Re:Ruth- Speech Assessment

September 17, 2004

I have a question for you. I have a son (almost three) who we adopted

due to his prenatal drug exposure and he is dealing with some speech issues.

I am very experienced with the whole speech therapy " thingy " as both Asenath

and Zipporrah see one two times weekly for their issues, but I recently had

Marquis evaluated by AEA (school therapy program for kids infant through

three year olds) and they said he fell into the normal category. My concern

is this: He has excessive drooling ALL the time not just when cutting

teeth, has lots of sensory issues-probably a SID kid, and does fine with

individual words when prompted BUT terrible in every day conversation. Most

of the time you cannot understand what he says through daily conversation.

If he can say individual words ok and has most of his sounds when having him

repeat different words, but can't be understood when speaking in sentences,

is this a problem? I know there is a very broad range of what is

acceptible, but his conversation speech skills are horrible! No one outside

of the family can understand anything he says, but AEA says he doesn't need

help. What do you think? (And of course I know you can't see or hear him so

this will limit your ability to answer the question, but is it really ok for

him to be struggling like this KNOWING the past drug issues and what they

usually cause?

Darla: mommy to

Asenath (4) Mito, CNS Vasculitis, strokes, migraines, seizures, G-tube,

hypotonicity, disautonomy,SID, dev. delays, asthma, chronic vomiting...

Zipporrah (10 mon.) Mito, strokes, SID, GERD, 100% G-tube fed, asthma, trach

issues, disautonomy, hypo & hypertonicity, migraines, possible seizures,

dumping syndrome...

Luke (16), Leah (14), Rachael (12), Isaac (10), Tirzah (7), Kezia (3), &

Marquis (2) (some with Mito symptoms)

Re: Speech Assessment Tommorrow - What to expect?

> i'm glad you asked that question. i am a speech pathologist,

> specializing

> in kids 0-5. it's not at all unusual to test a " baby " ;s speech. we have

> lots

> of different tests to use, depending on the function level of the kiddo.

> He/she should be looking not only at what your sonis able to understand

> but what

> he is able to express verbally. i frequently see kids who can understand

> lots

> of things but can't effectively get their message across. Believe me,

> that IS

> a problem. Also, the SLP will be looking at his oral motor function (how

> do

> the muscles of his mouth and vocal cords work, and do they work well

> together?) as well as his ability to produce speech sounds. Is

> swallowing an issue?

> they need to address that too.

>

> okay, just a few thoughts for you. Let us know how it progresses.

>

> ruth

> mom to Mitch and Lexi, both mito affected and my treasures

>

September 17, 2004

Darla,

Find out what the criteria is for speech in early intervention in your state or area. Hopefully the speech therapist you have can tell you. But here, in PA, to get therapy the child needs to have at least a 25% delay and is now changed from in 2 areas to one. It sounds like maybe they only looked at receptive language and not expressive and pragmatics (social speech). We have such great early intervention programs here and it falls apart come school age. You can formally appeal and request an outside evaluation or get your own and go back. I have seen though kids that just pass as normal after some therapy and then have to regress to get it back. All has to do with money of course. Oh I should mention that we have good EI programs if you can get in because of the waiting list and do think they take in the more severe and let the borderline kids go... which is so bad since early intervention is so important. Speech should also work on oral motor issues for speech and articulation. Sorta sounds like that is what he needs. Maybe you can get an OT eval as well. I know it can be frustrating to get services. When my son was 2 he failed the speech eval yet was borderline developmentally at that 25 % level. He is now still severely affected with autism but so glad I fought to get him the developmental therapy and behavioral therapy.

Not sure how many days you have to disagree with their assessment. And that has to be in writing. it's 10 days I think.

Sounds like he could benefit from speech. To bad though if he has to further get behind age level before services can begin.

Good Luck

PS find out what tests were done.. were they only receptive language tests or subtests

Kathy

September 18, 2004

I think it was just receptive skills as the evaluation basically had him

name different pictures and repeat words they said. They never heard him

speak in a conversation way and he loved the attention so his normal

behavioral problems were not exhibited either. He tends to be very

impulsive and can even be violent, when he doesn't get his way, to his next

oldest sibling, the other one we adopted. He is a very sweet kid, but

doesn't really think through his actions before acting. He never knows when

he is full (another cocaine affected issue) and will drink or eat till he

vomits if let to do so. He is constantly stealing food from the frig or

from others in the home even though we feed him tons! His coordination

skills appear to be fine as he can hold a pencil properly and do fine motor

things, and his physical abilities are very normal or above average. Where

he needs help is in the SID (sensory) areas. He deals with several areas

just as my Mito girls do.

Thanks for your help. I may set up a private evaluation with our

current speech therapist. Marquis is covered by Medicaid so the cost isn't

important. I just want to help him be the best he can be. It's sad he had

a bad start in life because of his mothers' choices. He is a handful at

times, but he is not only gorgeous (Everyone falls in love with him as soon

as they look into his eyes or see his smile!) but also a ham and a sweetie

when not upset.

Darla: mommy to

Asenath (4) Mito, CNS Vasculitis, strokes, migraines, seizures, G-tube,

hypotonicity, disautonomy,SID, dev. delays, asthma, chronic vomiting...

Zipporrah (10 mon.) Mito, strokes, SID, GERD, 100% G-tube fed, asthma, trach

issues, disautonomy, hypo & hypertonicity, migraines, possible seizures,

dumping syndrome...

Luke (16), Leah (14), Rachael (12), Isaac (10), Tirzah (7), Kezia (3), &

Marquis (2) (some with Mito symptoms)

Re: Re:Ruth- Speech Assessment

> Darla,

> Find out what the criteria is for speech in early intervention in your

> state or area. Hopefully the speech therapist you have can tell you. But

> here,

> in PA, to get therapy the child needs to have at least a 25% delay and is

> now

> changed from in 2 areas to one. It sounds like maybe they only looked at

> receptive language and not expressive and pragmatics (social speech). We

> have such

> great early intervention programs here and it falls apart come school age.

> You can formally appeal and request an outside evaluation or get your own

> and

> go back. I have seen though kids that just pass as normal after some

> therapy

> and then have to regress to get it back. All has to do with money of

> course.

> Oh I should mention that we have good EI programs if you can get in

> because of

> the waiting list and do think they take in the more severe and let the

> borderline kids go... which is so bad since early intervention is so

> important.

> Speech should also work on oral motor issues for speech and articulation.

> Sorta

> sounds like that is what he needs. Maybe you can get an OT eval as well.

> I

> know it can be frustrating to get services. When my son was 2 he failed

> the

> speech eval yet was borderline developmentally at that 25 % level. He is

> now

> still severely affected with autism but so glad I fought to get him the

> developmental therapy and behavioral therapy.

> Not sure how many days you have to disagree with their assessment. And

> that

> has to be in writing. it's 10 days I think.

> Sounds like he could benefit from speech. To bad though if he has to

> further get behind age level before services can begin.

> Good Luck

> PS find out what tests were done.. were they only receptive language

> tests

> or subtests

> Kathy

>

September 18, 2004

well if he was asked to say the words or repeat words that is expressive language. Receptive is more like the evaluator asks him to do something or gets him to let's say copy the way they built blocks without using words. There is a range they would use maybe to see if 25% delayed or more. Still think you should get another evaluation.

Sounds really hard that he would eat and not know when he is full.

Glad he has you to love him.

Kathy

September 19, 2004

Hi I guess you could sort of call me a lurker. I have a possible

mito child and left the group, but came back because I can learn a

lot here. My son just had his 6th birthday. I used to post all the

time when he was small. Anyway, he has/had oral motor and motor

planning dyspraxia(apraxia) and your son sounds very much like he is

having the same problem. My son was accepted into EI services

because he had atipical developement and started at 5 mths with PT.

He started speech at 12 mths. He drooled so much that I had to

change his shirts when he was two. He recieved oral motor therapy

also. This was sort of like face massage and a nuk massager was

used inside of his mouth to wake up the muscles in it. He still

recives speech therapy at school for articulation and will probably

not need it too much longer. I agree that you should get another

evaluation because my kids have always had an imformal

conversational test done. That is to see if his conversational

language is understandable. It is a lot easier to say the word by

it's self than it is to say it in a sentance and boy can I relate to

the kid loving the one on one attention so much that they cheat

themselves out of the help they need, but after one works with them

for some time the behavior comes back. Especially when they are

asking them to do things that are hard for them.

Best wishes to you.

Barbara

> I have a question for you. I have a son (almost three) who

we adopted

> due to his prenatal drug exposure and he is dealing with some

speech issues.

> I am very experienced with the whole speech therapy " thingy " as

both Asenath

> and Zipporrah see one two times weekly for their issues, but I

recently had

> Marquis evaluated by AEA (school therapy program for kids infant

through

> three year olds) and they said he fell into the normal category.

My concern

> is this: He has excessive drooling ALL the time not just when

cutting

> teeth, has lots of sensory issues-probably a SID kid, and does

fine with

> individual words when prompted BUT terrible in every day

conversation. Most

> of the time you cannot understand what he says through daily

conversation.

> If he can say individual words ok and has most of his sounds when

having him

> repeat different words, but can't be understood when speaking in

sentences,

> is this a problem? I know there is a very broad range of what is

> acceptible, but his conversation speech skills are horrible! No

one outside

> of the family can understand anything he says, but AEA says he

doesn't need

> help. What do you think? (And of course I know you can't see or

hear him so

> this will limit your ability to answer the question, but is it

really ok for

> him to be struggling like this KNOWING the past drug issues and

what they

> usually cause?

>

> Darla: mommy to

> Asenath (4) Mito, CNS Vasculitis, strokes, migraines, seizures, G-

tube,

> hypotonicity, disautonomy,SID, dev. delays, asthma, chronic

vomiting...

> Zipporrah (10 mon.) Mito, strokes, SID, GERD, 100% G-tube fed,

asthma, trach

> issues, disautonomy, hypo & hypertonicity, migraines, possible

seizures,

> dumping syndrome...

> Luke (16), Leah (14), Rachael (12), Isaac (10), Tirzah (7), Kezia

(3), &

> Marquis (2) (some with Mito symptoms)

>

> Re: Speech Assessment Tommorrow - What to expect?

>

> > i'm glad you asked that question. i am a speech pathologist,

> > specializing

> > in kids 0-5. it's not at all unusual to test a " baby " ;s

speech. we have

> > lots

> > of different tests to use, depending on the function level of

the kiddo.

> > He/she should be looking not only at what your sonis able to

understand

> > but what

> > he is able to express verbally. i frequently see kids who can

understand

> > lots

> > of things but can't effectively get their message across.

Believe me,

> > that IS

> > a problem. Also, the SLP will be looking at his oral motor

function (how

> > do

> > the muscles of his mouth and vocal cords work, and do they work

well

> > together?) as well as his ability to produce speech sounds. Is

> > swallowing an issue?

> > they need to address that too.

> >

> > okay, just a few thoughts for you. Let us know how it

progresses.

> >

> > ruth

> > mom to Mitch and Lexi, both mito affected and my treasures

> >

September 19, 2004