Therapy for 12 month old - type and frequency

[Guest guest]

Hi! My name is Christy and I'm from IL. I'm new to this group and

have a question. My son, Tristen, just turned 1 last week. His annual

meeting for Early Intervention is in a couple of weeks to set up his

services for the coming year. I know that each child and his/her needs

are different, but was wondering what services (and the frequency)

others are receiving (or have received in the past) in IL or other

states. Of particular concern is speech - when did you start receiving

services and how frequently? What methods worked well for your child?

Thank you!!

Christy

13, 10, Tristen 12 months (Ds)

[Guest guest]

Hi!

Welcome to the group

I cannot urge enough the importance of speech. Even when my daughter

wasn't talking (she's 8 now), the speech path was doing exercises to

strengthen her tongue and other things. Speech is the one area that I

will never skimp or allow anyone to tell me differently. My favorite

was when the IEP team told me she would only receive 30 minutes a

week in early childhhood as per the gov. " guidelines " because " kids

with DS always have speech delays anyway and most don't talk " . WHAT?

DUH. Isn't that the purpose of therapy? Maybe they don't talk and

have speech delays because people like them don't give them the

needed services. Welcome to 2008! My daughter is a chatterbox today

and she has speech three times weekly. They always try to reduce it

but the IEP team knows not to even bring it up anymore. During those

early years, she benefitted a ton from developmental music therapy,

pt, ot. As time went on, we did hippotherapy at Blazing Prairie Stars

but that is a big commitment ( and far) so we didn't do it for long.

Aside from EC, I would recommend checking out the FREE literacy

program at Gigi's Playhouse (they have 4 locations now). This is a

phenomenal program and if it wasn't for that, I doubt she would have

been reading in kindergarten. Where in Il are you?

[Guest guest]

Hi Christy,

My son is now 9 1/2, so EI has changed a lot since we did therapy in the 0-3 program. However, a good friend whose child did not have Ds told me to start Speech ASAP when was born. It's not just about talking. It's about feeding, too. My son had issues after birth. Could take a bottle fine in the hospital, but then lost the ability to suck, swallow, breathe when bottlefeeding. I was breastfeeding (but he had to be supplemented early on) so he did that very well! Anyway, we started speech at about 3 months old, primarily to work on feeding issues. Speech continued at 1x/week for 60 minutes for at least 2 years.

We started PT near birth. 1/week for 60 minutes.

We started OT around 5 months old. 1x/week for 60 minutes.

We did not do DT until was about 30 months old. Then we put him in group DT (Developmental Therapy) to help get him ready for school at age 3.

Hope that helps.

Beth

[Guest guest]

Then may I ask why my daughter's speech theripist is pushing the

sign language on us? Hope will be 3 at the end of October and has

DS and I have told over and over again about speech delays and how

sign language is much better. Hope knows over ten signs and only

know how to say see ya, hi, and da da. Other than that she is just

babbling on.

Hope is also 100% tube fed and the Speech Pathologist gave me

exercises to do with her mouth and lips, but the Speech Theripist is

pushing the sign language. I already had some disagreement with her

on learning to sign wild animals.

Austin, dad to Hope, DS almost 3.

>

> Hi!

>

> Welcome to the group

>

> I cannot urge enough the importance of speech. Even when my

daughter

> wasn't talking (she's 8 now), the speech path was doing exercises

to

> strengthen her tongue and other things. Speech is the one area

that I

> will never skimp or allow anyone to tell me differently. My

favorite

> was when the IEP team told me she would only receive 30 minutes a

> week in early childhhood as per the gov. " guidelines "

because " kids

> with DS always have speech delays anyway and most don't talk " .

WHAT?

> DUH. Isn't that the purpose of therapy? Maybe they don't talk and

> have speech delays because people like them don't give them the

> needed services. Welcome to 2008! My daughter is a chatterbox

today

> and she has speech three times weekly. They always try to reduce

it

> but the IEP team knows not to even bring it up anymore. During

those

> early years, she benefitted a ton from developmental music

therapy,

> pt, ot. As time went on, we did hippotherapy at Blazing Prairie

Stars

> but that is a big commitment ( and far) so we didn't do it for

long.

> Aside from EC, I would recommend checking out the FREE literacy

> program at Gigi's Playhouse (they have 4 locations now). This is

a

> phenomenal program and if it wasn't for that, I doubt she would

have

> been reading in kindergarten. Where in Il are you?

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> Then may I ask why my daughter's speech theripist is pushing the

> sign language on us?

> Austin, dad to Hope, DS almost 3.

Austin,

There have been studies that suggest sign langauge can help with

general language acquisition in children with DS (actually in ALL

children -- thus the baby sign langauge programs that began to appear

in the last several years).

At age 3, my daughter, Theresa, could say about a couple dozen

words. However, she would only repeat them (usually only for Daddy)

and she never used them spontaneously. We also used sign language. I

would speak loudly, slowly and clearly while signing to Theresa. In

certain situations, I wouldn't let Theresa have something unless she

signed for it ( " I want Barney please " , " I want cookie please " ). I

personally think it helped with the concept of language, and it

helped a whole lot after Theresa began to talk because it was

frequently difficult to understand what she was saying. As her

speech became clearer, we stopped signing. I can't be sure, but I

think the concept is called " total lanuage " : speech plus sign

language or pictures.

I also signed a little with my son (non-DS) before he could talk. It

was just so much easier to see him sign " milk " or " cracker " instead

of guessing why he was screaming.

Theresa speaks pretty clearly now, but still gets Speech Therepy at

school - mostly to help with articulation.

Debbie I. (NJ)

Mom to Theresa, 7 1/2 with DS, and , almost 6

p.s. I also taught Theresa to read at a very early age because

studies suggest this also helps with language aquisition.

[Guest guest]

We are in the Peoria area. Right now my son is getting PT every

other week (which I had to push for, they wanted to give only one),

Feeding Therapy once per month, and individual Music Therapy

(developmental) once per week. I requested an OT evaluation when he

was 9 months and at the time of the evaluation the therapist verbally

told me, " his skills aren't bad compared to other kids with DS " !!

She said that he really didn't need OT at this time because he wasn't

that delayed. Believing the " all knowing " therapist, I didn't push

for any OT. A few weeks later I recieved her report in the mail and

it stated he had a 56% delay in OT!! I called EI and asked how a 56%

delay doesn't constitute a need for services! My coordinator

arranged for a second evaluation - and I really like this therapist.

She acknowledged his delay and assured me that she could get him on

the right track. He is starting OT weekly. How old was your daughter

when she went to hippotherapy?

Now, back to speech. I don't want to make this same mistake again.

I really like his ST, she gives us great things to do at home, but I

wonder if he would benefit from her seeing him more frequently. We

have private insurance that pays for ST until age 6. So I was

wondering if I could just seek the services of a second ST and file

it w/my insurance? Has anyone done this before? Utilized the

services provided through EI and supplemented ST privately and filed

it with your private insurance? Any suggestions??

Thanks!

Christy

>

> Hi!

>

> Welcome to the group

>

> I cannot urge enough the importance of speech. Even when my

daughter

> wasn't talking (she's 8 now), the speech path was doing exercises

to

> strengthen her tongue and other things. Speech is the one area that

I

> will never skimp or allow anyone to tell me differently. My

favorite

> was when the IEP team told me she would only receive 30 minutes a

> week in early childhhood as per the gov. " guidelines "

because " kids

> with DS always have speech delays anyway and most don't talk " .

WHAT?

> DUH. Isn't that the purpose of therapy? Maybe they don't talk and

> have speech delays because people like them don't give them the

> needed services. Welcome to 2008! My daughter is a chatterbox

today

> and she has speech three times weekly. They always try to reduce

it

> but the IEP team knows not to even bring it up anymore. During

those

> early years, she benefitted a ton from developmental music

therapy,

> pt, ot. As time went on, we did hippotherapy at Blazing Prairie

Stars

> but that is a big commitment ( and far) so we didn't do it for

long.

> Aside from EC, I would recommend checking out the FREE literacy

> program at Gigi's Playhouse (they have 4 locations now). This is a

> phenomenal program and if it wasn't for that, I doubt she would

have

> been reading in kindergarten. Where in Il are you?

>

>

>