Homeschool World Forum

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-07-31T21:17:42-06:00

My son has Apraxia also. I just wanted to post this link, for anyone who wants to get their child speech therapy outside of public school. My son attends the Scottish Rite Childhood Language center. They have locations all over the country and it is free to families where we attend, and I think at most other locations as well.

http://www.srmason-sj.org/web/cld-files/cldp.htm

Statistics: Posted by Seeker — Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:17 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-06-15T18:52:54-06:00

April, your son sounds so much like mine. He could say joo "juice" and Ja, "Jack" but that was it at 2. Now you can't stop him, and he is completly understandable. His problem now is organizing his thoughts, and writing things down. He has OT once a week, and I'm excited if he can write his numbers the right direction. He is getting better but you have to stay on top of it. Don't let the system tell you to wait. We wasted a whole year waiting for the school system to get it together. The earilier the better!

Statistics: Posted by momo3boys — Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:52 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-06-14T20:32:01-06:00

Megan, no one (especially dads, it seems) is ever anxious to label their child delayed. It's very possible your neice is a late bloomer and will catch up on her own . On the other hand she may not have a speech delay but a speech disorder, and by getting early therapy she will have gained a vital time advantage. Try to explain to your sister in law that there is growing proof that early treatment at the time when a young child's brain connections are most malleable may even help "rewire" any problems. There's really nothing to lose.
There is a website called apraxiakids.com that has a list of warning signs.
By the way, thanks for the encouraging advice about the part-time job!

Statistics: Posted by AprilP — Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:32 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-06-14T20:07:41-06:00

Yes, he has Apraxia. His receptive skills have always been normal, it was just the motor planning in his mouth. And now I'm actually starting to see it in his hands. He was recently evaluated by an occupational therapist, and I was told his grasping is very delayed due to the apraxia. I'm trying some activities at home too, with play-doh and stuff like that to strengthen those fingers. I was really worried though, for a while about his reading in the future. Children with apraxia are at higher risk for dyslexia and other learning disabilities. But he can recognize letters and numbers very well and that's pretty reassuring.....I hope I'm not scaring anyone who is just now learning about apraxia. I've read and heard of so many success stories, and my son has come very far. At age two, he had no speech, not even "mama", and now, a year and a half later, he is very talkative and about 50% intelligable. His speech therapist tells me that as an adult, only a proffesional ear may be able to tell he ever had a problem.

Statistics: Posted by AprilP — Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:07 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-06-14T18:49:15-06:00

I have niece, now about 26 months, who is only speaking maybe 10 words, and not very clearly. She doesn't appear to have issues understanding language or following directions, and she is very social with other adults and children. The family doctor advised to wait and see, which my brother has listened to. I wonder if aprasi could be her problem.

I don't really know what to do since I have oftered up information on where they can go for free assessment and they have refused.

Statistics: Posted by MeganWiles — Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:49 pm

Apraxia or Aphasia?

2006-06-14T16:43:47-06:00

April, is your son's condition Apraxia or Aprasia?
Terms may have changed since I was in college

Aphasia is "impairment of the ability to use or understand oral language...there are several classifications that include expressive, receptive, congenital and/or acquired aphasia".
Apraxia involves "difficulty in motor output or in performing purposeful motor movements".
It may comfort you to know that young children begin talking at various stages of development and it is how a child listens to and interprets the sounds (words) he hears that influences how he encodes or expresses his ideas through language. This concept is important to understand before a child can be taught to read. Reading is the act of decoding and comprehending the language of others on the written page.
Intonation refers to the pitch, accent and rhythm of the spoken word. A child who experiences a deficit in this area may have difficulty encoding the idea of the spoken word(oral language).

Statistics: Posted by June R Oberlander — Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:43 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-06-14T13:46:58-06:00

April, I absolutely agree. My oldest was diagnosed as apriaxia when he was two, also. He's now eight. Keep an eye out for language issues as he gets older. Learning to read turns into quite a challenge for children with apraxia sometimes.

Statistics: Posted by momo3boys — Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:46 pm

Dealing with a three year old's speech delay

2006-06-13T19:52:20-06:00

My son is 3.5 years old and was diagnosed with a speech disorder called verbal apraxia at age 2. I had never heard of this before the diagnosis. The book "The Late Talker" by Marilyn C. Agin, M.D. was extremely helpful. Trust your instincts and not the advice to "wait and see". Early intervention can make all the difference in the world.

Statistics: Posted by AprilP — Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:52 pm

Delayed Speech

2006-02-22T09:38:28-06:00

From what you have written it sounds like you are on spending quality time with your three year old. This close interaction is very important during a child's formative years, especially from birth to age 5. Many parents have found this book useful.

Some speech therapists have reported that this book has helped them interact with young children. The activities in the book "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" may be of interest to you. This book contains developmental age appropriate activities for parents to use with young children from birth to age 5. The back of the book also contains a checklist guide to help monitor the progress of each of the five years.

Good Luck.

Statistics: Posted by June R Oberlander — Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:38 am

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-02-19T12:42:57-06:00

My almost three year old is also delayed in speech, by between 9-11 months in different aspects of speech. We had him evaluated by ECI (early childhood intervention) here in Texas. We have a speech therapist working with him, and here in Texas the program is on a sliding scale of what you can pay. They also come to your home, so you are still very much in control of the situation.

Some things that we do with him to improve his speech and the coordination of his mouth and tongue are: blowing bubbles, we were also asked to take him off of the sippy cup, we have him suck thick things (yogurt, milkshakes, smoothies) through a straw. We read and talk, talk, talk about everything. We sit down and do 'floor time' and I encourage him to point to things and say "right there" to show me where it goes. If he wants something (even if I know what it is) I make him tell me what he wants. Sometimes we get into the habit of talking for them, or just getting them what they want when they gesture or grunt. We sing a lot of songs and read books a lot. If he says something improperly, we ignore it and we continue to say it correctly.

I hope that helps!

Statistics: Posted by Shirelle — Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:42 pm

Speech delays

2006-02-14T20:22:20-06:00

Statistics: Posted by momo3boys — Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:22 pm

speech

2006-02-01T17:26:42-06:00

Your local social services department may offer free speech therapy. My son was evaluated by First Steps, the program in Kentucky, by a wonderful speech therapist who came to our house. Fortunately, my son was just fine, but if he would have needed it, it would have been home based where you are working closely with the therapist. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it much. My boys both didn't talk very clearly until they were much older and they're doing great now. Be sure to ask your doctor what he/she thinks.

Statistics: Posted by Juloyes — Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:26 pm

How to handle a 3 year old's speech challenges

2006-01-15T15:34:05-06:00

Hello. Our 3 year old is very vocal, but his speech is not clear. He does not form his words clearly. We have started some tongue exercises, but what else can we do? Are there homeschool organizations that deal with this? Thanks.

Statistics: Posted by Linda Hartz — Sun Jan 15, 2006 3:34 pm