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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: Hampshire,UK
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Hi Everyone,
I have only just come across this site, and had a quick glance before registering and have come across so much helpful information already!
My son has just turned 3, and has "a severe speech delay" the speech therapist (who i was not at all impressed with) put him at age 1yr 10 months..with his speech (which i agree with) but also for his understanding...which i do not agree with at all!
We have only seen her once, the environment that she held our appointment in was an office...with lot's of whirly office chairs, tables, computers, exciting looking office equipment. She then expected my son to sit opposite her at a desk and follow out instructions she gave him. My son is an explorer (aren't most 3 yr olds!), he didn't want to sit opposite a stranger whilst there is a whole new room with lots of things around. She had 1 box of toys which she let him play with as he wouldn't sit down and do what she said. She didn't even attempt to get to know him first or sit down and play with him.
In my experience as an Early years practitioner (nursery nurse) you need to gain the child's trust and make them feel happy and comfortable before even attempting to get anything from them. She also kept referring to his "severe attention difficulties" in her report...but from what i have written above, why am i not surprised she thinks that.
She has referred him through our Doctor to the hospital for more tests for Autism and ADHD. I do not believe for 1 second he has Autism or ADHD. The pre-school my son attends were in shock at the report the Speech therapist sent and agree with me (so i know i'm not going mad, hehe).
Sorry that was a bit of a rant, but when i received the report i was so devastated, then was so so angry and now i just think..i know my son, she met him for 45 minutes in an alien environment to him so how can she make such rash comments. There was also not one positive comment in her report.
My son is a bright button, plays with other children but he just can't verbalise well!
We have been seeing a cranial osteopath and she picked up that the nerve running from his brain to jaw and tounge muscles is extremely tight. After the first session in the space of 4 days he came out with 10 new words! The most new words we usually got were 2 a month if that! After the 2nd session even the pre-school commented that he had tried more to communicate with the staff. He has just had his tonsils and adenoids out (due to obstructive sleep apnea) so have missed a few cranial sessions, but are back tomorrow.
I saw the thread about the fish oils, so will look in to that more as well.
I had better leave it there for now,
looking forward to getting to know you all
Lindsay x
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/28/2009
Posts: 71
Points: 213
Location: London
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Hi Lindsay,
I am in the UK too and have a son that just turned 4. I took him to a SLT when he was 3 and believe it or not had the same experience as you, SLT didnt try to be friendly with him, stopped him exploring first and then to sit down and the poor kid didnt stop going to the door, pulling my husband's hand and saying bye bye. Then we got the same devastating report in which she also said he was potty trained but continued to have toileting accidents and neither the nursery nor I mentioned anything. I was actually quite pleased I trained him at 3 and to date he maybe had 2-3 accidents. She also said strongly suspected autism and referred him to a Child Development Team who only relied on her assumption when I took him for a diagnosis in May. Since then I requested an ADOS test which they should have really given to my son.
He is doing great now, well almost excellent compared to how he was last year. Keep up the supplements (omegas, choline, B vitamins) and the hard work, never shut up in the supermarket, the park, on the way to nursery, at home. Try to have some more constructive play time with him on a daily basis, I have posted some ideas few weeks ago. If you play with him at home he will be more used to that when it comes to SL therapy.
Keep posting and feel free to contact me with questions.
Kat x
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: Hampshire,UK
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Thank you so much for your reply Kat.
It sounds like your son has come on in leaps and bounds! The choline and B-Vits, can you get them in liquid form? I have only seen them in tablet form.
My speech therapist was shocked that my son was potty trained too..My son came home after his first day at pre-school (21/2) and took his nappy off and sat on the potty..from that day he's had 3 accidents in that first week and was dry at night from the 2nd week.
Oh and she said that he knows a couple of shapes and a few colours... We told her he knows all of his shapes and colours! Seriously nutty woman.
I have just phoned our speech dept as i hadn't heard from anyone since the dire report, and i should hear about when his next Speech therapy appt is by the end of this week. If the Speech therapist is as bad next time as she was last time i'll be asking to change, apparently she is only based in our town once a week so hopefully won't be too hard to change.
Also this 'Joint language therapy' session he will have to go to, they actually only do these appointments once a month for a couple of children at a time...so could be waiting months!
Thanks again for your reply and it's so good to hear how well your son has done :)
Lindsay x
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 8/28/2009
Posts: 71
Points: 213
Location: London
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hollandandbarrett.com does the choline in a tablet form but also recently found the liquid form which I havent tried http://www.nutricentre.com. The joint therapy will help your son with taking turns, sharing toys and generally encourage him to play better with toys and other children, and through play he learns words. Also will help with eye contact. Keep chasing that appointment, its sad that only the pushy mothers get whats more for the kids. Hope all goes well x
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: Hampshire,UK
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Brilliant, i am near to H&B tomorrow so will pop in.
I got a phone call from his speech therapist and we'll see her in 2 weeks time.
With regards to the Joint language therapy,the thing is, he is very good at sharing and playing with other children and has an extremely good imagination...so it kind of baffled me as to why he was referred. But it's additional help so will definitely keep chasing!
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Rank: Member
Joined: 10/10/2009
Posts: 11
Points: 33
Location: London
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Hi Lindsay,
I live in the UK also (a Hampshire-born girl myself!) and have spoken with Kitkat on and off the board. Unfortunately we all seem to have similar tales to tell in regards to the professionals trying to fit our late-talkers into a hole that they don't quite fit. My daughter (just turned 4) was referred to the Child Development Team about a year ago after one disastrous appointment at an open speech clinic (it transpired later that day that she was actually getting ill and therefore particularly uncooperative and whiney) and at our first appointment the word Autism was being bandied about. Like yourself, I was devastated too. I have never had any concerns about my daughter's development other than her language issues. My daughter went through a series of assessments which (suprise, surprise) proved inconclusive.I think the medical professionals just think of Autism as diagnostic term that may or may not apply eventually, and don't give any thought to the impact of throwing around what is effectively a highly-charged label has on the parents. I am still angry about the amount of time I wasted on worrying, sleepless nights and over-analysing my child's every move.
Skip forward a year and my daughter's speech has come on in leaps and bounds. Personally I found that the realisation that I needed to talk with her at her level of understanding has really help to unlock her speech. I read an analogy somewhere that when you teach a child to climb the stairs you don't stand at the top and shout for them to join you. Rather you stay on the same level as them holding their hand, and once they have the confidence you encourage them to move to the next step, until eventually you reach the top together. I remind myself of this when the frustration gets too much :)
I can only reiterate what Kitkat said about immersing your child in words throughout the day, building on the words he has and finding ways to pique his interest (and stop you going insane lol!). I've also been using the same supplements on my daughter and have noticed an overall improvement in her attention skills. Even if this wascoincidential, it at least allows me to feel like I have some control in a situation which is basically going to be a matter of time.
Good luck with your son and his appointments. Remember you do not have to accept any diagnosis you are not happy with to get access to the services he is entitled to.
Best wishes
Sam x
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: Hampshire,UK
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Thanks very much for your reply Sam :)
What a fantastic analogy, and how right is that! Just said it to my Husband and i think it made something click in him.
We have been given another speech therapy appt for the 15th July with the same Lady so i'm going to see how that goes. Unfortunately it's at the time he starts getting tired...he has just stopped having naps but still gets whingy/weary at that time so i'm sure she'll come to the same conclusion as last time!
We are off on holiday on Monday so we'll be doing lots of days out and walks so we are going to make a concerted effort to talk at his level of speech i think having both of us there will make it easier. When it's just myself and my son at home throughout the week, it does get frustrating so you lose the enthusiasm to do it.
Glad your Daughter is doing so well now, extremely encouraging.
Thanks again for your reply
Lindsay x
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 1/22/2008
Posts: 737
Points: 1,947
Location: Colorado
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I like Onion's comment about parents needing to talk at the child's level--and talk a lot throughout the day. I always suggest that parents say whatever comes naturally (in a full sentence form) but then systematically reduce it in length to simplify it. This is not the same as "baby talk" at all.
So, I might say,
"There goes another really big bus."
"That's a BIG bus."
"Big bus"
"Bus"
"Buuuuuusssssss."
I like to stretch out the vowels in "key" words since this often encourages a child to try to copy. Or, I might end with a "sound-effects" sound like "vvvrrrooooom" or "beep beep."
I listened to a little boy (not quite 2 years) on the shuttle bus to the airport parking lot the other night. He was at the two-word stage. He was really good at saying "big bus" and he said it every chance he got. He didn't say much else, but he said this 10-15 times. It was as though he was driven to practice something he knew he could say.
Mary Lou B. Johnson, M.S.,CCC-SLP
http://www.helpyourchildspeak.com
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 6/28/2010
Posts: 5
Points: 15
Location: Hampshire,UK
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Hi Everyone,
We had our 2nd ST appointment last week. It was about a million times better than the first (which was back in April). She was extremely pleased with the progress he has seemed to make. She basically said "he's speaking English sounding words now". There have been improvements on words that he had back then...ie: Water was "ushush", it is now "warrer". Hope was "Ope"...it is now "Hope".
Plus there were many words i could have added to the old list.
She was extremely impressed with his imaginative play and his understanding and Attention has improved dramatically. Like i had told her in the first appointment, he is a curious boy and would like to have an investigation of his surroundings before settling down happily. So she gave him 10 minutes to explore and then they did role play making cups of tea etc... By the end he was sat on her lap playing games. He also impressed her by knowing what a parallelogram and Trapezium were, lol.
She say's he is definitely not Autistic, or ADHD. The reason for her referring him to the 'Joint Language clinic' was because she wasn't sure after the first appointment what the reasons for his delayed speech were...and she highly suspected Oral Dyspraxia, so wanted him to be seem by top speech therapist and paediatrician. But after this recent appointment she is pretty sure it's just a big delay but she still wants him checked out, which is fine by me.
We are still to continue what we have been doing, talking at his level...extending the words as he say's more... so "tree" "green tree" "big green tree" etc
I just thought i'd update. Thanks again for everyone's advice...i do check on here for new ideas etc :)
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 7/31/2010
Posts: 1
Points: 3
Location: France
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Hi, new here and this just sounds so similar to what we've been through.
Our son's been given a 'pdd' diagnosis whereas another specialist said severe language disorder.
That's to cut a long painful story short. Still going through the diagnosis thing and his language / speech is really improving at 5 and a half.
How many parents get told mistakenly 'pdd'[/b][/i] when it's really a language problem and not primarily psychological ?????? What a stress !!!
Sancha
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