Guest guest Posted April 3, 2009 Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 I thought it would be good to change the subject name so we can find you more help for your son. Where is Cobb County? Is that Georgia because if it is I want to refer you to Tanner's EI therapist Zimet who runs Early Insights now in Georgia and who is wonderful. She has worked with teens and even adults that I have referred to her -so not just early intervention. Being your son is 5 I want to see what we can do to help you to secure the appropriate services he is entitled to - to help bring him up to speed. I believe your job will be much easier once we find you a " hero " to help advocate for him. About the mosaicism -I couldn't find that in the archives- so I really don't know much about that. Can you share more about how that affects your son? Below is the one archive I found about mosaic (nothing on mosaicism) but don't know if the resources that Tricia posted would be helpful to you or not. Below that are some archives that may help you with advocacy no matter what your child's diagnosis. Again please let me know if you can what state you are in so we can see if you can help you find an advocate. ~~~~~~~~~~start of archives I am discouraged/trisomy , Never give up! You can do this! Your best source of info will be other parents. Here are a few that I hope will help you: e-mail based support group for families, friends and health professionals who share a common interest in the rarer trisomy conditions. The Tri-Med part of the list is strictly for the discussion of on-topic issues related to trisomy. Tri-med/ e-mail based support group for families, friends and health professionals who share a common interest in the rarer trisomy conditions. Tri-Family is strictly for the discussion of off-topic issues related to trisomy that arise out of the love and care we have for each other Tri-Family/ The trisomy mosaic listserv has been established to support the formation of a support network for families effected by Trisomy mosaic and to promote the exchange of information and increase the knowledge of mosaicism and to encourage research into this variation of Trisomy. Tri-Mosaic/ This is a group for parents, parents-to-be, and their daughters to share thoughts and support regarding the diagnosis of trisomy X. Please feel free to read through the message archive, bookmarks, and polls. Also, if you have a specific question, you can search the message archive by key word. We would love to hear from you. Post a message about yourself with any questions or support to be given or needed. raregeneticdisorders/ Take care and know that you can always come here for support to. Tricia Morin North Carolina < My son has a chromose delition that led to few medical problems. He is almost 5 and does not talk. Someone recommended to join this group to learn more about Pro Efa and believe me, I was very excited. I ordered Choldern's Ultra Omega for starters. Let me back up here, I called my son's pediatrician about 2 months ago to ask for permission to take those pills. I brought him a whole lot of print outs from foundation and some statements from this group. It took a while to get those pills, I debated a lot before ordering then it was 5 day Ground delivery. I started my son on pills immidiately that day, I was so anxious to see a little progress (not as much of the speech as sense in his bubbling). Next day I recieved a phone call from pediatrician (after 2 month!). He told me not to put my hopes out. He justified his answer because (my son) has a chormosome/genetic condition that is not exactly similar to what kids with apraxia experience. May me I am a person of emotion, I gave up immidiately after the phone call. I am not motivated anymore to stuff those pills in my kid's mouth because now I believe that I will never hear his voice (speaking voice). I am very sad and disapointed. I wish I never got this phone call because I would have faithful given pills to lil one as I have done with other meds in the past. Every day I wake up thinking how great that would be to hear call me through the radio that is time to get up, dress him up.. whatever! I know that even kids who can speak do not necessary use that gift, yes gift, and communicate with parents but I just would like a chance. Sorry for the long e-mail... , mom of almost 5yo (parital trisomy 19q-) Re: Worried about my 4 year old boy..lots of questions to ask you all you clearly need to seek a diagnosis for your son outside of the school as he is already 4 years old. You need to know if the signs of sensory issues are sensory integration dysfunction and if the sign of motor planning issues, sensory and late talking are dyspraxia/ apraxia. It's great that he's going to see a neuro in 2 months. But what about an outside the school SLP too? Perhaps an evaluation with an outside the school OT as well to check out the signs of sensory issues? Now is the best time to secure the appropriate diagnosis to secure appropriate therapies in the IEP and private. For example does your child right now have 1/1 therapy in his IEP and if so how often? Here's a severity intervention matrix to help as well as some reasons for 1/1 therapy http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/therapymatrix.html http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/therapyintensity.html Don't let them say there is a language delay until you have an appropriate diagnosis since all may be due to his impairment in speech and motor skills together with whatever other issues he has co existing such as sensory. Below are a number of clips from archives that may help. Please look through them and answer the questions in the following as all of us here can together help you to help your child. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What state are you in? Perhaps I or others can help you find a competent neuromedical doctor. At this point it's not just the SLP or OT who will be able to help you secure the appropriate therapies if it is apraxia. It does not matter if nobody in the history of your town ever received one on one -that just tells me that you don't have advocates in your town. If your town's school is in the US than it receives Federal monies and has to by law follow the Federal (not just State or City) laws. The Federal Law is FAPE in the LRE or your child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment and you'd be shocked how much is offered once you learn how to advocate. Rule one never say " best " say " appropriate " whenever you want to say best. Or " inappropriate " because the school is not obligated by law to offer your child the best therapy and placement -only what is appropriate. If they can not provide appropriate placement and therapy in district than you can seek " out of district placement " or to have an " expert " come in to train the current staff and work with your son or to keep your child in district for certain services and to pay for private therapy at home a few days a week. If you don't ask you won't get any of that for your child as I've never known for schools to just offer any of the above without advocacy. Re: Just looking for new ideas Hi Firefighterwife!! You don't really say the severity of your daughter's diagnosis but 1 day a week of therapy (even for an hour) doesn't sound like enough. Here's a severity intervention matrix for school based SLPs to give you an idea of what's appropriate depending upon the severity. http://www.cherab.org/information/speechlanguage/therapymatrix.html Who is your child's SLP? Private or school based? I'm guessing it's a school based SLP because A. only one day a week of therapy B. two whole years from 3 to 5 years old and the SLP is just first suggesting apraxia. Or am I wrong -is that a private SLP you were talking about?! But going on the same path that she has an SLP in her school/preschool program: What grade is she in and what type of placement? What was her classification on the IEP up till now? I do hope it's communication impaired or speech impaired vs some of the other options which may not provide appropriate placement. Speaking of which what is your child's placement? Trust me all of us as parents relate. It's difficult to accept a diagnosis at any age, but at the same time it can also be a relief to finally have a name for what is " wrong " In addition the earlier the better for intervention (which is why they call it early intervention) at least once you have a name you have a start as to what strategies are best. With the diagnosis of apraxia for example the school based SLP is kind of begging you to advocate for more services because at times their hands are tied and if you are in the US when it comes to speech impairments the squeaky wheel gets the grease. We can only get away with calling our child a " late talker " up to a certain point and for most of us it's not long after 2 years old. At some point we need to know 'why' our child isn't speaking or speaking well so we can seek out the appropriate therapies. As far as who is here to help even though I don't know you or your child I have a hunch we'll be able to provide more information than you even know. There are professionals in this group as well as parents who have been where you are and who's children are now teens or adults and doing really well - as well as professionals that are also parents which is always great because they kind of see both sides. Has your daughter ever been to a neurodevelopmental medical doctor for any type of evaluation? If not since apraxia is now suggested it's highly recommended. Honestly it's not as bad as it sounds and it's best to know prior to Makayla starting kindergarten if she has any fine or gross motor skill delays or low tone or sensory issues that can be addressed by some really fun therapies both through an occupational therapist as well as with the speech therapist. I'm also a huge believer in second opinions. (or is she in kindergarten?) Let us know what state or country you are in and as a group we may be able to provide suggestions. It's good that you are seeing progress in your child -but it's hard again to know where she is to know if it's So you have some homework outside of therapy homework at home. In my opinion we need to help you with securing more profesional services first or as well- but here's a parent guide I wrote for Contemporary Pediatrics for things to do at home to help (not sure however if some of this is too young for what your child needs as she is now 5) http://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/contpeds/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=1363\ \ 15 http://drgreene.mediwire.com/main/Default.aspx?P=Content & ArticleID=132720 And in the same light have you read The Late Talker book? I'm sure there are some suggestions in that book that could help too. Below that is a bunch of archives that may help too. Email us back and provide a few more details of where your child is so we can help more! Re: SPECIFIC SPEECH AND OT THERAPY Hi Karyn, It's a great question -however there really is so much diversity depending upon the child -that's it's hard to sum up all the approaches in a multisensory approach without leaving out aspects in a post here. One here suggested PROMPT -but say you don't have a PROMPT therapist near you - and your child's therapist has an amazing touch cue technique -is one approach just a variation of the other? Would you know? And would this one approach alone be " it " ? In my opinion -there is no such thing as one therapy or even therapist alone that is " best " for all children with communication impairments -it always depends. Some children only have a simple delay -some have only one aspect to the delay and some have multifaceted aspects to their disorder of speech and language. It is obvious to us -the parents -that for whatever reason -our children with simple delays in speech do " pick up " language from other children while our children with severe disorders of speech do not just " pick up " language from other children -or adults - and these are the children that require appropriate and intensive therapies in order to succeed -communicate. Personally -I like the 'buffet style' therapist best for my son Tanner who incorporates a different technique depending upon what we are working on -and depending upon Tanner that day. I do want to encourage everyone to keep sharing -it's great to hear from everyone here and at other grouplists -also Karyn -check the archives here and at other groups too if you want for suggestions. To hear all specific speech and OT therapies however -will take awhile. As you read more and more however you will discover that a multisensory approach is best for it appears all with a learning disability (speech is the number one learning disability) Here is a link about multisensory for learning disabilities - http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html this same basic principal works for any child with a learning disability even though the names of the " therapies " may vary. Here is a link about the Association Method School which is one of if not the best school for a communication impaired child, and is a multisensory approach school http://www.dubard.usm.edu/associat.htm " Multisensory teaching ..includes the use of auditory, visual, tactile, and motor-kinesthetic cues for learning " If you learn the basics of what a multisensory approach is, and know your child and what learning style works best for him or her - you can become creative from there. Some of the more creative things we find to work like the " ride therapy " I brought up - which appears to enhance traditional therapies, are mainly still based off the traditional therapy ideas of a multisensory approach. The ride therapy for example is based off the occupational therapist theory that motion can help to stimulate speech, and is one of the basis for speech development. We can take these principals -then adapt these principal to our own unique child. So in the case of the rides -if I heard that rides may help stimulate speech and if my child didn't like scary fast rides like some posted (which Tanner also didn't believe he liked before he tried them) we let him go on the ones he wanted - the small slower kiddie rides: his favorite was the 25 cent yellow pony outside of ShopRite or the space ship outside of PathMark (supermarkets) that swayed softly around forever (it seemed to me)...but then Tanner tried the water flume -and no looking back now.... A much easier and much faster way to learn the basics of " what works " would be to read The Late Talker book that was co authored by Marilyn Agin MD, Malcolm Nicholl, and myself. There were a huge amount of parents and professionals interviewed for this book including those recommended here -Dr. a Tallal (Fast For Word), Sara Rosenfeld- MS CCC/SLP (oral motor therapy), Kaufman CCC SLP (Kaufman technique) Dr. Andy Bondy (PECS) Deb Hayden (PROMPT) etc. and the editors narrowed The Late Talker down to a step by step easy to understand and read book which among other aspects covers your question of what therapy works best. Here are some of the basic aspects covered in this book: • An explanation of the various speech and language disorders, and recommendations on when and how to seek the right kind of professional evaluation. • An exploration of the appropriate therapies a child should receive from speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and how to support their efforts. • Exercises to do at home with a child. • Tips for easing the inevitable frustration a late talking child experiences—as well as advice to parents on coping with their own frustrations. • A detailed review of an intriguing nutritional supplement that has achieved promising results in helping late talking children. • An explanation of parents' rights and how to navigate the school system and insurance maze on the child's behalf. • Stories of other parents who have struggled with a child's speech development problems. http://www.speech-express.com/latetalkerrelease.html Of course -as a co author I may be biased -however as a parent -I wish I had The Late Talker book when Tanner was two and didn't have to learn everything bit by bit, trial and error, the hard way. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re: Articulation Therapy Does Audrey have a diagnosis yet. I have your only other email below from June of last year that says you were not sure if you should have her evaluated. Articulation therapy would be great if Audrey has an articulation delay or disorder. But...saying she's getting " articulation therapy " can be a different approach from any two school based SLPs. This is why you do need to know diagnosis first. Is it just a delay or is it an impairmen?. If it's not developmental and it's an impairment is it due to motor planning, weakness, sensory -or is it 'just' an articulation or phonological disorder..or something else? If she has apraxia you need to have someone that knows about motor planning or other appropriate therapies for apraxia because too much articulation therapy sometimes causes dysfluencies. Here's a bunch of " articulation therapy " ideas posted to one site and more below -but get back to us when you can about diagnosis Articulation Therapy Ideas The following Articulation Therapy Ideas were posted to the mailing list GRNDRNDS. Since it is a public mailing list, and does maintain an archive, the ideas posted are not " copyrighted " and are available to the public. To make it easier, I have extracted the ideas listed by these creative clinicians. Perhaps they can adapted by clinicians and student clinicians working with children with articulation disorders and looking for therapy ideas. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Jackie We play a lot of: tic-tac- toe putting the cards around a darkened room and then finding them with flashlight (really a big hit with the preshcool set) putting paper clips on each card and then pulling them off the table with a magnet on a fishing pole simple lotto games simple board games coloring target sound pictures I also do a lot of giving a reinforcer for every two or three correct responses as we go through the cards: blocks Connect Four game monkeys from " Barrel of Monkeys I also make a speech book and then staple the games onto the pages so they can practice at home. The main thing is to make sure that the playing of the game isn't so involved that it gets in the way of trials. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From: Put and Take.... Cut construction paper into small squares, maybe 36...on an even number of cards write, PUT 1, PUT 2, PUT 3, TAKE 1, TAKE 2, or TAKE 3. (you can color code the words for little ones who can't read) Give each child 2 stacks of artic cards, one to be called a PUT stack, another to be called the TAKE stack. Each child will turn over one of your squares. If the card says PUT 2, child moves 2 cards from the PUT stack over to the TAKE stack (after saying it correctly of course). The object of the game is to empty one stack. It sounds more complicated than it is. I think it's fun, easy to make and the gives the children opportunity for drill. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From: Carol I do some easy craft activities with my little ones-things like adding leaves to trees, or making it seasonal like pasting eyes, etc. on a pumpkin. Often I hide the piece that they will paste under one of two stimulus pictures and they have to choose which one--it puts the stimulus word in a longer context, ie., " Is it under the___ " . I also make my own puzzles-basically take a picture with their sound, cut it into pieces and they put them back together. Then, we can talk about the " snowman " or the " snowman's face " as they work on the puzzle. Other activities I do: pasting pictures with their sound on seasonal pictures--they have to ask for the picture they want. bean bag toss-they name the picture they hit riddles where the answer contains their target sound ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Christiane I pick anywhere from 4 - 10 target words for a half hour session, draw pictures on a piece of paper, then drill the words with mirror and all the little tricks (I also have a puppet with lips, teeth and tongue, and have kids manipulate articulators on the puppet I got the puppet - it remotely resembles a frog - at a rummage sale - it was one of those with a big mouth like the muppet puppets, but it's not Kermit. It had soft fabric around the mouth - voila lips. And then I just sewed in a tongue and teeth out of felt. The teeth I strengthened with Elmers glue - soaked the fabric and let it dry.) - often combined with gross motor kind of movements, such as stamping on the picture every time the kid says the word - in imitation or spontaneous use. Then I move on to providing a frame for the word (either sentence of phrase), with the kid filling in the word like in a cloze test, e.g., it was time for bear to take his _____. Then we use the words to draw, write and retell a story, with the child participating depending on the linguistic level practiced. Variations include using a story that I already have and having the child draw and retell the story. Kids get to take their stories home and share them with their family. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Sherry I have a puppet called the " Speech Pillow " which I received as a gift. It is a big round face made of fabric. It has removable lips (they velcro on), teeth (not removable) & a big tongue which you or your clients can put your hand in so you can manipulate the tongue. It was a gift so I'm not sure exactly sure how much it was (maybe around $30??)- Renfro Studios in Austin, Texas- 1-800-933-5512 to order- again, it's called the " Speech Pillow " . It's a great puppet! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From -Trish I absolutely LOVE " Listening for Articulation All Year Round " by Linguisystems. 1-800-PRO IDEA. It's a great program for seasonal activities and it has games that you can make by photocopying the masters from the manual. GREAT STUFF!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Get your hands on " Achieve for Phonology " by linguisystems. This has lots of hands on activities for little ones and work sheets to use as you drill with other students. I use crazy crayons and markers and bright pens to spice up worksheets and this does busy the little ones as you drill others. And as they sit they get the auditory bombardment of the others responses. I also use beanbags to toss on cards...and chips to place under cards...and they LOVE money too. Soooooo many ideas I can't put them all here. Write with any more questions at my address. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Jigna Put cards in a bag. Have client close eyes, pick a card, and name it. Bowling: clip cards on clothespins and line up (like bowling pins). Have client roll ball and name the card he/she knocks down. Hopping: place cards face down on floor (or under shaped cut-out construction paper). Have client name the card he/she hops next to. Mail cards: use a toy mail box and have client name each card as he/she mails it. Games: use any sporty games (e.g., basketball, football, baseball). After each turn, have client pick a card and name it. If named correctly, gets another turn. Create a road with cards placed at various places on the board. Client names the card he/she stops by. For minimal contrasts: memory ask questions (e.g., if working on final consonant deletion): make a stack of cards with final consonants and a stack without final consonants. Pick a card from each stack and make up a question. For example, " Can a moose go moo? " present a minimal contrast pair and describe one from the pair. Have client identify and pronounce the correct word. If correct, client gets both cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Ursula I make a spinner with the different parts the kids must collect to create something (i.e., " r " rabbit, I have the ears, nose, whiskers, etc.,.) and the children can spin and practice artic at the same time (ex. " I need the rabbit's whiskers " ) Not only is it fun for artic but you can also modify it for language, pragmatics or whatever! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Robin I am one of those clinicians who has little fondness for games. I prefer cooperative/interactive play, reading, writing and conversing. As such early on in my career II used a homemade puppet...not as sophisticated as your adapted one...to teach articulation. Now I just do anything the child enjoys and interject the articulation therapy as part of the activity. Sometimes with particularly challenged children I will use a game as a distractor. At this point in my career however, pretty much all I need is speech communication to find the way to work on articulation. It may be just my way of saving myself from something I never enjoyed even as a child, namely " games " . I'd rather put on a play or paint or picture or read a book to/with a child. Just how I am. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Celeste I use a literature based therapy approach with almost all of my students. For artic, I choose a book I like and think the students will enjoy. I go through the book and make a list of all the words containing the target sounds. I then make cards for these words. We read and talk about the story. For older students, as we read each page I let them find the words that have their sound. We use the vocabulary cards to play games, (Memory, Go Fish, a board game, or any activity you can think of). You can also ask questions about the story and have the students respond with their target words. As you can see, not only do you get lots of artic practice, but you can target language and literacy as well. It helps link therapy with classroom activities because it helps with word recognition and reading skills. The students also like to take turns playing " teacher " and " reading " the book to the group. I let them sit in my chair and use my pointer as they read. Even though they may not yet be able to read, they can retell the story in their own words. I have found that using this approach to therapy rather than drill increases carry-over. The students are practicing their speech in more meaningful contexts. There is a book I love that I can't remember the name of right now and it is at school. I think it is Articu-lit. I know you can get it from Super Duper. It follows this approach. Someone beat me to writing it!! Anyway, it has target words for most of the sounds from about 25 popular children's books. It also has blank vocabulary cards, and a game board to copy that goes with each story. It also lists other activities as well as some language activities for your language students. It's a great resource to get you started. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From I use computer programs as the basis for artic therapy (once the child can correctly produce the target sound in a word.) For older artic students who can read, I use programs with simple repetitive vocabulary (e.g, Oregon Trail from Learning Company, Carmen San Diego USA by Broderbund, or Supermunchers from Learning Company) and have them work on correct pronunciation for words with the sounds they are working on. For non-readers, I can use Carmen Sandiego ,Jr. Detective (by Broderbund) which requires no reading and I let the student name the pictures with their sounds. Most kids love playing the educational computer games. They are learning new vocabulary and new facts as well as getting artic " drill " . Another method I sometimes employ with readers is to have a child make a computer picture with graphics containing his sound. Then we write a colorful story together using these words. I usually use Blocks in Motion with the Land, Sea, and Space module (Don ston), but Kid Pix, KidWorks 2 or any other graphics programs should work. The child has lots of opportunities to read back the story and share it at home with family and with teachers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From I love my little mailbox. I also use various containers that " eat " chips. I have a frog with a slot on his head. A garbage can that open with a mini footpeddal, etc... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- From Katy From my perspective, there are two factors that have not been directly addressed. 1. Regardless of the activity, articulation tx is much like physical tx in that the specific motor behavior becomes automated only with numerous trials. In other words, the number of attempts at production must be substantial to change a motor behavior in a reasonable length of time. I try not to have less that 50 responses in a 20 minute session. 2. Because we do not spend much time talking in individual words, I try to spend very little time at that level. Many of the activities presented in response to this question stressed the production of single words. I think we need activities which require sequenced production. The sequences must ultimately be produced at a " normal " rate of speed if the child is to use the target in spontaneous communication. In other word, time spent on the phrase " my soup " (/s/ as target) should require /maisup/ rather than the separation of the two words. In my opinion, there is a great possibility that games will reduce the efficacy of therapy by preventing the above emphasis. I simply use tokens. I hold the number of tokens that I feel represents the appropriate number of responses for the session. The tokens are placed in a container following each response. When the tokens are all in the container, the child gets a few minutes to " play " , pick out a sticker, etc. If I find that I have selected more tokens than are reasonable for that session I slip some into the container when the child is not looking. In that way, the child always " finishes " that which I have required. I have found that children soon learn that the faster they go, the quicker they get to play. They never figure out that I begin with more tokens as they get better. Furthermore, because the " drill " has the potential to be boring even though it is the most efficient way to change articulatory behavior, the child is quite cooperative because he/she can " see " the contract (tokens) at the beginning. In that way, the child senses some control (getting rid of tokens quickly) and knows that I, as the adult, can't make them engage in the drill indefinitely. http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/therapy/articrx.html Here's more on what you should be seeing between 2 and 3 and what is cause for concern Typically seen in first 18-24 months · Uses mostly words to communicate · Begins to use two word combinations (more cookie etc) · By 24 months has more than 50 words, or word approximations Cause for concern in first 18-24 months · Relies on gestures to communicate · Limited vocabulary (speaks less than 50 words) · Does not use any two word combinations · Limited consonant production · Mostly unintelligible speech · Regresses in language development: Stops talking, repeats phrases inappropriately Typically seen in first 24-36 months · Engages in short dialogues · Expresses emotions · Begins using language in imaginative ways · Begins providing descriptive details when speaking · Begins to use articles and word endings (a, the, ing,) uses plurals (cats) Cause for concern in first 24-36 months · Words limited to single syllable and no final consonants · Few or no multiword utterances · Does not demand a response from a listener · Asks no questions · Speech difficult to understand · Tantrums when frustrated · Echoing of speech without communicative intent http://www.cherab.org/information/latetalkerhandout.html Let us know if you have a diagnosis -and for those that don't know who you are again I've included your original message below: New Member Hello All, I have a 17 month old daughter who has no real words as of yet. Her pediatrician told me that if she wasn't saying 7 words by her 18 month appointment that she would give me a referral for Early Intervention. I'm familiar with the whole process as my 5 year old began physical therapy with EI at 5 months of age for gross motor skill delays and sensory issues. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should have my DD evaluated. One one hand I think she just needs a little more time, but I'm afraid that waiting to give her help might not be the best route to take? Is speech delay better addressed as soon as possible? My biggest concerns are that she says no real words consistantly. Every one in a great while she will say a new word but it's gone the next day, never to be said again. For 3 days she was calling DH, " daddo " but then she never used that word again. She said " mama " a long time ago, but only once. She does have a couple of made up words that she uses daily, " bah gah " means all gone, " caca " is something yucky. That's about it. She understands everything that we say to her and will follow simple directions. She babbles like she is carrying on conversation but it's all just different variants of noises. Should I be concerned? Marie (3.19.02) Audrey (12.30.05) Molly Anne (5.13.07) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re: Therapy Options Hi Suzi! Since our two are both around the same age in Kindergarten -and around the same skill level and receiving about the same amount of therapy -I want to share a suggestion of what to add that I'm finding to be a really good thing for Tanner. Since Tanner has spent so much of his early childhood in therapy either at home with me or in the office of an SLP or OT in a hospital or school -I'm trying adding some fun multisensory (therapy?) activities now that Tanner is 6 and a half years old. I am finding multisensory activities are extremely successful for not only motor planning. Multisensory activities appear to not only stimulate speech -they appear to be important for social and emotionatl aspects as well. I'm trying my own version of " laugh therapy " Being that Tanner spent so many years with hardly any facial expression or smiles -I just believe that laughter is very important for him...and good for all of us. As I've posted we spend some of our free time now at Disney going on rides and seeing shows. Tanner still doesn't smile and laugh as much as other kids -but he appears to enjoy when I try to get him too (he gives big hugs instead of smiles most times when he is happy) I found that multisensory activities are great for more than just getting Tanner to smile and laugh more. I first posted about karate and swimming lessons which I still highly recommend. It as always is still important to find the right school and (sensitive)instructors. I'm now finding that there are many other multisensory activities that are great for our kids -so it's best to be open and explore some with your child. These activities can at times be incorporated into traditional therapy sessions. They can enhance traditional therapy even if they are not done together with traditional therapy in that they can be used as a topic that highly interests your child in traditional therapy sessions (important!) -and again they appear to raise the child's confidence -as well as motor and social skills. See what your daughter likes to do. Maybe a dance or ice skating class would be great. Maybe she would like something with acrobats. I know where I live we are close to Club Med now and Tanner loves to take the " circus " lessons -trapeze and trampoline. He also loves roller blading lessons (also Club Med) Tanner's body actions are still a bit stiff -he doesn't move as smooth as he should - you can tell he's really concentrating in many of the activities on his actions. It's probably better to work on all this now early too rather than waiting till he's older to try to teach him. Tanner is really enjoying these fun multi sensory activities -and they are all in the world of what most " normal " kids would be doing - so it gives him a way to play with others -or something to excel in if speech is never one of his best assets. Tonight we are meeting with Jennie and her daughter Lindsey (also from Bilker's Talking Page http://www.debtsmart.com/talk/lindsey.html ) and we can let you know tomorrow what fun multisensory activities we do to make the kids laugh..and talk more! ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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