Seeking Advice for Niece Who Doesn't Speak Well.

Have her parents concidered asking the speach therapist or her pediatrician of Occupational Therapy would help? Often to therapies togeather make the difference. also be leary of school district speech classes... they only (by law) look at the educational speech issues. My children go to a school for deaf and hearing children (though they are hearing), but i have heard the speech therapist say that often in ARD they have to say speech isn't necessary because its not an educational need but recomment private speech therapy. The other thing to bear in mind speech in school is not private not indivdualized she will get farther faster with private therapy!!

Hello S.,

does it get worse when she's congested? that happens to my daughter. She has a lisp and speech therapy is helping a lot! At any rate, getting her evaluated is the first step. the time to get her some help is now. if the parents and you are concerned....keep at it until you're all satisfied with the results. Another year of her waiting and having to repeat things over and over will have her so frustrated and that's not worth it. Kudos to you for asking. Good luck! ~C.~

Please do not treat that child any different from the other children. She hears and understands everything that you are saying to her perfectly well. She just can't put her syllables together yet. I researched Webmd.com and several more links that it took me to and it shows where 1 out of every 100 children have these syptoms, mostly boys.

Based on the way you wrote your request and ended it with your intelligent daughters, it seems you, and probably others, have already diagnosed her and she can tell, that's why no kisses. Her parents and everyone around her should be working with the speech therapist and praising her every time she makes an effort to speak. Yes, she may need further help so that she won't be behind in school, but whatever she needs, be sure to let her know everyone is there for her.

I kept my grandson while my son and daughter-in-law went to work. He had that same speech problem, but can use the computer and game systems just like 10 yr olds. The only thing different about him was his inability to make the right sounds. Everyone I talked to about his situation said just wait, he will talk later. His parents were in denial and said to wait, but I convinced them to get him a speech therapist just in case. (First he had to get a physical to make sure his hearing, eyesight, and health were find). The therapist worked with him on syllables until he turned three (the age limit she was allowed to teach him). First she started with one syllable words, then two and three). At the same time, she was teaching him sign language. Sign language is find, but I told her I would rather she teach him how to speak the words. It seemed she didn't make a big difference, but a month later we put him in a pre-school and in one week, the words that the speech therapist were trying to get him to pronounce, he started saying them. I'm not sure what boost it, but I guest it was his time. It's not perfect, but at least we can make out what he is trying to say now.

I also spoke with a specialist and she told me to rock him as much as I can to enhance the neurons in his brain. Now you know every time I saw him, I was rocking him. I had his mom and dad rocking him, PaPa, Granny and more). Ha! Ha!.

Good Luck with your Niece.

It sounds like she has an articulation problem and probably needs more help than just a speech therapist once a week. Tell them to contact their school district ASAP to see if she qualifies for their speech program.

My younger son was tested for articulation and was found to have a profound articulation problem (182/200) McKinney has a program called PALS just for children who have articulation problems. He is now testing in the mild range (48/100) after two years. Your niece may get faster results just b/c she's a bit older starting out (my son made the most progress last year at 4), but she definitely sounds like she needs a program where she gets more therapy. My son LOVES his speech school and the great thing about it is that it is free. Also, if she is in daycare the they don't have to worry about transportation b/c the school is REQUIRED to offer transportation if it is needed.

Tell her parents that it is important that she get help now. This type of speech delay can effect her ability to read so it is important that she get the help now. Good luck!

You have received some great advice & input. I just would like to add another possibility. I have seen this with a couple other youngest children. My nephew is the 3rd child. His 2 older brothers speak very well & articulate, and they did from a young age. For some reason he was impossible to understand until he was about 5. He had plenty to say, and understood everything, but his brothers often had to translate for us. Doctors said there was nothing wrong with him. He is now 6 and talks just as well as any child. It seems he just held on to the "baby" thing as long as he could-- until he was ready to talk like a big boy. Perhaps he liked the extra attention it afforded him; maybe big boy school had something to do with this- we don't really know. I think your family should explore all the possibilities, but keep in mind she just may not be ready to talk like a big girl.
Good luck!

i do understand. my 11 year old couldn't speak well until he was about 4.5. he went to speech therapy for one day a week for two years with no improvement. i found a program that accepted him and he went 5 days a week for a whole year. our local school provided it but didn't tell me, i have my personal reasons, but the greasy wheeel gets greased. ethan made up his own sign language, felts inferior because he couldn't talk like others, but he could read and read he did. try finding a different speech arena. i hope things get better W. davis

Callier Center in Dallas. They are great for Speech and Hearing.

All 3 of my children had delayed speech and all 3 for different reasons. My oldest was because he could not hear, lots of ear infections. Started with the school at age 4 and had about 3 years of therepy. My middle was started with Child Find at 18 months. In 3rd grade he was dx with Dyslexia and did not get released til the end of 6th grade. My duaghter also did Child Find at 18 months. She was so close to her brother, she talked the way he did. It did not change til he started school and she got a break from him. What I am trying to say, is it can be many things. Use your gut and follow thru. Good Luck!

my church, First Baptist Church of Ft Worth, has an awesome children's church who has alot of experience with children who are challenged. We had a young girl with Down's Syndrome and an autistic child. The church is at Haltom Road and 820 in Ft Worth. The website is www.fbcfw.org, if you'd like more info.

Her intake eval for speech therapy should have included a hearing test. Is the question whether or not she should start kinder next fall? A lot can change at this age in that amount of time. But, I will say, sometimes putting a child into public school is a great way to get them the help they need. Keyword: sometimes. :) The teachers know what is "normal" and should identify any issues that can be addressed through special services. That being said, if your niece is in private speech therapy she should go ahead and have an evaluation through the school district. There are public preschool programs for children with special needs. She could be missing out on the services that she needs and qualifies for.

I didnt read the responses so please forgive me if I repeat.

She probably just needs some Speach Therapy. My daughter just turned 5 and she was the same way. She has been in Therapy since she was 3 and wow the improvements. We went through our school district and got tested. She was approved for 2 days a week and its free. She just got changed to 1 day since shes doing so well.

Once she starts school and if its still needed the therapist within the school will pull her her from class for therapy. It can be done all the way till 5th grade if needed.

We were the same way with our son. Couldn't understand a word he said and my hubby always was so frustrated. I was with our son all the time so had to interpret most of the time but sometimes I couldn't understand either.

I took our son to a hearing specialist and had his ears checked and the wax removed. We also knew he had damage to one ear drum but he could hear - but heard "back" instead of "cat". Little thing like that in that one ear. But it should not have affected his speech.

So we took him to the elementary school and signed him up for speech therapy. The man worked with him once a week and gave us homework to do. By the time he was done, it was like having a little person in our house - we knew what he was saying! Our son loved to go and was disappointed when he had to stop.
It was really awesome for us and our son too.

By kindergarten he was fine.

I hope that easy for you all too! C.

I would suggest getting her hearing checked. There are doctors that check even if the child has hard time with the instructions of letting them know if they hear... my 4yr old doesn't speak well.... beginning earlier this year, it was determined that articulation was the problem. he sees a speech therapist which I didn't notice any improvement, I then enrolled him in a home preschool, montessori and explained to the teacher my concerns.... he showed great improvement just after a couple weeks of going 2 days a week. I've continued to keep him and I think we may be able to enroll him in Kindergarten next year. Not sure if your niece is enrolled in school but I would recommend looking around. Hope that helps and good luck! :)

You may have already gotten this response, and it's probably already been checked, but what about fluid behind the ear drums? When my younger brothers (twins) started talking, it was very garbled. My parents say I was able to translate and they were able to respond to sounds and words. What happened was they had so much fluid in their ears, that the sounds they heard were like what you hear under water. They did respond to sounds and directions - they learned words the way all kids learn... but what they heard was muffled, so what they said was muffled. Does that make sense? I had a friend with a toddler who was talking with garbled words last year, she went to the doctor, and there was fluid. With my brothers 20 years ago, they got tubes and then had speech therapy for a few years, AFTER they could hear correctly. With my friend's son last year, he took some allergy meds to dry up the fluid and it took care of it. It's worth a try! Good luck! K. :)

Not all speech therapists are equal. My son worked wih the one at his elementary school from 1st through 4th grade. He could never say his R's. Then his first week in 5th grade at the intermediate school, his new speech therapist tracked me down & said, "In order to say an "R," a person's tongue must be able to reach the roof of the mouth. Your son's tongue can't reach the roof of his mouth. It's called 'tongue-tied.' It is PHYSICALLY impossible for him to make the R sound." She gave me the name of a local doctor. We went to see him that week. He examined the tongue, sprayed a little flavored numbing stuff on it, and gave it a tiny clip underneath. It didn't even hurt when the feeling did come back. AND, my son could say his "R" immediately. I was so angry that he'd spent 4 years being embarrassed to speak, being pulled out of class to go work with that 1st speech therapist. MY ADVICE: Have parents take her to their public school for evaluation and free services. And don't settle for NO PROGRESS with ANY therapist.

Hi! My son is on the spectrum and we've met lots of other children on the spectrum who are either really mild or more... And just kiddos who need speech therapy. It sounds like it would be worth the experience to have your niece diagnosed. Beware though of who diagnoses her....make sure the actual person has experience and years of experience. Not all are really good at it.

S., you could have the school district in which she lives do a Child Find evaluation. If she qualifies she could receive some speech services or other services she may need. Please follow-up with this as it will be in her best interest. She does not have to be in school for this process to occur. Matter of fact that is what Child Find is all about.

I have a 4 year old daughter in the same situation. She has been in speech therapy since she was 3. When we moved here to Texas, I had her evaluated with Child Find because I was worried that she would be able to start kindergarten. After being evaluated, she qualified for pre-k special education. She is in a mainstream pre-school but therapy is included in the course. The other kids do not even notice that she gets special tutoring. She just brought home a report card that showed that overall she is at 60%. I don't know what school district your niece is in, but I heard McKinney has a wonderful school for speech and other developmental issues. Go to her school district website and they should have a link to schools that help with this issue. Hope it helps.

I think it might benefit her to see a geneticist. The sooner, the better. If there is something going on, her parents will have a better idea of how to proceed from there. If there is not, then they can rest knowing there is nothing of that nature going on. I don't know where they live but Dr. Kukolich is a geneticist and is wonderful. She is with Cook Children's located in Ft. Worth off of Lancaster. I always think it is better to rule things out, than just sit and wait.

She might not be receiving the right type of speech therapy. Sounds like she should be in articulation therapy...And if she is..She should be receiving 3 to 4 hours a week. :-) Something to look into. My oldest went through articulation therapy and you would never know! I think he speaks better than most 5 year olds! :-)

I spoke to my husband who is an Educational Diagnostician about your concerns. He suggested that you have the parents contact the school disrict's special education office and request (in writing) for a Full Individual Evaluation (FIE). All school district are required by law under "Child Find" to find and assess students with suspected disabiity at no charge to parents and provide services at no charge as well. Speech is one of the disabilites under Special Education. I H. this helps.
H. Thomas

Contact your local school distict. They can screen her as part of the child find initiative. Based on what they find, she could qualify for a number of FREE services. Our district offers- PPCD for students with developmental disabilities, LIFE skills for kids with severe disabilities (this does not sound like your situation) and TALK for kids with speech/language difficulties. The program is our area is 1/2 day and they attend either 2 days/week of 5 days/week depending on their needs.

If she is 4 and still can only be understood some of the time by people other than parents, she would have a good chance to qualify for the TALK program.

In any case- it's all free. The testing, the program, etc. It's worth checking out at any rate. If they have testing from their private therapist that puts her in the bottom 7% in any area, they may be able to just bring those scores and skip the testing process entirely.

My son is 3 and currently sees a private speech therapist. We are in the process of having him tested to the school program and are really hoping he will qualify.

Remember- speech problems do not necessarily mean there are other learning issues. I used to teach gifted and talented for years and many of my students were in speech programs as young children.

I'm not sure why you're keying in on autism. Speech delays, disorders, etc can and often are seperate issues. Autism includes a whole host of issues and not just one (such as speech delays or speech disorders).

If she's been seeing a Speech Therapist (you don't say where or how often), she's in the right hands. This is most likely not a behavioral issue at all. Articulation issues are very hard to work through and often take a very long time. The therapy isn't has fun as other forms of speech therapy. Sometimes, but not always, they correct themselves eventually.

My son had an expressive delay and a few articulation issues. The therapy for the articulation issues (which he started after he began speaking), are not fun. They involved a lot of manipulation with the mouth using tongue deppressors, etc. We eventually stopped since it's was getting really tough on us and really his articulation issues were not that bad. He was in private therapy and going 3x a week for 45 minutes a session. He still didn't progress much with the articulation. My neighbor's 4 yr old has an even more severe articulation problem. He's been in therapy for over a year and has made some progress, but is still pretty hard to understand. It doesn't surprise me that it's been a slow go for your neice.

These types of disorders are sometimes harder to work through than you might think. If she's in speech therapy to begin with, chances are most likely, her parents have already worked with her ped and chances are that autism has been ruled out. The problem when you have a child with speech delays or disorders, all you read online is about autism, but really that's only a tiny slice of the pie. You begin to think any quirk is autism when in fact, it's just a quirk. (We all have quirks too). I understand your worry, but try and understand what her parents are dealing with. If she's with a good, reputable speech therapist, she's in the right hands.

Tell them to check with the school- she may qualify for a PPCD class at the school and they can also help with speech problems. My son was in it last year for kindergarten and now this year he is doing so much better and in regular kindergarten with speech and fine motor skill help.
Good luck!