What age to start speech therapy?

[belgo]

I took ds aged 3year and 5 months, to a paediatrician yesterday, following the advice of his nursery school teacher. At first the pead said that he is too young for speech therapy, but when she heard him saying his name, she immediately wrote a referral.

I then phoned the speech therapist to make an appointment, and they have said he is too young, but have given me an appointment anyway for an initial assessment.

He is very communicative at home, but very difficult to understand. He can understand everything in two languages (bilingual family), and is making sentences in both languages, but no-one understands him apart from me. At school he is very quiet.

Another mother came up to me and complained that he wouldn't say 'sorry' to her daughter. She didn't tell me what he had done wrong,; just that he wouldn't say sorry. I said that he can't say sorry: he can't pronounce 's' or 'r' and many other sounds.

Depends on the child as to whether they will get speech therepy. When ds (hearing issues) tried the first time at about 2.6yo he was clearly not going to get much out of it as he wasn't going to cooperate. SO they assessed him as best they could and gave me a few ideas of games we could play to help. He then went back at just over 3yo and although he was wriggly, he cooperated, so he's been having short sessions and it has helped.

With the other mother, firstly I would ask what happened. Even if he can't pronounce "sorry" he may well have his word-"tolly" was what ds used for some time. But you need to explain that, or I tended to ask him to hug, because other children understood that rather than "tolly".

We started DS1 at 3.5 years old - it depends on how much therapy they need. The fact the paed wrote a referral and you will have an assessment is helpful.

Thank you. So it seems that he is about the right age.

I did ask the other mother what he had done wrong, but she didn't tell me, I think she didn't know herself. The point was that he wouldn't say sorry.

He isn't speaking at all in school at the moment, and he is very hesitant to join in anything.

DS1 was like that Belgo - friendly child but v reticent - speech therapy really performed wonders on his confidence levels and its impossible to shut him up now (though it did take until he was nearly 5 and a half for all speech issues to be resolved).

That's great dinkystinky, and fairly quick as well.

my ds was also about 3½ years when he started speech therapy. I think he had 2 blocks of about 7 sessions each before he was discharged from speech therapy. We had work to do at home as well as at the sessions

Thanks Seona, I imagine we will have to do a lot at home.

If she didn't know what he'd done, why on earth is she expecting him to say sorry?

My friends Ds had similar problems with certain letters and was almost 5yo when he had therapy. It only lasted about 4 weeks and he speaks perfectly now. He didn't have confidence issues though and IMO, I reckon that it would be better sorted out sooner rather than later to address his confidence. Good luck.

Well exactly DeWE. It all felt a bit ridiculous. The teacher is perfectly happy with his behaviour, the only problem is not talking and being very shy.

Thanks Solo.

My DD was first assessed by SALT at 2.0; I did some sessions to get ideas for bringing on her language, and then from about 2.4, she did sessions. They don't see them before 2 here

Olivo gosh two years is very young.

They don't usually see them here for speech therapy before the age of four, but they have made an exception in ds's case.

The paed has prescribed 100 sessions over a year, twice a week, that's fairly intense. It's possible that the speech therapist might be able to come to the school for ds.

yes, I was surprised. I referred her at 20 mo, and they said they didnt see till 2 but could get the hearing and ENT referral done so she was 'ready' for an appt. They gave us the first appt the week of her 2nd birthday - they seem keen on early intervention. The SALT goes to nursery for her sometimes.

I referred DD1 at 3, she had a stammer, and she had SALT until about 4.5.

wow, 100 sessions does sound intense, but definitely worth it.

my ds was assessed at 2 and started therapy before 2 and a half. Discharged as age appropriate by age 4. We had great service. He is very cooperative though and was a dream to teach and really enjoyed the sessions. We did daily practice at home too. Not sure it would be as easy for the SALT with all 2 year olds.

Thank you orangewool. Ds is three and a half, and very shy, but that comes from his poor speech.

Our speech therapist said the earlier they intervene, the better, but it does very much depend on the individual child. They did an initial assessment on my DS at 3 to see if he was 'ready' yet and decided he was based on his ability to sit still and listen, follow simple instructions etc. But then after a few sessions it was decided he wasn't developmentally ready yet - eg we couldn't teach him to make 's' and 'sh' sounds rather than the 'ts' he uses because he didn't yet understand the difference between them. We're going to try again in a few months.

Thank you humpheadwrasse

Ds has been assessed, and he was very cooperative, following instructions and concentrating for more then 25 minutes.

The assessment shows that he cannot say vowels and diphthongs, and has very few consonants. The consonants he does have are inconsistently used.

Overall he has a 'very serious' speech delay, and speech therapy is strongly recommended immediately.

I knew all that already.

What I didn't know is that because of his age, he is unlikely to receive the speech therapy through our insurance, meaning that is will cost us 40 pounds every week for a year. The insurance only pays from age five, even though the speech therapist is very clear that he cannot wait that long.

The good news is that he seems to have a good understanding, can follow instructions, and has a good vocabulary - although you can only understand his vocabulary when you already know what he is trying to say.