Speech therapy?

[mommyatty]

DS, who is just such a mystery in so many ways, doesn’t speak clearly. He CAN. But he’s a mumbler and kind of joins all his words together so he doesn’t enunciate each word. Telling him to speak up, slow down, say each word, etc, results in his refusing to repeat himself. Then he’s upset we don’t know what he wants.

We had him tested for speech therapy when he was super little. They said he was lagging a bit, but he wasn’t delayed. Then this summer we had him tested for OT and we mentioned his speech. She said she could easily understand him and that he wasn’t delayed, so she didn’t see the need to test further.

We had his hearing tested. It’s fine. But honestly he sounds a little like a child with a hearing impairment when he talks. We have a niece with a profound hearing loss, and his speech reminds me of hers. Plus he has “selective hearing” to such an extent that I’ve wondered if he honestly can’t hear.

So, thoughts? Have his hearing tested again? His speech evaluated? Just keep nagging him to use his big boy bark? (Thanks for that, Bluey!)

[greenmonkey1]

Your DS is 5, correct? I'd have his speech evaluated again since there really isn't any harm in doing so and potentially a lot of good. There are a lot of sounds that are developed later for which your DS would have tested at as "normally developing" as a youngster since the sounds are not expected to be correct at that age. "R" for example is expected to be developed between 5 and 6 years old (per my DS2's SLPs). So the incorrect sounds that were acceptable at a younger age would now qualify as delayed. If I recall your kids are at a private school - not sure if you could have him evaluated there or would need to go through the local public school. I am all for going the free way as private speech costs $$$ in my experience.

If your son doesn't qualify for speech therapy, the therapist should still give you ideas as to how to improve his speech. Or at least point you towards some resources. It may be that your DS will speak clearer if he doesn't get what he wants because he isn't slowing down and refuses to repeat.

How was his hearing tested? DS2 has tested both at the pediatrician and by an audiologist (twice). I don't know much about the test used at the pediatrician, but I imagine the sensitivity is lower than what is used by an audiologist. Perhaps your son's pediatrician can weigh in on the need for a hearing referral.

[twinmomma]

I would probably just get him retested to set your mind at ease. Can you just do the hearing and speech through the school t this point instead of having to do it all privately?

[Deleted]

I’d take him to the children’s hospital for another evaluation. They will test both hearing and speech and a bunch of other stuff.

My middle DD had major enunciation errors from when she was really little. And she HATED to be corrected and also HATED when people didn’t understand her. When she was around 3, I took her to the school district thing to have her evaluated. They said she was fine and didn’t need services. I continued to be worried so when she was 4.5, I took her to the children’s hospital for an evaluation. They recommended speech therapy at that point. She was only like 7% intelligible and the district cut off for services is like 5% or something (those aren’t the real numbers because I don’t remember exactly, but she was barely over the threshold for the district which is why she was deemed fine by them). She did private speech therapy for about 6 months and then when she started kindergarten she did speech therapy at school until second grade. She’s in 5th now and still have some errors, but at this point I think it is what it is.

So go for another evaluation. If you think something’s not right, you won’t feel better until you get another evaluation.

[mustardseed2007]

DD has been in and out of speech therapy 3 times and has had her hearing tested twice (it's normal). Currently she's in ST for articulation.

The thing about age 5 is that at that age they are suddenly expected to have a large amount of sounds that at age 4 they aren't expected to have. So if you've had him tested in the past and he was fine, you might discover that he suddenly qualifies for speech. I think having a retest that this age is a good idea if you are concerned.

DD sounds like a very young child as well, but her vocabulary is good...which just makes her all the more unintelligible.


ETA: On the scale both the private speech therapist and the district use, DD's private speech therapist that had been working with her for a year said she was in the 4% range, while the tester for the district (who she doesn't know as well and so I'd assume she wouldn't perform as well for and would have a harder time understanding her) said she was less than 1%. : / 

She went in to private speech therapy when she was 4 and has gotten so so much better, so it was kind of shocking to see all of what both testers said she was missing, but the private therapist explained that threshold issue of becoming 5 and what that does to expectations and percentiles. 

[mustardseed2007]

Oct 31, 2019 12:42:15 GMT -5 @mrsgreeko said:

I’d take him to the children’s hospital for another evaluation. They will test both hearing and speech and a bunch of other stuff.

My middle DD had major enunciation errors from when she was really little. And she HATED to be corrected and also HATED when people didn’t understand her. When she was around 3, I took her to the school district thing to have her evaluated. They said she was fine and didn’t need services. I continued to be worried so when she was 4.5, I took her to the children’s hospital for an evaluation. They recommended speech therapy at that point. She was only like 7% intelligible and the district cut off for services is like 5% or something (those aren’t the real numbers because I don’t remember exactly, but she was barely over the threshold for the district which is why she was deemed fine by them). She did private speech therapy for about 6 months and then when she started kindergarten she did speech therapy at school until second grade. She’s in 5th now and still have some errors, but at this point I think it is what it is.

So go for another evaluation. If you think something’s not right, you won’t feel better until you get another evaluation.

DD's pre k teacher played me a recording of her high school student who still doesn't have her R's after being in speech therapy basically her whole life...that was another eye opener for me. I have to think that DD may end up like that - with errors that never correct. 

[mommyatty]

This is what’s odd. Except for the “th” sound, he has all of his sounds and pronounces things appropriately. He just mumbles. Like crazy! I can’t tell if he can’t modulate his volume or if he hears himself as super-loud or what. Also, he’s super-sensitive to loud noises.

[Deleted]

Oct 31, 2019 13:01:17 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

Oct 31, 2019 12:42:15 GMT -5 @mrsgreeko said:

I’d take him to the children’s hospital for another evaluation. They will test both hearing and speech and a bunch of other stuff.

My middle DD had major enunciation errors from when she was really little. And she HATED to be corrected and also HATED when people didn’t understand her. When she was around 3, I took her to the school district thing to have her evaluated. They said she was fine and didn’t need services. I continued to be worried so when she was 4.5, I took her to the children’s hospital for an evaluation. They recommended speech therapy at that point. She was only like 7% intelligible and the district cut off for services is like 5% or something (those aren’t the real numbers because I don’t remember exactly, but she was barely over the threshold for the district which is why she was deemed fine by them). She did private speech therapy for about 6 months and then when she started kindergarten she did speech therapy at school until second grade. She’s in 5th now and still have some errors, but at this point I think it is what it is.

So go for another evaluation. If you think something’s not right, you won’t feel better until you get another evaluation.

DD's pre k teacher played me a recording of her high school student who still doesn't have her R's after being in speech therapy basically her whole life...that was another eye opener for me. I have to think that DD may end up like that - with errors that never correct. 

Yeah I worked with a guy that had some articulation errors. He was a successful scientist guy so I remind myself of that when I think about it. You get it as good as you can and just accept everything else. It does make spelling and writing really hard for my DD though. And reading aloud is basically her idea of torture. In her head she can say all the words fine, but the brain to mouth connection doesn’t seem to work 100%.

[traveltheworld]

I am a big proponent of therapies in general so I would re-test. Both DS and DD had speech therapy and both loved it. Both would have kept going, even after they were totally disqualified because they had so much fun.

DH's best friend mumbles and it's been quite an issue/hindrance as he moves up the corporate ladder. DH has known him since they were 8 years old and all of their friends always thought it was a bit hard to hear him, but they never really mentioned it as he was still articulate enough to be generally understandable. He started speech therapy in his early 30s and it has gotten better, and he said he wished someone would have mentioned it earlier.

[186momx]

I'm going to give you my own speech history. In half day K I was a normal student. 1st grade I was pulled to be tested along with a good chunk of the class. 1st-3rd I along with a small group of kids did speech 3 days as a pull out working on different sounds. I basically had to relearn how to say the entire alphabet. 4th and 5th I was on my own and was lucky to schedule it right when school started so I was just late 3 days a week. 6th grade middle school I dropped part way through the school. By then the only sound I had issues with was R and my speech pathologist and I agreed to do check ins if it became an issue. Fast forward to high school Spanish where I struggled because I still struggled using the R sound let along trying to roll Rs for Spanish but the Spanish teacher would accommodate. I still don't say the R sound correctly most of the time. If I really concentrate I can but it is hard.

mommyatty, is his K teacher saying it is an issue in class? I think between K and 1st there is a huge language jump so you may want to ride it out and see how he evolves into being a 6 year old.

Pst: I hate being corrected or asked to repeat. My great aunt was a speech pathologist and I would be mute around her so she wouldn't have me fix how I said things.

[xctsclrx]

mommyatty, I mumbled a lot. My was related to having hearing issues. I would talk too loud because I couldn't hear myself then get in trouble so I over corrected and started talking low so no one could hear. Still got in trouble so I pretty much stopped talking.

[ilovelucyvv]

I would get your kid tested for speech again. DS is taking speech starting this month. We’ve gotten lots of materials about being a good speech model at home by talking slowly, etc

[waverly]

I agree with testing speech and hearing again. Hearing can fluctuate. It isn’t necessarily the stable thing you might think. It doesn’t happen super often, but it does happen. In terms of talking quietly that could just be projection with the diaphragm type thing. DS was sensitive to loud noises from 2-5 probably and we got him noise cancelling head phones, and he eventually outgrew it.

I think everyone else covered the speech aspect pretty well.

[mommyatty]

We had our parent-teacher conference today, and his teacher recommended he have a neuropsychological eval to see if he’s having sensory processing issues. She thinks the quiet voice is because he lacks confidence and is just overwhelmed by his surroundings. Apparently he’s crying quite a lot because he gets frustrated. And he seems to kind of get lost sometimes during the day. So I called a person she recommended and I’m waiting for her to call me back to do an eval.