re special ed. therapy

[Guest guest]

Hi L. Summerton,

Thanks for your reply. I agree with what you said....what I can't get anyone to

objectively tell me is HOW to tell it is doing damage. There are three things

that have happened that make me suspect it is:

1. as soon as he started school in Sept. he regressed to using " me " in his

speaking all the time instead of " I " as he had been.....I thought maybe it was

just a phase and would pass but it continues to be a huge problem and it is now

Feb.

2. about two months ago he began to OVEREMPHASIZE the " th " sound in every word

that has that sound in all his sentences so that his speech sounds ridiculous!

He has been able to say this sound fine in the past (as fine as any of his

sounds.....very inconsistent, especially in longer vocalizations, as we all know

with apraxia).....and in the update meeting I was horrified to learn that

although working on this sound two years ago the therapist was STILL working on

it!!!!!!!!!!!! She explained that when children learn new sounds they tend to

overemphasize them until they get them down and then move on.............I have

heard other parents talk about stuttering in our apraxic kids but I do not

remember anyone saying that one sound was extremely overemphasized in

sentences......HELP SPEECH AND LANG. PATH.- Is this the correct way to " treat "

an apraxic child...can it do " damage " ?

3. these strange " tics " that have occurred before when he is

overloaded/anxious/stressed and get worse when he is tired and change over time

(e.g. blowing on both hands was last year, now it is unconsciously pulling on

his crotch or a high squeak ) have gotten much worse lately.

These are the only signs I can think of that tell me the therapies may be doing

more harm than good. I know that two of his therapists are trained at the

assistants level, with supervisors seeing him only occasionally.....they have

been with him for two years and are lovely kind-hearted caring people who would

never knowingly harm a child. His third therapist is highly trained, brand new

with an arrogant attitude who is blatantly refusing to work on some of his IEP

goals, who thinks he should be on a motivational chart (has never had a problem

with motivation in his life!!!) and who told me over the phone before I had even

met her that " he is not a severe CASE you know " .

PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS IS ENOUGH TO PULL HIM OUT.......I need some objective

input. We absolutely have no money for private therapy but we have good

insurance....that is consistently refusing to pay for private.....and I doubt he

would qualify for the Beckett, although I plan to try that (in answer to

someone's question about that....you can ask at your health and human services

agency/community health place where to get the application for your state.)

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR RESPONSES FROM THERAPISTS/TEACHERS/PROFESSIONALS AND

PARENTS..........these decisions are so difficult......thanks in advance for

your input, Carol

[Guest guest]

Hi, Carol, I can't answer your questions except through my experience with

Riley, so take this with a grain of salt if you wish.

For the me thing, I know these kids will regress unless the sound/grammar is

worked on until they have it cold hat. This is a major one to me, anyway,

because it is highly noticeable. I would make that my own project and work on

it yourself. In Riley's therapy which I was lucky enough to witness for 2

years, they would make that phrase part of snack time. " What do you want,

Riley? " " me want juice " " Watch me. I want juice " " I want juice. " Then he

gets the juice/cookie, whatever. You could do this with gummi bears and make a

15 minute bonding/snack/game out of it. Once he gets it (really gets it) it

will come naturally to him. A recommendation to me was to work on all things

that make it blatantly obvious that there is a problem ie inflection, grammar,

syllable emphasis. Those are things you can practice with him as once he has

the new sounds/words, you can practice using them appropriately. Practice,

practice, practice, make it all a game.

I know Riley does truly overemphasize most new sounds for quite awhile, I don't

know if is was just getting his head around them or if he was proud of himself,

this too should pass. If he can say the sound though, I suggest you ask the

therapist at what point she plans to move on to something new. 2 years seems a

little long to me, but I don't know what level your son is at either. In

Riley's therapy, they worked on a sound until he " got it " , usually a few

sessions, then asked me to work on it at home (practice) while they moved onto a

new one.

It sounds as if he is anxious about something, I can't say what. You may need

to investigate that further. It could be anxiety about his speech altogether -

how is he getting along with the other children? Is he accepted among them? Is

there a school psychologist he could see?

I will reiterate, I don't think you should pull him out unless you can put

something in it's place, I know the no insurance thing hurts, (Riley has had no

therapy for 1 year), but like I said, something is better than nothing. What if

you made an appointment with an SLP for yourself, to have half an hour or an

hour to consult, get recommendations, and give yourself peace of mind. It may

be worth $100 to do that.

Best wishes,

[ ] re special ed. therapy

Hi L. Summerton,

Thanks for your reply. I agree with what you said....what I can't get anyone

to objectively tell me is HOW to tell it is doing damage. There are three

things that have happened that make me suspect it is:

1. as soon as he started school in Sept. he regressed to using " me " in his

speaking all the time instead of " I " as he had been.....I thought maybe it was

just a phase and would pass but it continues to be a huge problem and it is now

Feb.

2. about two months ago he began to OVEREMPHASIZE the " th " sound in every

word that has that sound in all his sentences so that his speech sounds

ridiculous! He has been able to say this sound fine in the past (as fine as any

of his sounds.....very inconsistent, especially in longer vocalizations, as we

all know with apraxia).....and in the update meeting I was horrified to learn

that although working on this sound two years ago the therapist was STILL

working on it!!!!!!!!!!!! She explained that when children learn new sounds

they tend to overemphasize them until they get them down and then move

on.............I have heard other parents talk about stuttering in our apraxic

kids but I do not remember anyone saying that one sound was extremely

overemphasized in sentences......HELP SPEECH AND LANG. PATH.- Is this the

correct way to " treat " an apraxic child...can it do " damage " ?

3. these strange " tics " that have occurred before when he is

overloaded/anxious/stressed and get worse when he is tired and change over time

(e.g. blowing on both hands was last year, now it is unconsciously pulling on

his crotch or a high squeak ) have gotten much worse lately.

These are the only signs I can think of that tell me the therapies may be

doing more harm than good. I know that two of his therapists are trained at the

assistants level, with supervisors seeing him only occasionally.....they have

been with him for two years and are lovely kind-hearted caring people who would

never knowingly harm a child. His third therapist is highly trained, brand new

with an arrogant attitude who is blatantly refusing to work on some of his IEP

goals, who thinks he should be on a motivational chart (has never had a problem

with motivation in his life!!!) and who told me over the phone before I had even

met her that " he is not a severe CASE you know " .

PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS IS ENOUGH TO PULL HIM OUT.......I need some objective

input. We absolutely have no money for private therapy but we have good

insurance....that is consistently refusing to pay for private.....and I doubt he

would qualify for the Beckett, although I plan to try that (in answer to

someone's question about that....you can ask at your health and human services

agency/community health place where to get the application for your state.)

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR RESPONSES FROM THERAPISTS/TEACHERS/PROFESSIONALS AND

PARENTS..........these decisions are so difficult......thanks in advance for

your input, Carol