Speech Therapy for 4 year old

March 5, 2008

Hello - Please bear with me - I know this will turn out way too

long... There are a lot of people here with a wide range of

experience. I need some help deciding what I should do for my

daughter.

Teagan turned 4 last January. She is in her 1st year of preschool,

going 4 days a week. It is a fantastic classroom - 5 teachers to 12

kids, including a couple typical peers. Therapists come in weekly,

including speech. Our EI program has always said that there is not

much to be done in the way of traditional speech therapy until Teagan

is talking. The speech therapist did say she would do some one on one

with her for a few minutes each week.

What we have so far done on our own - had Teagan evaluated and

started on SRJ oral motor therapy program almost a year ago. The

therapist said she felt Teagan was at least a little dyspraxic. We do

the SRJ program at home, but I struggle with doing it consistently.

They also bring Teagan in from the playground a little early and do

it at school. I have also been getting more familiar

with " Communicating Parners " techniques to promote social

communication.

Teagan is currently finally starting to really babble and

occasionally throw out a word pretty clearly. But she really has a

tough time communicating. She knows a ton of signs, but doesn't use

them on a regular basis to communicate her needs - but will use them

to answer questions - like what letter is that, or animals. But if

she is thirsty, she won't get our attention and tell us. She'll get

fussy and we have to keep asking what she might want until we hit it

and she signs it and says it.

She is very intelligent. She knows so much - all her letters - upper,

lower, and sign. Colors, 100s of signs. I feel that we are on the

edge of a boom with the right support, and although we will have to

pay a big enough portion to take her to a speech therapist to make it

a struggle, if it is the right thing to, we need to figure out how to

do it.

Is it true that she isn't ready for traditional speech therapy? Or

should I go and persue private speech therapy for her?

Thank you,

Gail

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