UPDATE: Speech therapy experiences?

[Saudade]

DS3 (3) has awful speech. He had been evaluated many times but they kept saying his receptive speech was too good and he didn’t need therapy. We moved this fall and he got a new primary provider who said he needed a re-eval. The new eval said absolutely, his speech is horrific, yes he qualifies, he needs 2x/week.

“Insurance” will pay for 45 sessions (I mean, we have a high deductible) and after it’s $300/session 😬

He’s had 3 sessions and I’m feeling despondent. I know it’s early but I feel like he’s not making much progress and is going to be unintelligible to the general public forever. Per the therapist, he’s making good progress, the daily report sheet says (90-100%).

We have exercises to work on at home, but he’s super stubborn and just refuses to do it.

Anyone care to share their experience? Quell my fears a bit? Thanks


UPDATE:

Thank you SOOO much to everyone. I had no idea about EI and services provided by the school district as our previous school district was obviously failing us.

We contacted the school district, had an initial meeting, an eval meeting, and will have one more meeting next week to sign the paperwork.

DS3 absolutely qualifies for services per their eval. He will receive 2 days of preschool and 2 days of straight speech therapy. They also provide busing, if that were to be a problem but it is not. I am impressed and so grateful. I'm frustrated that it took this long and we're nearing the end of the school year. But he'll continue private therapy and then resume in the fall. 

[waverly]

Are you going through early intervention? DS did speech, but it was free through his school district, and he was school age at the time. His was caused by hearing loss, so correcting the hearing was 99% of correcting the speech. His hearing loss didn't occur until he was 5 though, so that is why he had services at an older age.

[hocus2]

You really should apply for EI before using private insurance. IT isn't always free but is usually much less than what you're talking about.

[abs]

Contact your school district for sure.

FWIW DD was very similar. I had concerns starting at 15 months and was constantly brushed off because her receptive language was so good. ECI declined to offer services twice. Once DD turned 2 and still only had a few words I pursued private speech therapy. We didn’t see much progress at first and she was eventually diagnosed with apraxia. Right before she turned 3 I called the school district, they got us in for an eval that week, and we had an IEP in place before her 3rd birthday. At that point she went to private therapy twice a week, school therapy once a week, and preschool. It’s what she needed. By the time she was 3.5 she was talking a lot more, at 4 she was 75% understandable, at 5 we stopped private therapy, and at 6 she was dismissed from her IEP. She’s 9.5 now and 100% fine.

Good luck. Stick with it and definitely call the school district ASAP.

[Saudade]

Feb 21, 2020 15:56:28 GMT -5 waverly said:

Are you going through early intervention? DS did speech, but it was free through his school district, and he was school age at the time. His was caused by hearing loss, so correcting the hearing was 99% of correcting the speech. His hearing loss didn't occur until he was 5 though, so that is why he had services at an older age.

hocus2 as well

I honestly have no idea what early intervention is. His speech is not caused by his hearing. He’s had OT, PT, ENT, AudD, neuropsych, and SLP evals. The new SLP coded it as a phonological disorder.

[waverly]

What state are you in? Here is a description of early intervention. It is run by the states though, so each state will be a little bit different. Over age 3, it says call your local school district. www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html

I was just sharing my experience- I wasn't thinking that his case was caused by hearing loss.

[hocus2]

Feb 21, 2020 16:13:51 GMT -5 Saudade said:

Feb 21, 2020 15:56:28 GMT -5 waverly said:

Are you going through early intervention? DS did speech, but it was free through his school district, and he was school age at the time. His was caused by hearing loss, so correcting the hearing was 99% of correcting the speech. His hearing loss didn't occur until he was 5 though, so that is why he had services at an older age.

hocus2 as well

I honestly have no idea what early intervention is. His speech is not caused by his hearing. He’s had OT, PT, ENT, AudD, neuropsych, and SLP evals. The new SLP coded it as a phonological disorder.

  It is a national program. It is not specifically for hard of hearing children.

  I think explains it. veipd.org/earlyintervention/2013/06/25/how-do-children-qualify-for-early-intervention-where-you-are/

[Saudade]

Feb 21, 2020 16:20:44 GMT -5 waverly said:

What state are you in? Here is a description of early intervention. It is run by the states though, so each state will be a little bit different. Over age 3, it says call your local school district. www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html

I was just sharing my experience- I wasn't thinking that his case was caused by hearing loss.

Thank you! We’re in MN. I’ll call the district on Monday and see what can be done.

[nicolewi]

We were able to start speech through the school district when DD was around 3. Her receptive language was great and she was speaking, but her pronunciation was terrible. She made several sounds the wrong way. It was great, because it was free, first of all, and also because there was a really smooth transition into speech in kindergarten.

[pugz]

yes you need a district eval STAT. You can get speech for free through the district if he qualifies, which it sounds like he will. I take my 3 year old twice a week up to the school and she works with the speech therapists. She has trouble with her C and G sounds and was dropping a lot of consonants at the end of words. She has made progress since she started in October but it does take time.

I never even talked to our doctor about it or had a private eval, just the district.

[calico]

My daughter was referred for early intervention by her pediatrician at 18mos through the state/school district. The process was slow - a few months before we got an evaluation then we couldn’t find a reliable provider to come work with her (most are employed by schools and they do it on the side too) for a few more months. But eventually we got a good SLP that my daughter clicked with and started making progress at 2.5. Then she was enrolled into district preschool with an IEP and peer models that really improved her speech. She’s almost ready to get off her IEP next year in 1st grade.

We could have gone private but decided to see how the free process worked first. If we hadn’t got the great SLP that was a good fit for her then we may have gone that way.

[thoseareradishes]

E has been in speech since she was about 17 months old (she is almost 3 now). Her first therapist didn't work out - she made good progress for the first couple of months, but then would not sign or vocalize and she was discharged for non-compliance (big eye roll there - she wasn't even 2 - her therapist had no idea how to work with small kids apparently). We took a short break then got her in with a different therapist who was much more creative and willing to try new things with her. She didn't make much progress for the first few months, but has been adding a ton of words and using sentences for a few months now.

It's been slow progress but she is doing really well with this therapist. Her therapist really emphasized building a relationship with E, so that E would be more willing to work with her. I never felt right with her first therapist, probably one reason being that he didn't try to build any kind of relationship with her.

[pooh8402]

Yes, definitely go through the school. I had speech therapy myself (which was hearing loss related) and it was all through the school. I went 2 or 3 times a week from kindergarten through 5th grade, 6 years. So way more than 45 sessions. It worked well though, most people have no idea that I have a hearing loss, based on my speech.

[namasteak]

Ds1 got private speech as we waited for speech through EI. He is coming up on 2 years of speech.

I would not make a decision based on 3 sessions.

[Deleted]

Definitely go through the school district for an evaluation. It obviously will vary by location but our district provides free speech therapy and free preschool for kids that qualify. There does not have to be an underlying reason for the delay either.

When my son was in speech and I want to stay it took several months to see any progress at home.

[pugz]

also in some places there can be a wait to get a district assigned speech therapist and I know people that did private while they waited to be assigned a therapist. There was no delay for me here in KS, but my friends in Arlington VA both had a wait.

[lilac05]

If he has a phonological disorder, he will likely qualify for school services, too. Though private therapy has many advantages of its own. $300 a session seems really high! You may want to call around about that. Not that you want the cheapest, but I’d think you could get the same quality therapy for less than that.

What kind of exercises did the therapist give you to do? When I was doing therapy for kids that age, 99% of the things I gave families to do were things that they’d just naturally incorporate into their day. “Oh! That’s the ‘tapper’ sound! Toy! T-t-t-toy! What do you want?” (Kid says “toy”) If it’s worksheets, personally, I’d look for a new therapist.

High accuracy in therapy is generally a good thing. It means he’s getting lots of positive practice...training his muscles to do the right thing instead of practicing the mistakes over and over. She is likely building on what he can do one session, then making it a little harder the next time.

Hang in there. Therapy can be a lot of work, but it’s worth it! With the right therapist-child combination and carryover work at home, kids with phonological errors generally do very well!

[sunshine608]

My son had a phonological disorder, but we went through private insurance. I works and he goes to private school in a different county/district than we live in. The clinic where he had therapy was close to my job so it was worth it. Plus, the SLP doubted he would qualify for school services when I explained our situation.

Insurance approved it and out of pocket it was about $700 for the eval $90 a session until we met our dedictible and then it was $30. He went for 6ish months.

Sometimes I still hear the problems, but we have ways to help correct and identify the issues. I think people understand him more than they did previous but he still struggles with some sounds. Overall, I was pleased with our experience, but I did expect more before he graduated. The SLP says 90% accuracy and that is where is at.

[origami]

Ditto getting into EI through your school district if you can. Just want to add that it might take forever so you’ll need to hop on it ASAP. My district doesn’t do ST over the summer and they took months to qualify my kids. We missed out on 9m of ST because of it.

Also $300/session is insane. Unless this is some kind of fancy, rare treatment (?). I went to the top ST office in my state and only paid $125. I’m in the Midwest so maybe that makes a difference, but still.

[Saudade]

Update in post.

Thank you all so much!

[pooh8402]

What a great update!