Tell me about speech evaluations?

[bina]

DS hasn't been improving in his verbalizing and communication and the pediatrician agreed that we should get an evaluation. What do they do? Should I bring anything specific with me? Can they tell from 1 eval what's going on? I could be over thinking this.

[lilac05]

If he's under 3, the evaluation will largely consist of a lot of questions for you and the therapist "just playing" with him. When talking to the SLP, keep in mind that there is no right or wrong answer and no one thinks any less of you as a parent if his language skills are delayed. An evaluation consists of finding a bunch of little puzzle pieces and seeing how the puzzle starts to come together. At the end, the SLP will have a good idea of the level and area of need (if any). It's likely she will have to compile all of the results of the evaluations she used (which will probably just look like playing to you), which you will receive in the report. You should have a follow-up appointment to go over the results and recommendations, though that doesn't always happen.

I'm sure you'll get more information before the eval, but most likely, you won't need to take anything with you. You may be asked about developmental milestones (crawling, walking, etc.).

Keep in mind that the SLP knows that his behavior during the evaluation isn't always a good indicator of his true abilities and personality, especially if he's generally shy. That's OK, and a big reason why the parent interview is so important and takes up quite a bit of time. As the SLP is talking to you, she is likely also watching how he plays by himself and you.

Most importantly, good for you for recognizing a potential area where your child may need some additional help and seeking that help. Early intervention is such a wonderful resource and can do wonders for children! It's common for parents to try and blame themselves and/or feel judged...trust me when I say that unless you are completely neglectful (which you obviously aren't), the only judgement coming from the SLP is that you're a great parent for reaching out for some help.

[lilac05]

Oh...and do whatever you can to be sure that you don't schedule his eval during nap time! Seems obvious, but it happens all the time.

[Deleted]

lilac05 was an amazing resource when we started speech therapy for my DD.

I didn't have to bring any thing special with me, it was really just a casual "play date" where the SLP and the Family Resource person sat on the floor with DD and me, and we talked, and played, and the SLP tried different techniques to see what DD could do. Remember that it's ok to answer "i don't know". They would ask me things that I had never thought to even think about/ask of DD, but they were like "no biggie!" when I said that I didn't know. The first time saying that was weird for me.

Speech therapy has been great for our DD - just remember its not always progress. It seemed at times like DD wasn't progressing for a few weeks, or was even regressing. We've been doing therapy for 6 months now, and it is AMAZING to see the improvement she has made in not only the 6 months total, but even in just the last month or two.

[origami]

When my kids were evaluated we went to an office in our school district. 2 people observed them and asked me questions. They gave the kids toys, like simple puzzles and stacking things. They gave me a little booklet that had pictures of objects and told me to ask my kids questions about the objects and they had to point to the right pics. E.g. If the page had a glass of water I had to ask "what do you drink with?" From these little tests and my descriptions they estimated what age level my kids' speaking and level of understanding was at. The evaluators did not tell me a reason for the delay. My kids got a hearing test the same day so that may offer a reason if that shows a problem. I straight up asked them if I should be concerned about ASD. They said no, but still had no reason for the delay. They should tell you if you need to bring anything. I just had to bring some paperwork/birth certs/ID.

[bina]

Thanks ladies. lilac05 he's 22 months so I was worried that I was jumping the gun, but my main concern is that I haven't seen any language improvement since about 13-15 months. I'll see what they say. Thanks for explaining it to me.
ETA my friends keep saying there's nothing to worry about until after two but I don't really see the point in waiting to have it checked. Also I think they equate speech therapy with ASD or occupational therapy but I did speech therapy as a kid and I'm not on the spectrum. Well that was a ramble, sorry.

[lilac05]

You're doing the right thing. There are many, MANY reasons why kids are in speech therapy that have absolutely nothing to do with autism. IMO, it's never to early to get checked out if you've got concerns! Early intervention has been shown time and time again to be the best practice for language delay. Lots of people say "I didn't talk until I was X years old, and I'm fine." Yes. It happens. But others get to that age and still don't talk...and then we've missed a golden window of opportunity. Since we don't know which kid is which, we strive for early intervention for all language delays.

Ignore your friends. Follow your gut. Be thankful you have a pedi who supports you in this. You're doing the right thing.

[CloudBee]

They asked me a ton of questions, and then interacted with DS. They tried to prompt him to identify objects, and overall just watched him play with THEIR items. Certain methods of play were to coerce language. It was fun for him!

[osulori]

Ditto lilac05 100%. The way I word it to parents of kids I evaluate or see for therapy is that while having autism means there is SOME sort of language delay (whether it's comprehension, expression, or social) that does not mean that having some sort of a language delay means a child has autism or even that there's something ELSE going on.

[rosebud]

DS1 was evaluated about that age. Its easy, just be sure he's fed, hydrated, and rested...he'll get tired of the eval sooner than you or the evaluators would like, so the better his mood at the beginning, the longer they can go...