DD needs speech therapy in German, any experiences?

[kindersurprise]

My DD is 5 and we have just been for the U9 checkup. The doc noticed that she is not pronouncing the Sch (Schwein, Schatz, Schule) properly and has refered us to a speech therapist.

Has anyone had experience of this? I do not know what the therapist is like and am a bit unsure how she will react to the fact that DD is being brought up bilingual.

Is there any way to test her speech in English? I have not noticed that she is mispronouncing any words, but I didn't notice the sch thing either so maybe I am deaf to her speech defects.

What's Ergotherapie then?

We get scores of utterly ludicrous referrals (generally from clueless HVs and GPs) but they have to be seen and clog up the system meaning those who really need help must wait even longer.

Thank God I don't work in community clinics anymore. Drives you mad when you have seen the ninth 6 year old of the day 'who can't say his r's'. So bloody what!!!!

I was once referred a kid who according to HV 'can only speak in sentences,not single words;.' He never turned up which was a shame.
I was dying to meet this freak of nature.

Califrau
Isn't ergotherapie similar kind of thing to occupational therapy? Have heard of loads of children having it but have never worked out what it is.
I agree that we are therapy obsessed at the moment. I hardly know anyone who isn't going to some kind of therapy.

Moondog
Thanks for all your info. I feel much more relaxed about it now. We will go along to the ST and see how it goes.

HTH

What did it involve Cali?

Moondog - thanks for your info on the speech side, the Germans send so many children aged 3-6 to therapy and I can't help feeling a lot of it is unnecessary.
They do equally love their occupational therapy here - funnily enough I had no idea what "Ergotherapie" was till I asked for help on here and LIZS told me
Ds1 was prescribed it (chunks of 10 sessions which go on ad infinitum) because he was diagnosed with a visual perception impairment (cue intensive googling to figure that out) and a concentration problem plus some mild motor skill thingy.
He does things like: mazes, word puzzles, crosswords, work shop making woody crafty stuff, in the gym e.g must build a bridge across the room - checking how he approaches problems I think.
He loves it (surprised me) and says it's fun which I reckon was more the contrast to school, def not fun for him the last 2 years because of the concentration; his marks never matched his ability acc to his teacher but to her it was laziness. The school deals with any condition on the scale of mild concentration problems to full-blown dyslexia, mild Asperger's to ADD by shoving it onto the parents and external therapists with no coordination and often no interest. There isn't the same concept of SEN. Partly explains the prevalence of OT.
In the first few weeks of ds1's appts, I must have seen a dozen children from the kindergarten and school, including one who's a friend but was too ashamed to admit that her daughter needed occ therapy - she had problems holding a pen There's a bizarre mindset here of preserving the facade of the perfect family and perfect children.

moondog - thank you very much. The little boy in question is 7 and Francophone, so the "th" sound isn't the issue. But I'll tell his (divorced) father that a bit of parental interest should sort the problem. The mother is very hands-off - the same little boy recently had to have three teeth extracted because they were so rotten but he had never been to a dentist for a check-up in his life and he only brushed his teeth once a day...

No problem.
Poor kid!

finknottle
I agree with your assesment of the German obsession with a perfect child. In our Kindergarten they do a test with the 4 year olds to make sure they are hearing/speaking/understanding properly. This is done in addition to the normal check ups.

The test was designed to pick up on children (often from migrant background) whose German is not so good and might benefit from extra help to make the preschool year and the first year of school easier.

The result: Lots of parents up in arms because the children had "failed" the test and had to do the test again. All of the parents protested that the test was unfair and strange and that their child could hear and speak perfectly.

No time for MN today, as DS has physiotherapy! At the moment we are whizzing from one appointment to the next!

Think those German tests are compulsory every where in Germany now.

I have to say, though I find plenty to bang on about on here, I can't fault the German health care for children. I find it well-thought out. Personally I prefer to have speech therapy and whatever else prescribed at the drop of a hat, 2 days later you can start and see if it really is necessary and if not you can always drop it. How frustrating would it be though to know or suspect your dc need some kind of therapy and then just get put on a waiting list and have to wait ages for it to come through?

Maybe more experienced dms find it a pain in the neck but I appreciated all those U1-? assessments as well, because they were so reassuring to me.

Hi Sandy
I think Kindersurprise meant the tests were in addition to the U tests. Seems over the top - the U8 is for 4 yr-olds so what would the kiga spot that a qualified paediatrician wouldn't? Or do they want to catch children whose parents don't take them to the check-ups?
It's part of the post-PISA-panic I reckon.
I too find it great that the various therapies are on offer but they do seem to over-prescribe them, part of the national hypochondria Where else in the world would you find a "Bio weather report"? From our local paper today:
"Bio-Wetter: Der fallende Luftdruck kündigt den bevorstehenden Wetterumsturz an, denn empfindliche Personen werden erneut von Kopfschmerzen und zunehmenden Schwindelanfällen heimgesucht. Auch lässt die Konzentrationsfähigkeit allgemein nach."

oh gawd I know
I don't know why they need to tell you the bio weather, it doesn't matter what the weather is like, hot, cold, windy, rainy, people will always tell you they are suffering from it.

These language deficiency tests were introduced in dd's last year at kindergarten in Berlin. They are compulsory here now. I don't think it was a big deal, they didn't pick up on anything with dd (although I was sending her to speech therapy at the time so they probably should have noticed something!). If they find anything, they're supposed to give that dc extra German language instruction at kindergarten but don't have time/staff so basically I don't think they tend to "find" anything IYSWIM.

I think people don't mind it coming from a paed but kindergarten teachers can put parents' backs up. Also if other parents know the results... cue trouble. Bad enough when they get to school and start comparing marks in the dreaded Y3!
Must get off MN and ring the speech therapist. Anything that helps dd's German is a good thing I reckon.

I have fond memories of all the therapies I received as a child (in Germany) (just for being slightly clumsy and highly strung I think)

I had weekly sessions with a lady where all I did for the entire 30 minutes was pick up little rubber animals with my toes

I also had 'Sonderturnen' at school, lots of whizzing round on pedalos with the other clumsy kids

Then there was psychotherapy because homework was stressing me out so much at primary school

And later on as a teenager more physio for being knock-kneed.

They do love their therapies.

SSSandy

you are right, about the German health system. It is very good, especially in comparison to the NHS. I guess I have had a lot at the same time, with both DCs needing extra therapy. I should not really complain, just being ornery!

My DH always says, "Wir jammern auf sehr hohen Niveau"

geekgirl
the DCs seem to enjoy their therapy so far, good that you have good memories of your therapy as a child

I do laugh about the Biowetter though, and the whole Kreislauf thing. I don't think there is a British equivalent. You never hear anyone saying that they have circulation. Always reminds me of Hape Kerkeling, "isch hab Rücken!"

Off to pack my suitcase, we are off on holiday tomorrow!!