Speech for kids

[erinlees_mommie]

Not knowing where to turn..I thought I would ask here for some answers.
DD turned 5 in August.She started Kindergarten this year.She is the youngest in her class because of the way her birthday falls.No biggie she can keep up with the best of them
I have been concerned about her speech since she was small.She didn't start talking until she was about 2.5 almost 3 yrs old.The Dr said that if she went past 3 it would be a concern.Before she turned 3 she was talking in full sentences.So that was a huge sigh of relief.
Well last year in PreK I asked her teacher about taking her to speech classes because of the way she says C sounds *cat is tat/Carla is Tarla* G sounds are Ds in some words etc.She said it wasn't a problem that the speech lady came into the class and evaluated them and didn't have concerns with her and she would outgrow it.
Fast forward to this year...
Kindergarten starts out...I am 'friends' with her teacher and requested her because of the educational background she has and the things we have heard about her in town.I expressed my concern when school started about her speech and wanted to know what she thought.Same thing..She will outgrow it..no biggie...RELAX
Now school started and then I volunteered in the classroom and was told oh btw she is going out in the hallway with the speech person for about 15 mins on Mondays.WHAT ?? I was never told about this...?? Then we had a parent teacher conf about 1.5 months into the year where it was written that I was told about the speech sessions and how she is improving soooooo much!!And a CYA in the letter of how I was informed of this *not until 1.5 months into it!!!* but whatever ..I know there is a problem but was told she was fine and would outgrow it.
I got an email from the teacher the other day requesting a conference with me and the speech lady this week *TOMORROW* to talk about placement...? Of what? I thought she was improving..I am so lost I don't know what to do.
Here is my thinking...
IF she needs it they will be pulling her out of class to send her.I don't think this is fair to her to be pulled away from learning/recess/music/gym/computer lab etc.I don' t think it is fair for her to miss on fun time in the class also.
Would I be wrong for going in there and asking what she is missing out on and letting them know that I will take her out in town to a speech therapist and my insurance cover it?
I don't want her to feel like she is being singled out or treated different.
To me she has improved A LOT! I have friends who say they understand her just fine.

Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated...I feel like I am falling behind because I should have went with my gut last year and she wouldn't be going through this right now...
THANKS for listening

 

[Miz Diz]

My daughter gets speech 2 days a week and misses about 40 minutes of time in class. She is 4 and in pre-k. She loves speech and would rather go to speech than her regular class. They play games and she gets a lot of attention because it is just her and the speech therapist on one day and her and only 1 other child the other day. She earns stickers and after so many days, gets to pick something out of the prize box.

I would have never considered not having the school do the therapy because of fear she would miss out on fun. I was glad they do the therapy during school hours because it doesn't add to her day.

My insurance will not cover 100%. We have a 20% coinsurance, but I never considered going the insurance route, versus the school.

Do whatever you think is best for your child.

 

[dyna]

One reason your DD's speech was not a proble last year was because certain sounds are not expected to be developed till they older I can't remeber atwhat age C an G developed tho.

Most insurance companies will not pay for speech therapy or if they do it not near enough I know 20 yrs ago I was quoted 80.00 a 30 min session.

As far as your DD going out into the hall with the speech therapist I'd say the speech person was talking an listening to how your DD speaks before calling you in no sense in calling mom if there n/p.

 

[amyj1024]

There are a few things you should ask... does your school district do RtI (Response to Intervention?) it is a new special education initiative that allows teachers/support staff to give a 6 week intervention without any consent from parents to see if they can 'catch them up' or if they are going to need more intensive services. They cannot be giving your child therapy unless you have signed consent and agreed to and IEP-(Individual Education Plan) for speech--unless it is under the RtI model.

Second, I would really check with your insurance--ours does not cover speech therapy unless in cases of a stroke. It will not cover regular therapy for a developmental delay--which is what your child's speech should be considered.

I don't think it is unreasonable for you to ask what she is missing in class, however--I think that speech helped my daughter immensly in learning letters and letter sounds--AND I think a better option would be asking if you can bring her to school early or pick up a little later to get speech after or before school--especially if your school does a half day program for Kindergarten. And 15 minutes is considered VERY MINIMAL amount of time--even 30 minutes a week is considered minimal.

Just FYI--I have had 2 kids with speech issues (my 6 year old has been dismissed after 3 years of speech) my 2 year old has been getting speech for almost 6months thru our state program. I also teach special ed preschool and work very closely with Speech Therapists...and kids who need therapy. So feel free to ask away and will share any info I know.

I don't think that many parents know their rights as parents, if you have a concern don't allow teachers, doctors, etc brush them off as being too young! If you put it in writing saying you want your child evaluated for ANY services the school district(for any child 3 or older) the team there has to meet with you and go thru a meeting to determine if services are appropriate--many times they will do an evaluation to cover their bases.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

 

[cmaee]

My DS(5) has speech issues. When he turned 4, our doctor said that he could see why I was concerned and thought he would grow out of it, but went ahead and referred me to have him evaluated. We had different insurance then and it was covered. He was evaluated and it was determined that he needed some speech therapy. He was only in therapy for 3 months when moved due to a new job for my DH. Our insurance changed to my DH's employer insurance and it will not pay for any speech therapy, because the school district is required to pay for speech services starting at age 3. Well, it was the summer and our DS was going to be starting in Pre-K at the elementary school in the More-At-Four program. I provided the school with all of the documentation from his speech therapist and assumed that he would continue with his speech therapy once school started. They had to do a snapshot assessment of him and he failed that brief assessment, when they did his complete evaluation, he passed it...his speech issues were within acceptable limits for his age. Fast-forward to this year and we are starting all over again with the assessments. He failed the first one and will now be evaluated again. He has yet to have that evaluation. I would be surprised if he qualifies this year either. My DH and I have already told the speech therapist and classroom teacher that he can be serviced only if it was during rest time or playtime. When he was in speech for those 3 months, his speech class was more play than work...he was working on his speech without realizing it. I will not let him miss class time for this. But, if I were you, my problem would be that your child was being serviced without your consent. Under the IDEA (individual disability educational act), you should have been asked permission to do a pre screening evaluation on your child in the classroom setting...from there, if she failed a part of the prescreen, you should have been notified of an IEP meeting where they would discuss with you their desire to have her formally evaluated...they would need your permission to do this. Once the evaluation is complete, they will have another meeting to discuss the results and then discuss placement if need be. It is completely within your right to refuse any or all of this service. If the school really feels that if not receiving the service it would be detrimental to the student, they could appeal your decision to a 3rd party arbitrator. This all should be given to you in a parent handbook that you would have to sign that you received it. They can't give services unless you sign your receipt. The only exception should be if you were notified 3 times by the school and did not receive a response back from you. The 3rd notification should have come by registered mail. I don't think there is anything wrong with you going to your own speech therapist...but just make sure that you know exactly what your insurance will cover. Good Luck!

 

[erinlees_mommie]

One reason your DD's speech was not a proble last year was because certain sounds are not expected to be developed till they older I can't remeber atwhat age C an G developed tho.

Most insurance companies will not pay for speech therapy or if they do it not near enough I know 20 yrs ago I was quoted 80.00 a 30 min session.

As far as your DD going out into the hall with the speech therapist I'd say the speech person was talking an listening to how your DD speaks before calling you in no sense in calling mom if there n/p.

I thought that too but she told me she had been coming to work with her for about a month at that time.And I wasn't aware of it.Which is fine I do see evaluating things like that before jumping into alerting the parents but I think I was more in shock that I wasn't contacted.It just seems that the parent teacher communication isn't what it use to be long agr at least I am finding.

 

[erinlees_mommie]

There are a few things you should ask... does your school district do RtI (Response to Intervention?) it is a new special education initiative that allows teachers/support staff to give a 6 week intervention without any consent from parents to see if they can 'catch them up' or if they are going to need more intensive services. They cannot be giving your child therapy unless you have signed consent and agreed to and IEP-(Individual Education Plan) for speech--unless it is under the RtI model.

Second, I would really check with your insurance--ours does not cover speech therapy unless in cases of a stroke. It will not cover regular therapy for a developmental delay--which is what your child's speech should be considered.

I don't think it is unreasonable for you to ask what she is missing in class, however--I think that speech helped my daughter immensly in learning letters and letter sounds--AND I think a better option would be asking if you can bring her to school early or pick up a little later to get speech after or before school--especially if your school does a half day program for Kindergarten. And 15 minutes is considered VERY MINIMAL amount of time--even 30 minutes a week is considered minimal.

Just FYI--I have had 2 kids with speech issues (my 6 year old has been dismissed after 3 years of speech) my 2 year old has been getting speech for almost 6months thru our state program. I also teach special ed preschool and work very closely with Speech Therapists...and kids who need therapy. So feel free to ask away and will share any info I know.

I don't think that many parents know their rights as parents, if you have a concern don't allow teachers, doctors, etc brush them off as being too young! If you put it in writing saying you want your child evaluated for ANY services the school district(for any child 3 or older) the team there has to meet with you and go thru a meeting to determine if services are appropriate--many times they will do an evaluation to cover their bases.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

She is in full day no naptime Kindergarten..LOL as she tells it.She was also in full day PreK last year.
I just worry about her falling behind and missing out on things in class that she should be doing or working on.
She is on level 11 and 12 of the readers so it isn't problems with any of the sounds or spelling things the wrong way.She has improved a lot since school started.Ask her to spell cat and it is C A T..she doesn't spell things the way she use to say them.She does have to think about the way she says it to say it with the K sound but she does do it now where at the start of the year she didn't.
I will ask about all of these things tomorrow.That is why I turned here.I knew there was a huge amount of parents on here and they would help me out and tell me things I should ask about

 

[erinlees_mommie]

My daughter gets speech 2 days a week and misses about 40 minutes of time in class. She is 4 and in pre-k. She loves speech and would rather go to speech than her regular class. They play games and she gets a lot of attention because it is just her and the speech therapist on one day and her and only 1 other child the other day. She earns stickers and after so many days, gets to pick something out of the prize box.

I would have never considered not having the school do the therapy because of fear she would miss out on fun. I was glad they do the therapy during school hours because it doesn't add to her day.

My insurance will not cover 100%. We have a 20% coinsurance, but I never considered going the insurance route, versus the school.

Do whatever you think is best for your child.

Thanks
Our insurance does cover it.We are military and I spoke with them on the phone the other day after the email and expressed my concerns and she said that it is covered.I will look into it more before I make the decision to take her out in town to get the referral from her dr to see them to have them evaluate her
I have mixed feelings about it and not knowing where to turn I had to come here and vent/seek advise

 

[erinlees_mommie]

My DS(5) has speech issues. When he turned 4, our doctor said that he could see why I was concerned and thought he would grow out of it, but went ahead and referred me to have him evaluated. We had different insurance then and it was covered. He was evaluated and it was determined that he needed some speech therapy. He was only in therapy for 3 months when moved due to a new job for my DH. Our insurance changed to my DH's employer insurance and it will not pay for any speech therapy, because the school district is required to pay for speech services starting at age 3. Well, it was the summer and our DS was going to be starting in Pre-K at the elementary school in the More-At-Four program. I provided the school with all of the documentation from his speech therapist and assumed that he would continue with his speech therapy once school started. They had to do a snapshot assessment of him and he failed that brief assessment, when they did his complete evaluation, he passed it...his speech issues were within acceptable limits for his age. Fast-forward to this year and we are starting all over again with the assessments. He failed the first one and will now be evaluated again. He has yet to have that evaluation. I would be surprised if he qualifies this year either. My DH and I have already told the speech therapist and classroom teacher that he can be serviced only if it was during rest time or playtime. When he was in speech for those 3 months, his speech class was more play than work...he was working on his speech without realizing it. I will not let him miss class time for this. But, if I were you, my problem would be that your child was being serviced without your consent. Under the IDEA (individual disability educational act), you should have been asked permission to do a pre screening evaluation on your child in the classroom setting...from there, if she failed a part of the prescreen, you should have been notified of an IEP meeting where they would discuss with you their desire to have her formally evaluated...they would need your permission to do this. Once the evaluation is complete, they will have another meeting to discuss the results and then discuss placement if need be. It is completely within your right to refuse any or all of this service. If the school really feels that if not receiving the service it would be detrimental to the student, they could appeal your decision to a 3rd party arbitrator. This all should be given to you in a parent handbook that you would have to sign that you received it. They can't give services unless you sign your receipt. The only exception should be if you were notified 3 times by the school and did not receive a response back from you. The 3rd notification should have come by registered mail. I don't think there is anything wrong with you going to your own speech therapist...but just make sure that you know exactly what your insurance will cover. Good Luck!

Thanks
I have a friend going through something similar..Her DD was in speech here and they moved to NY and they said she doesn't need it because she has a "southern accent"...?? And the parents are concerned because of her diction and annunciation *SP* of words.But the school said she has a southern accent and that it won't help her.
I hate not knowing what to do.I feel that had I went with my gut last year or even the start of this year I would have been ahead of the game and this wouldn't be going on and I wouldn't be having this meeting tomorrow.
I honestly don't think I want her pulled from class to be in speech because of missing out on things she should be learning and other activities.I have been in the classroom and they are non stop working on things.It is time she can't catch up on without missing out on something else.I will ask about the after school hours but I guess if I am doing that I might as well pick her up and take her into town for it...LOL

Thanks y'all for listening and suggestions.I will ask all of the appropriate questions tomorrow and see where this takes me.

 

[samshane]

My 5th grader has been going to speech for 2 yrs now... she has progressed immensely. They evaluated her first (without my knowledge), but I really did not mind. Once they decided to start speech - we had a meeting with the Speech therapist, who my daughter loves. She goes 1x/week for 30 minutes. We moved because of the military and she fell through the cracks a bit - but now she is doing great. She does not miss much at all in the class - I just met with her teacher and speech therapist today for conferences.

Honestly - I never caught onto some of her speech problems and I felt bad... I am from New England and drop my "r" from a lot of words and she was doing the same...

You might want to see how the school speech therapy goes... you could have her evaluated on your own as well and see what they say. We have been happy with the school therapist - and as I was saying, my daughter just loves the therapist. She has a speech "buddy" she works with and they have a party at the end of the year. Byt the end of the year, she will probably be done with speech, and I have a feeling she will miss it!

Many children at our school are taken out of the class during the day for extra "help" - my son goes to a reading specialist (he is like your daughter - extremely young for his grade, he *just* made the cut-off). The teachers are great about not having the children miss anything of importance.

Good luck with your meeting tomorrow!

 

[hroyale]

I just want to agree with pp, they don't miss much getting pulled out of class for speech and they really like it. We just had the IEP meeting that got my dd off IEP for speech and she is bummed.

DS is still on IEP for other things all of them in-class, but I specifically requested he get pulled out for a small group session 2x per week. They get so much more out of those sessions than they miss in class. Also when they get their therapy in school the speech instructor can work with the teacher and observe the kids in the classroom setting.

My insurance would also cover speech, but I would much rather have them get treatment in school and then supplement that with outside drs when needed.

Best of luck,
Heather

 

[eaj1228]

My brother had speech therapy in school as a child and it was truly amazing to see how it changed his life. As children I was the only person how could understand what he was saying. Being able to speak clearly gave him so much more confidence. The small amount of time he spent away from his class in kidergarten changed his entire life for the better. Even now at 22 years old he says that speech therapy was the best thing that ever happened to him.

My cousin's son got speech therapy when he was pretty young because his vocabulary was so advanced. OP's child sounds very bright. It sounds like the situation might have been that at the beginning of the year the teacher wasn't too concerned about any speech challenges the child might have but later learned that the child vocabulary was advanced for her age.

 

[lastminutemom]

All three of my children have had speech therapy at school (and a couple of them were severe enough that they had it privately).

In a full day program, they should easily be able to carve 15 minutes out of her day to do this at school. When they were that age, they loved going to school.

I would insist that it not be during specials (pe, music, etc) or recess, but rather during language arts.

I know many military families who have struggled to get speech paid for privately. I would get it in writing that they will cover it before making a decision.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't think that many parents know their rights as parents, if you have a concern don't allow teachers, doctors, etc brush them off as being too young! If you put it in writing saying you want your child evaluated for ANY services the school district(for any child 3 or older) the team there has to meet with you and go thru a meeting to determine if services are appropriate--many times they will do an evaluation to cover their bases.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

I couldn't agree with this any more! I'm certified in special education, so I knew my rights when my ds6 didn't have any words at 18 months. Even though my pediatrician said not to worry, he was a twin, had older siblings, yada yada, I contacted early intervention, and he received ST, an hour a day, in my home, until the age of 3, and the improvement was amazing! The ST services are really the strongest before 3.

OP, many PP are right - health insurace usually does not cover ST. MANY kids are pulled out in the early grades. My kids are pulled out for choir, band, and GT, and have been fine.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My ds8 has had speech issues since he started talking. I mentioned it to his pediatrician several times and always got "he'll outgrow it". Fast forward to Kindergarten - I get a call from his teacher on the 2nd day of school. Her first words were "Mrs. _____, we have a problem". She couldn't understand half of what he said - but the other kids had no problem and would interept for him. They did a formal IEP and he started speech at school - in K, this took place during recess every day. Between K and 1st grade I took him to his 6 year well visit. The pediatrician that had always stated it was not a problem asked me if I was "getting it taken care of". I was ticked. In 1st grade, he missed his individual reading time in the am (which put him behind in reading) and his afternoon recess. He continued in speech into 2nd grade. He just was not improving quick enough and his speech was affecting his reading/writing ability. I asked my pediatrician to a referral to a speech therapist. Our insurance paid every penny and he was speaking at a normal level within 3 months. He was dismissed from speech there and also at school. He is in 3rd grade now and I still notice a few words that he doesn't say correctly - for example, he doesn't say "use" he says "nuse". But I've noticed most of his friends have little speech issues like this.

 

[cogero]

my son is 23 months and just started sppech 4 times per week. Our therapy is paid through early intervention, our insurance would not cover it privately. He has only been getting it for 2 weeks and I have seen a difference.

As for being pulled out of school activities they do try to schedule it. My DD gets pulled out for advanced math and reading since she is so far above grade level. several other students get pulled out by the reading specialist and they don't mind teachers are really good about making them feel special.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I have two boys that have been in speech, one started when he was 4 until he was 7, the other is in it now in kindergarten. First, when I contacted Tricare about private speech therapy I was told that they would not cover it unless the school system was unable to reasonably accomodate DS. At the time he had no immune system and wasn't in school since he was only 4 and the school system sent therapists to my house because of his health for all of his evaluations and therapies (he had speech, OT and physical). As his health improved he moved to having it at the school, but he had to be alone with the therapist, wear a mask and we couldn't sign in at the office in case there were sick children there waiting to be picked up, etc. At each step of his progression we were told that they HAD to accomodate him. Even when I took him out of kindergarten to homeschool him the school system still provided therapy.

My DS that is receiving therapy now has an obvious speech disability, not developmental. He leaves the ends off of words, has trouble pronouncing certain sounds, etc. He's very difficult to understand. He is seen one day a week for I believe 30 minutes (I can't remember). He started not long after school started, probably the middle of Sept. and he tells me that he plays games and that one other child goes with him. He thoroughly enjoys it, says it's fun and I can hear a difference, I can actually tell what sound he's been working on. He's even started self-correcting. I honestly don't know what time of day he goes, but I do know that his learning is not suffering at all, he is right where he should be, actually a little ahead and rather than feeling singled out he feels "special" because of the attention. And other teachers have told me that children that don't receive therapy will often ask to go, too.

I find it a little disturbing that they did not get your permission before evaluating your DD. I have had to sign something allowing anyone to even observe my children in their classrooms for various issues and although you verbally expressed concern over your daughter's speech I think it sounds like they didn't want to do the paperwork if she didn't need therapy, they took shortcuts.

Has anyone checked your daughter's hearing when you've mentioned therapy? In my experience that's usually checked first before anything else is done.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

DH went through speech sessions during elementary and he said, looking back, that he wished he would have been able to stay in class. Just my two cents.

 

[Poohbug]

Both of my older boys have had to be taken out of class for speech. I think speech problems are pretty common and there are usually a few kids in each class that have speech lessons. My oldest was done with speech by the middle of 3rd grade. My middle son is currently in speech. I know they miss some class time but I think the one on one time spent with the speech therapist is just as valuable. They are still learning how to read, language skills and spelling skills in speech class.

I am also surprised how articulate the evaluations are. I think I need speech class and I know DH could have used it. I am very happy with the speech lessons at school. I know that my insurance would not cover a thing and am grateful that we have this option.

 

[erinlees_mommie]

Here is what happened today at the meeting

I got there and was met by the ST,guidance councilor and teacher.The ST started out by telling me that she had been on Monday's to talk with Erinlee and access her speech and she had a form that she filled out when she would say certain words.And they were all - because she could not properly say the C/K sound and G sounds with the words she was having her say.Then she asked her teacher for her form that she had that was the same one to track her progress with her.Well oddly enough the teachers had about 85% of the words as + . That she has shown GREAT improvement!! So the ST said that there is no reason to put her in ST during class and that she doesn't fall into the category of needing it as in taking her from class.That she has shown improvement and that the C/T and G sounds are usually developed between 4 and 6 yrs old.And she asked when she turned 6? I said she just turned 5 Aug 22nd.And her teacher said she is the youngest in the class age wise but top of the class education wise.
So they have decided that because it isn't causing self esteem issues or spelling or reading issues they are going to re evaluate her and we will meet again at the end of January.
And we discussed that Erinlee didn't start speaking until she was almost 3 and she said I wasn't aware of that.I said because I was never asked.*wasn't rude about it but did let her know I wasn't ever told that she was coming until about a month into the sessions with her*
She said she had a outstanding vocabulary and reads very well for her age.That the diction and annunciation will come the more she is worked with by the teacher and us at home.
I was told that IF I chose to further her therapy as of now it would have to be done outside of the school because she doesn't need it according to the conflicting paper work they have on her.
So I was told that I can take her to her primary care DR and have a referral to a language center out in town and they will talk with her to see if we need to bring her in for ST.

So that is where I stand with it.I think that I am going to follow through with my heart and take her to her Dr to get the referral and see if they think at the language center if she needs a little extra help.

Thanks to everyone here for all of your stories and input.I truly appreciate EVERY kind message here...!! Thanks for not judging me for being torn between in school and out of school ST for her.

I feel much better now that I have an answer and the meeting is behind me.If she gets assessed out in town I will update and in January I will too