way their mouths and teeth are, and it hasn't affected their lives at all. Thankfully they are strong enough that a bully who teases them because of their speech was simply ignored, as children who tease SHOULD be.

The idea of sending my kid to classes so that there's no teasing bothers me on a fundamental level. Send the kid that teases to a class to learn how to be human; don't send the kid whose mouth or brain isn't yet forming letters perfectly just to avoid the rude kids....


(not to mention...a teasing kid will then just tease the kid for going to special classes...)

I'm not sure if I agree or disagree with you....

My son was sent to speech b/c he could not be understood at all. Depending on the speech impediment, if it is very significant that taunting could be very serious, then there is nothing wrong with getting a speech therapist to help.

 

[MichelleVW]

Why? I mean, sure, if the kid gets teased less that's a bonus. But what if you do all this work on speech, and the kid still gets teased? What are you going to do then? Get the kid a nose job?

Here's a story that illustrates why I feel "my child might be teased" should never be a consideration:

My son spent time and effort over the summer growing his hair out into a giant curly Afro. I could have insisted that he cut his hair to look more normal and I could have told he he'd get teased at school if he didn't. However, I decided it was his hair and he could do what he liked with it.

Then, he came home in a panic one Friday last Fall, insisting that he had to have his hair cut before Monday. I questioned him and discovered that he'd succumbed to teasing and peer pressure. I told him he had to go deal with the other kid, before I'd agree to him getting his hair cut. "Yes, son you can cut your hair. But not until after school on Monday. You are NOT giving that kid that kind of power over you."

He whined. He pouted. He sulked. He told told me I was mean, and didn't I always say it was HIS hair? He didn't want to go to school Monday morning, but he finally pulled himself together and went, looking like the end of the world had arrived. And when he came home, he was smiling!

I asked him, "Do you want to go and get a haircut now?"

"Nope," he said, happily. "It's MY hair. I'm keeping it!"

He'd dealt with his bully. And he did it without changing himself to please someone else. I'm proud of him!

Why? Because for my own personal kids I want to level the playing field as much as possible. I don't think it is the same as a hair cut, but you are entitled to your opinion. Speech therapy is hardly the same as a nose job, but if my kid had a horrible nose then yes, I would get them one.

 

[dbarker]

DS12 was diagnosed w/ speech problems while in Kindergarten. He went to seech therapy for about 1 1/2 years.

His speech therapy was provided by the public schools - free.

I recommend you check w/ the school nurse and also w/ Medicaid. You do not have to qualify for Medicaid....the speech therapy program is under Medicaid.

 

[pacrosby]

If there is help available to make your child's life better why on earth would anyone not take it? You can "wait it out" but there is no guarantee it will develop and learning at 9 or 10 is much different than at 6-7-8. Some have said that the child will most likely outgrow it but if you are noticing it at an older age (say 6) then what are you waiting for? (a general you) Help the kid! Yes, it will hinder a child. When the child is reading out loud in class they will not pronounce properly and others will think he/she is reading the wrong word. (as an example) Speech issues carry over into many other areas. You also have no idea if the child has a tongue thrust or low muscle tone or simply enlarged tonsils. All those affect speech. You can't outgrow those. You have to taught proper tongue placement and there are exercises to increase muscle tone.
!

Just to provide an answer to this (since you seem to want to know)....because if it is developmental they WILL grow out of it, and often in short order. I can't tell you the number of preschoolers I evaluated in my day who I sent home with the recommendation for a rescreen in 6 mos (because I believed it was strictly developmental) who then returned 6 mos later with the issues completely resolved on their own. The fact is that if it is developmental you can't really 'speed' it along all that much so what's the point? Like walking....if you send your 6 month old to PT do you think they'll start walking sooner? They walk when they are ready to walk. And speech sound development is not that much different. Unless there is something hindering them from proper speech sound production, they will do it when they are ready.

Actually the estimation is that close to 95% will outgrow their misarticulations without intervention.

I actually have personal experience with this...not just professional. I have 4 children three of them boys, ALL of whom would have been swept up into a speech therapist's office if I had so desired LOL. My oldest (now 9) could barely be understood by anyone but us until he was 4 and continued with the typical L, R, TH issues until 2nd grade. His speech is perfect now despite the lack of any intervention. My 8 yr old didn't talk until 23 mos and then had a host of articulation errors until 6. Now, again, his speech is perfect without intervention. My 5 yr old now presents similarly to the 8 yr old at the same age. I'm not worried as he 'can' say all the error sounds if cued......a sign that it is coming. If I had sent those three boys to therapy, and I didn't know any better, it would have been easy to give credit to the therapy for the older boys' now perfect speech. But they didn't go....and I know better.

Bottom line is that if someone is truly concerned an evaluation by a specialist is always a good idea. Just make sure you understand the results and recommendations and ask a lot of questions. And don't expect 'magic'. If your child dramatically improves in 3 mos...they didn't really need to be there in the first place

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Just to provide an answer to this (since you seem to want to know)....because if it is developmental they WILL grow out of it, and often in short order. I can't tell you the number of preschoolers I evaluated in my day who I sent home with the recommendation for a rescreen in 6 mos (because I believed it was strictly developmental) who then returned 6 mos later with the issues completely resolved on their own. The fact is that if it is developmental you can't really 'speed' it along all that much so what's the point? Like walking....if you send your 6 month old to PT do you think they'll start walking sooner? They walk when they are ready to walk. And speech sound development is not that much different. Unless there is something hindering them from proper speech sound production, they will do it when they are ready.

Actually the estimation is that close to 95% will outgrow their misarticulations without intervention.

I actually have personal experience with this...not just professional. I have 4 children three of them boys, ALL of whom would have been swept up into a speech therapist's office if I had so desired LOL. My oldest (now 9) could barely be understood by anyone but us until he was 4 and continued with the typical L, R, TH issues until 2nd grade. His speech is perfect now despite the lack of any intervention. My 8 yr old didn't talk until 23 mos and then had a host of articulation errors until 6. Now, again, his speech is perfect without intervention. My 5 yr old now presents similarly to the 8 yr old at the same age. I'm not worried as he 'can' say all the error sounds if cued......a sign that it is coming. If I had sent those three boys to therapy, and I didn't know any better, it would have been easy to give credit to the therapy for the older boys' now perfect speech. But they didn't go....and I know better.

Bottom line is that if someone is truly concerned an evaluation by a specialist is always a good idea. Just make sure you understand the results and recommendations and ask a lot of questions. And don't expect 'magic'. If your child dramatically improves in 3 mos...they didn't really need to be there in the first place

Well I am glad that it worked out for you but that is not always the case. Why take a gamble? A child not talking or being understood by others at age 4 is not typical. I would never reccomend that a parent wait that out and I would have to question any person in the profession that would. Children who are truly delayed -and limited speech at age 4 is a delay- benefit from intervention as soon as possible. I would imagine that you know that as statistics also prove that. Like any program be it speech or school parental involvement is of course a must. Parents have to reinforce what is being taught. That is a no brainer no matter what a kid is learning. Yes, articulation does come with age but there are many situations where it will never come with age. Why would you wait to figure that out? Why not have the kid checked to rule out any other issues? The child could have a tongue thrust- that will not cure itself. They could also have low muscle tone- which needs to be worked on. They could also have hearing issues, enlarged tonsils, palate issues etc. Now if you are a pathologist I would imagine that you know this. So having the child evaluated and checked out would do nothing but help them. Why wouldn't anyone want to help their child succeed? Once you get all the information then you can make a decision as to what is the best course of action for your child. The child may be age appropriate but the child may also have other issues that need to be addressed. I am not being snarky so please don't take it that way but I don't get why any parent wouldn't want to give their kids every possible tool to succeed. YMMV.

 

[tasha99]

^

If it is developmental, not only is it better to wait and see, but also, it does harm to the system to take in kids who will get better on their own. That's why schools have criteria that needs to be met before a kid is put in speech. If a school therapist is seeing the numerous kids who can't say their r's in kindergarten, how much time will she have with the kids who can't say their g's and don't say final sounds in a word? There has to be a level of gatekeeping to special services so that the kids who truly need services have access to the slp. That also keeps the kids who have concerned parents--but no real disability--from missing school to have special education services that they don't need.

This is not a recommendation to NOT get this child screened. Of course, hearing and tone should be assessed, but if there are no problems there, just know that it's very likely, the response will be "let's wait and see if he picks that up on his own." You might even get this at a clinic that you pay for. I know there was a huge waiting list where I did my practicum work, and they would want to fill their slots with kids who are highly unintelligible or making those speech sound errors even though they're older.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

^

If it is developmental, not only is it better to wait and see, but also, it does harm to the system to take in kids who will get better on their own. That's why schools have criteria that needs to be met before a kid is put in speech. If a school therapist is seeing the numerous kids who can't say their r's in kindergarten, how much time will she have with the kids who can't say their g's and don't say final sounds in a word? There has to be a level of gatekeeping to special services so that the kids who truly need services have access to the slp.

This is not a recommendation to NOT get this child screened. Of course, hearing and tone should be assessed, but if there are no problems there, just know that it's very likely, the response will be "let's wait and see if he picks that up on his own." You might even get this at a clinic that you pay for. I know there was a huge waiting list where I did my practicum work, and they would want to fill their slots with kids who are highly unintelligible or making those speech sound errors even though they're older.

If it is developmental -and they should be screened to make sure it is- the child will not qualify for services anyway. They don't give you services just because you ask for them. You have to meet a criteria. Many private insurance though will pay for speech therapy if you chose to go that route.

 

[Bilberry]

My youngest nephew has had difficulty speaking correctly. Sister enrolled him in classes, and that seems to have made a difference. He is still difficult to understand at times, but nothing like before.

 

[mjkacmom]

Why? Because for my own personal kids I want to level the playing field as much as possible. I don't think it is the same as a hair cut, but you are entitled to your opinion. Speech therapy is hardly the same as a nose job, but if my kid had a horrible nose then yes, I would get them one.

All of my kids will have braces, and I've told them that if they're not happy with their noses at the age of 18, they can have them fixed (DH has a nose that would be very unfortunate on a young lady - it's too soon to tell with my girls). DH's sister had her nose done, DH chose not to. I had a friend in HS who was teased constantly about her nose (very large and hooked). Her self esteme increased dramatically when she had a nose job. She never let her tormentors know how much they hurt her, but she hated her nose.

Ds qualified for ST at 18 months - turns out he had low muscle tone. Less than 2 years later, he no longer qualified. My nephew has a speech condition that would never be fixed without ST, and the earlier, the better. He's 4, and finally is able to sometimes be understood by non-family members.

 

[pacrosby]

If it is developmental -and they should be screened to make sure it is- the child will not qualify for services anyway. They don't give you services just because you ask for them. You have to meet a criteria. Many private insurance though will pay for speech therapy if you chose to go that route.

THIS is where you are quite wrong. A large number of therapists will in fact take a child on caseload because a parent is 'concerned' and would like intervention 'just in case' little Johnny doesn't grow out of it. Or because the child is "approaching" an age when a particular sound is generally mastered. And what does that do? Swamp the system. In the case of schools it means out of control caseloads. In the case of private practice where insurance is involved? Well, what do you think? Just another case of spending insurance dollars where they don't need to be spent (of course isn't that the story of our health care system LOL).

What you are also neglecting to take into consideration is that issues like low muscle tone/tongue thrust/dyspraxia are clear cut. You don't have to take a child into therapy 'just in case' those are the things that are causing the problems. A good therapist will in fact be able to determine if it's developmental through differential diagnosis, a fact that has been explained many times already but you still refuse to acknowledge. This isn't a crap shoot you know. Speech/language pathology is a highly specialized field that requires a graduate degree. It's not a guessing game. I didn't send my boys to speech therapy because there was no reason to believe it wasn't developmental. It's the difference between basing a decision on facts as opposed to fears.

And a 3 yr old not being understood being so out of the norm and an example of a real delay that is need of intervention? (I said he was unable to be understood 'until' the age of 4, not at the age of 4) Well, it kind of depends on why he is not understood.....your lack of knowledge in the development of speech sound production is getting you into trouble here. There are a host of speech sound errors that are not atypical of a 3/4 yr old it's just that many kids will generally only present with one or two while having mastered the rest. If a child (like mine) just happened to present with all of them at once LOL it's still developmental. It's not the 'quantity' of errors, it's the quality.

btw: no need to question my expertise, I was actually well-regarded and highly compensated in my private practice. IDK, maybe you feel the same way about the pediatrician when they don't want to give you antibiotics because they believe it to be a virus and it's not going to help and yet you want them 'just in case'? I'm not a 'just in case' kind of gal....and I know for a fact that it's never harmed any of my children nor the clients/patients I handled over 16+ years (probably saved them alot of money though)

 

[Mouse House Mama]

THIS is where you are quite wrong. A large number of therapists will in fact take a child on caseload because a parent is 'concerned' and would like intervention 'just in case' little Johnny doesn't grow out of it. Or because the child is "approaching" an age when a particular sound is generally mastered. And what does that do? Swamp the system. In the case of schools it means out of control caseloads. In the case of private practice where insurance is involved? Well, what do you think? Just another case of spending insurance dollars where they don't need to be spent (of course isn't that the story of our health care system LOL).

What you are also neglecting to take into consideration is that issues like low muscle tone/tongue thrust/dyspraxia are clear cut. You don't have to take a child into therapy 'just in case' those are the things that are causing the problems. A good therapist will in fact be able to determine if it's developmental through differential diagnosis, a fact that has been explained many times already but you still refuse to acknowledge. This isn't a crap shoot you know. Speech/language pathology is a highly specialized field that requires a graduate degree. It's not a guessing game. I didn't send my boys to speech therapy because there was no reason to believe it wasn't developmental. It's the difference between basing a decision on facts as opposed to fears.

And a 3 yr old not being understood being so out of the norm and an example of a real delay that is need of intervention? (I said he was unable to be understood 'until' the age of 4, not at the age of 4) Well, it kind of depends on why he is not understood.....your lack of knowledge in the development of speech sound production is getting you into trouble here. There are a host of speech sound errors that are not atypical of a 3/4 yr old it's just that many kids will generally only present with one or two while having mastered the rest. If a child (like mine) just happened to present with all of them at once LOL it's still developmental. It's not the 'quantity' of errors, it's the quality.

btw: no need to question my expertise, I was actually well-regarded and highly compensated in my private practice. IDK, maybe you feel the same way about the pediatrician when they don't want to give you antibiotics because they believe it to be a virus and it's not going to help and yet you want them 'just in case'? I'm not a 'just in case' kind of gal....and I know for a fact that it's never harmed any of my children nor the clients/patients I handled over 16+ years (probably saved them alot of money though)

I don't really see why you need to be so nasty and rude? I did not respond rudely to you. I even stated that I was sure you knew what I was talking about yet, you felt the need to make assumptions about me and act quite rudely. Interesting....
Of course you are wrong about the schools offering speech because a parent is concerned. Sorry, but the most they will do is evaluate and offer services based on fact not feeling. They simply will not spend money - especially now with budget cuts- if they do not have to. As for your child not being able to be understood, you stated you are a pathologist so wouldn't it be fair to say that you knew what you were looking for when observing him? How would a parent who is not a pathologist know? Now wouldn't it make more sense to take the child to be evaluated by someone who does actually know? Seems pretty simple to me. However from what you posted you seemed to miss that that was what I posted and wrongly assumed that I said that every child should just rush off to speech because their parent felt they should.
Oh and btw- there are many "Highly specialized fields" that "require a graduate degree." It still doesn't mean that everyone got an A.

 

[pacrosby]

I don't really see why you need to be so nasty and rude? I did not respond rudely to you. I even stated that I was sure you knew what I was talking about yet, you felt the need to make assumptions about me and act quite rudely. Interesting....
Of course you are wrong about the schools offering speech because a parent is concerned. Sorry, but the most they will do is evaluate and offer services based on fact not feeling. They simply will not spend money - especially now with budget cuts- if they do not have to. As for your child not being able to be understood, you stated you are a pathologist so wouldn't it be fair to say that you knew what you were looking for when observing him? How would a parent who is not a pathologist know? Now wouldn't it make more sense to take the child to be evaluated by someone who does actually know? Seems pretty simple to me. However from what you posted you seemed to miss that that was what I posted and wrongly assumed that I said that every child should just rush off to speech because their parent felt they should.
Oh and btw- there are many "Highly specialized fields" that "require a graduate degree." It still doesn't mean that everyone got an A.

Yeah but I did.......and lots of them and the graduate program at Columbia University doesn't accept slackers (not that I ended up going there, but I did get in). Just in case you really meant that and weren't just trying to be funny graduate programs in general have very high standards.....it's not like getting your baccalaureate degree where you can get a 2.0 and still hang on by the skin of your teeth LOL

But actually you are quite right as I just came back and reread my post before reading your reply and it did come across as VERY harsh. Honestly, it was not my intent and I wasn't feeling anywhere near as nasty as it read. Maybe a wee bit aggravated, but nasty? No. My apologies

I must admit that I do feel you and I are not communicating very well. I did actually say that articulation therapy is in fact sometimes warranted and that certainly a parent should seek advice if they are concerned......and I did in fact say it more than once. Maybe you missed that???? To me it "felt" like you were purposely ignoring the meat of my own messages in favor of the argument "but how could you be sure, what if you are wrong" as if therapists play some kind of guessing game. Of course one can't provide a proper diagnosis over a message board but the OP talked about a set of 3 very specific sounds that are amoungst the last to be mastered and are quite typically misarticulated in the 6/7 yr old set. Therefore pointing out that, in her nephew's particular case, it is more than likely developmental was a pretty reasonable assumption. Which specific speech sounds are being misarticulated and the point in development when those sounds would generally be expected to be mastered are key pieces of the puzzle when determining if an error pattern is/is not developmental in nature.

And I must admit I seem to have misunderstood you as well. I did get the impression you were suggesting that speech therapy should be delivered to pretty much any child that appears to need it even if the issue at hand is more than likely to be developmental in nature and will be outgrown because........"what if you are wrong and it's not". And that you were questioning the reasonableness of my decision to not have my own boys in therapy. The latter is certainly the surest way to get my dander up LOL I do feel that, no disrespect intended, many parents have little to no understanding of speech/language development/disorders, what a speech therapist "really" does and why they do it the way they do. They either oversimplify it or they overcomplicate it. And to me, well it sort of felt like you were doing alittle bit of both at the same time

As far as my being wrong with regards to the way school therapists handle their caseloads, with all due respect, I don't know what school speech therapist in what school system you are familiar with but I must beg to differ. The "cost" of the therapist is not determined by the number of children they service. Budget is budget. A therapist is hired to work X number of hours and however many children are brought onto the caseload are simply accomodated in the schedule (hence the mega caseloads with groups of 4-5 kids that are seen in some districts). Ultimately it is in fact the therapist who is in charge of his/her caseload and the therapist and the therapist alone who determines which children are and are not in need of services. And then of course there is the private therapist. The one who gets paid PER client. Hmmmmmmmmmm. If a private therapist had a parent who was chomping at the bit for some therapy services for little Johnny, at 70 bucks/session?...........hey, I'm not saying they are only in it for the money but let's face facts. Yes, believe it or not, therapists can be, and often are, influenced by the subjective.

Again, my apologies for coming across in such a rude manner. My field can be a bit of a hot button for me. I left the field after almost 2 decades of private practice to stay home with my kids but the truth is I had become somewhat disgusted with the overdiagnosing and overtreating that I had seen over the years......and not just in the schools (I've personally contracted to hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, public schools, private schools, early intervention programs, preschools....you name it). I hate to see people misled. Makes me crazy

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Yeah but I did.......and lots of them and the graduate program at Columbia University doesn't accept slackers (not that I ended up going there, but I did get in). Just in case you really meant that and weren't just trying to be funny graduate programs in general have very high standards.....it's not like getting your baccalaureate degree where you can get a 2.0 and still hang on by the skin of your teeth LOL

But actually you are quite right as I just came back and reread my post before reading your reply and it did come across as VERY harsh. Honestly, it was not my intent and I wasn't feeling anywhere near as nasty as it read. Maybe a wee bit aggravated, but nasty? No. My apologies

I must admit that I do feel you and I are not communicating very well. I did actually say that articulation therapy is in fact sometimes warranted and that certainly a parent should seek advice if they are concerned......and I did in fact say it more than once. Maybe you missed that???? To me it "felt" like you were purposely ignoring the meat of my own messages in favor of the argument "but how could you be sure, what if you are wrong" as if therapists play some kind of guessing game. Of course one can't provide a proper diagnosis over a message board but the OP talked about a set of 3 very specific sounds that are amoungst the last to be mastered and are quite typically misarticulated in the 6/7 yr old set. Therefore pointing out that, in her nephew's particular case, it is more than likely developmental was a pretty reasonable assumption. Which specific speech sounds are being misarticulated and the point in development when those sounds would generally be expected to be mastered are key pieces of the puzzle when determining if an error pattern is/is not developmental in nature.

And I must admit I seem to have misunderstood you as well. I did get the impression you were suggesting that speech therapy should be delivered to pretty much any child that appears to need it even if the issue at hand is more than likely to be developmental in nature and will be outgrown because........"what if you are wrong and it's not". And that you were questioning the reasonableness of my decision to not have my own boys in therapy. The latter is certainly the surest way to get my dander up LOL I do feel that, no disrespect intended, many parents have little to no understanding of speech/language development/disorders, what a speech therapist "really" does and why they do it the way they do. They either oversimplify it or they overcomplicate it. And to me, well it sort of felt like you were doing alittle bit of both at the same time

As far as my being wrong with regards to the way school therapists handle their caseloads, with all due respect, I don't know what school speech therapist in what school system you are familiar with but I must beg to differ. The "cost" of the therapist is not determined by the number of children they service. Budget is budget. A therapist is hired to work X number of hours and however many children are brought onto the caseload are simply accomodated in the schedule (hence the mega caseloads with groups of 4-5 kids that are seen in some districts). Ultimately it is in fact the therapist who is in charge of his/her caseload and the therapist and the therapist alone who determines which children are and are not in need of services. And then of course there is the private therapist. The one who gets paid PER client. Hmmmmmmmmmm. If a private therapist had a parent who was chomping at the bit for some therapy services for little Johnny, at 70 bucks/session?...........hey, I'm not saying they are only in it for the money but let's face facts. Yes, believe it or not, therapists can be, and often are, influenced by the subjective.

Again, my apologies for coming across in such a rude manner. My field can be a bit of a hot button for me. I left the field after almost 2 decades of private practice to stay home with my kids but the truth is I had become somewhat disgusted with the overdiagnosing and overtreating that I had seen over the years......and not just in the schools (I've personally contracted to hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, public schools, private schools, early intervention programs, preschools....you name it). I hate to see people misled. Makes me crazy

I do believe we are pretty much on the same page and that we aren't communicating it well. I apologize as well for not coming off the right way as to be clear. I do think that a good speech therapist is worth every penny. I do also believe there are some scammers (for lack of a better word) out there like in every profession that simply want to make money so they will work with anyone regardless of need. It is a shame but I guess that is just the nature of some people. I now understand what you meant by the speech teachers in the schools taking on students. I was referring to after school therapies that are provided by the school district. To get those services (where I live) there is no opinions. You must have concrete fact that the child needs speech or they will not provide the therapy. The sad part about that is that there are some children who really do need it but because they are not behind in every area that is required by the test they will not get it. Now I do know that children can and do outgrow several speech issues most of the time. However, when a child still has a very obvious speech issue at say age 9 and they do not qualify because of the other components of the test it is sad imo.
On the flip side of all this- I think that so many children are pushed into speech because our expectations of children in general have changed. Do we even know what is age appropriate any more? Are we (as a society) expecting 15 month olds to speak like 5 year olds? I think there is very little room for a range of speaking abilities or for children to develop as they should. Meaning that as you said in your case your child was difficult to understand until age 4. You are a professional in the field of speech so you were able to look at your child and know that they would be fine. That same issue in another child would send up red flags to teachers and parents. Now there is nothing wrong with getting the child evaluated and I think it is a good thing to do that to rule out any issues. However, I think that overall we (again as a society) expect so much more from children that it almost impedes their natural development because we have a distorted view of what is natural. KWIM?
So I think that if we were to have this conversation in real time we would very much be on the same page.

-I also was being funny about the school thing.

 

[pacrosby]

On the flip side of all this- I think that so many children are pushed into speech because our expectations of children in general have changed. Do we even know what is age appropriate any more? Are we (as a society) expecting 15 month olds to speak like 5 year olds? I think there is very little room for a range of speaking abilities or for children to develop as they should. Meaning that as you said in your case your child was difficult to understand until age 4. You are a professional in the field of speech so you were able to look at your child and know that they would be fine. That same issue in another child would send up red flags to teachers and parents. Now there is nothing wrong with getting the child evaluated and I think it is a good thing to do that to rule out any issues. However, I think that overall we (again as a society) expect so much more from children that it almost impedes their natural development because we have a distorted view of what is natural. KWIM?
So I think that if we were to have this conversation in real time we would very much be on the same page.

YES YES YES!!!!

omg.....but isn't that a topic for another day (which I would have to try and stay away from or I'd never get anything done and would likely make a whole boatload of people mad at me)

So yup it looks like perhaps we could very well sit over coffee (or in my case a cold can of Coke since I don't drink coffee) and find that we are on the same page with regards to this discussion. Funny how we were about to strangle each other yesterday. Message boards do that to people don't they? I must admit you aren't the first person I have had to give flowers to