dd2 is down for speech therepy sessions starting october.

[misdee]

Group and one on one sessions. they are going to let her settle into nursery then start her sessions. they feel she needs a lot of help, as he speech is her main problem area right now, as she cant communicte well ,the gets frustrated, then gets angry, meltdowns etc.

i cant wait, but also feel sad, and maybe i have failed her in some way.

Don't be silly. You have not failed her. Getting therapy is the best thing you can do for her.

of course you havent failed her, all kids are different. ds1 was a brilliant talker but ds2 was a lot slower and had speech therapy. to him it was just somewhere he went to play and he really loved it. he was most upset when i told him he wasnt going again. your dd will probably feel the same

i guess its just mothers guilt.

I worried about DS1's speech for ages (about 18mo before we saw a SALT) - a SALT we knew recommended a book, I read it, I talked to him, I did everything you 'should' as a parent. His speech remained a major problem. Eventually he got group and then 1:1 speech therapy plus extra support at nursery and I managed to do the exercises at home most days (I was v lucky and found a bored local teenager who comes and helps entertain the other DS, I also have the cards and stuff in my bag and pulled them out when waiting anywhere). Improvements were noticeable within 1-2mo, and 6 mo later his speech is considered mainly 'age-approrpriate'. Some of the stuff he did with the SALT was things you'd never consider doing as a parent and some children just need professional input and specific exercises to make the leap from saying something to saying something understandable to other people.

The improvement in his clarity of speech and therefore other people's ability to understand him has not removed all his social / interaction oddnesses, but he is definitely much more willing to communicate with other people / more widely, which is super.

Mummy-guilt is tough, but doesn't relate to actual failings on our part. It's as sensible as feeling guilty your child has blond hair.

She'll be fine and it will help her. They love one to one attention and she'll just experience it as a series of play and social activities. Drop the guilt now !

You haven't failed her.

Ds2 has 1:1 SALT and really enjoys it. He gets to play with toys and games with someone who has far more patience with him than I have. The results have also made life a lot easier for all of us.