should my dd (4 years) see a speech therapist?

[pinkdolly]

Hi,

my dd was 4 in june. She is having difficulty with her speech. Other people find it difficult to understand her and even I have trouble at times. She cannot say her s's or f's (they tend to come out as cl's. Since she was two she has had a stammer, not major sometimes it can be quite bad but then it dissapeers for months.

I have thought about taking her to see a speech therapist but am worried about a)overeacting and b) drawing attention to the situation (dont want her upset.

She is quite a shy little girl and has trouble making friends when in a big group.(although she does have a few friends of different ages).

My 3 year old's speech is much better than that of her sister's and i am starting to get a bit concerned. Am wandering if her speech is hindering her making friends in some way. Just wandered if anyone had an experience, what should I do.

thanx

[Twiglett]

yes she should if she is difficult to understand at 4 she patently has a speech impediment that should be addressed as early as possible as not being able to communicate is a huge disadvantage

totally different from not being able to pronounce certain letters which is natural up to about 8

[LIZS]

Your hv or gp could refer your dd for assessment . Speech therapy can take all sorts of forms , sometimes in a group, with play, stories, games and activities so she probably wouldn't think of it as anything more and it might help build up her social confidence.

[Miaou]

Hello pinkdolly. Yes I think your dd would be an ideal candidate for speech therapy - in fact I'm surprised it has not been picked up at pre-school/school. Contact your health visitor or gp and ask them for a referral. Depending on where you are in the country, waiting lists are very long so you need to get her on a list asap. HTH

[pinkdolly]

Thanx for your replies.

I have a confession. For a lot of reasons (too long to go into on here) my dd does not attend pre school and will not be going to school either. I plan to homeschool all three of my children. Hence why this has not been picked up by anyone else.

My husband and I have both been trying to help her overcome this impediment without involving a professional. But I do feel that she will benefit from the extra help.

Of course the HV's have stopped doing theie reviews on the young children so she hasn't actually seen one since she was a baby. Perhaps I should make that my first port of call and go from there. Thanx again.

[TooTicky]

My ds2 (nearly 5) is similar. Do try for speech therapy, it's very friendly and sometimes they do language groups which can be great fun.

[Twiglett]

there's a home ed'ers section here if you're interested in chatting to other people

but please please don't delay getting a SALT referral .. it can take up to a year in some areas to actually get seen .. you can do it through gp if you want

[Twiglett]

home ed board

[pinkdolly]

Thanx Twiglett,

I have visited the home ed section previoulsy. Although not for bit as been taking time out due to the arrival of my 3rd dd (now 9 weeks).

Just out of interest do you think that her langauge skills could be making it hard for her to make friends.

I watched her in ballet the other day. She has been going for 6 months now and hasn't made a single friend. (been thinking about inviting one of them over for a play date). I was quite upset that the other girls seemed to have friends and dd1 didn't. Although it doesnt seem to bother her (she adores going to ballet).

She mixes well with children who have come to our house to play (ie the girls nxt door (8 years, my friends boy, 2 years, my other friends boys 1 and 3, and also all my friends she sees as her friends and loves them coming over. Age doesn't seem to bother her.)

[Twiglett]

I'm not an expert in speech difficulties nor do I have personal experience with my own children

But common sense would tell me that YES it could make it more difficult for her to make friends, it could reinforce, develop her shyness too

its basically an obstacle you could try to do something about so as a parent IMHO you would be remiss to delay seeking professional assesment and potential help any longer - communication is key to so much of your personality development

and yes if it was me I would invite people over for playdates from ballet school

[Pastarito]

pinkdolly, defintely yes. My ds2 (just 4) has been seen by a speech therapist a couple of times as he was borderline. They diagnosed him with a mild expressive delay -not bad enough to receive regular treatment. We get a check up every 6 months and advice. They also keep an eye on him when they go into his school to see kid that are being actively treated. So I feel more comfortable about it.

I think most of what they tell you is common sense but it helps to get the outside impact and guidance. The other thing to remember is that you usually have to wait quite a long time (6 mo to a year) before you get the first appointment, so it is worth putting her down for it now and researching speech development on the internet in the meantime. If I can find some past threads on this I'll post them.

[pinkdolly]

hi just got off the phone with Dh, who thinks I am overreacting!

he didnt start talking until he was 4 and then he had a stammer until he was 5.

he feels that we should wait until after she turns 5 and see how she is. however, i have told him that i am taking her to see the hv on wednesday, just for a "chat"

Will see how it goes from there.

[Twiglett]

your DH it totally wrong ..and you are right

[pinkdolly]

gf- that was my point exactly, i told dh i'd rather have to cancel a future appointment, then wait until she is older and blame myself for not getting her the help earlier. I already feel i've left it a bit late but dh has always insisted it is a phase she will grow out of like he did.

[Jimjams2]

If you refer her now she may well not be seen until she's 5 anyway. Depends on your area. DS2 was referred on his 2nd birthday (he was high risk for speech/language disorder) and wasn't seen until he was 3. DS1 had to wait over a year for a proper assessment.

[castlesintheair]

Hi Pinkdolly, your DD sound's a bit like my DS (4.6). His speech delay definitely affected his relationship with children his age IMO. He's very friendly and chatty but has always got on better with younger/older children & adults. We saw a SALT who said he didn't need therapy because he understands so well and it is more a case of not wanting to communicate rather than not being able to. He has just started school and one of the 1st things the teacher said about him was that his speech & communication is not a problem at all! I have spent months worrying but fortunately for us it seems to have all fallen into place over the summer. The improvement in his speech from just one week at school has been amazing and maybe that is partly from being forced to mix with children his age. What your husband says may well be true (as it has been for us - my husband didn't speak until he was 4 incidentally) but I agree with others, it is best to get things checked out now. I do think though that in our area we would have to go privately for speech therapy as unless it is severe they don't seem to be interested. I hope that is not the case for you.

Oooh, dear, bit long and waffly but moving house on Thursday and will do anything to avoid packing .

[chocolatedrop]

Hi - felt I had to post a message in reply to your daughter's problem. My son (5) also had speech problems - mispronouncing a variety of sounds but was seen by speech therapist at playschool. No major speech problem diagnosed. However, he was also referred to Audiology because he used to complain that power tools, aircraft etc hurt his ears. He had hearing tested just before starting school at the end of last summer & was diagnosed with mild hearing loss - worse in R ear. Audiology gave us a graph called Speech Banana that shows which shows where in the hearing range each letter falls & surprise, surprise, the letters he had problems with fell directly into the part of the graph that was not covered by his hearing range. I.e - no wonder he couldn't pronounce certain words because he couldn't hear the letter sounds properly. Like your daughter, he had a problem with f, s, th, g & k. His problem turns out to be mild cochlea damage & so he now wears a hearing aid in R ear but it's also possible for similar problems to be related to glue ear & other ear conditions. My son is doing great at school & copes just fine. His hearing may or may not deteriorate as he gets older but for now, he's no longer suffering pain & is learing to read & write just great. I don't wish to alarm you, but if she was my daughter, I'd take her for a hearing test, just to rule it out. Better to help her sooner rather than later. Good luck.