Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Speech Therapy

Julien was a very late talker.  He said his first word (bye) around 11 months - but between then and 2, I think he may have had only 15-20 words.  Our doctor was not concerned - his comprehension was amazing, and he was developing normally from what she could see - she said it would come in time.



At 2.5 - he had his first word explosion - I credit this to nursery school and being around other children. At 3, he had another one and the vocabulary on this child was amazing - however, no one knew what he was saying. I could understand about 50% of what he said - but that was it.  People that didn't know him didn't understand hardly anything.

When he started school, the teacher mentioned that he should be seen by first words (the speech/language program run through our children's hospital). I knew about the program, but never sought their advice because I was under the impression he would get speech therapy in school should he need it - I was partly correct. CCAC comes into the schools starting in senior kindergarten - when they are 5 and first words no longer sees them.

Cue horrible, guilty mom feelings - I had delayed putting him on the waitlist, and now it would be even longer as he was only in junior kindergarten.

I took him to a first words assessment clinic to have him looked at, and they put him on the wait list - to which I found out was over 8months long.

Fortunately, we have private coverage - so we sought out a private Speech/Language Pathologist who we have been working with since October of last year. The progress he has made has been amazing.  I am so thankful that we found his SLP - she knows just how to handle his personality. We have a ways to go in terms of his pronunciations etc, but he is getting there.

I am so proud of my little guy and his hard work - he loves going to see Mary Jane and playing games with her. One of the tools she uses in her therapy regime is an ipad 2 and apps geared at language and speech. I was amazed - I had no idea that they had apps for this. You see, my hubby and I don't have smart phones (we actually cannot even access the internet from our phones - yes, we are lacking in the technology department).

My goal now is to save up for a tablet / ipad so that we can help him out at home with these apps. They are things that he can do on his own if we set him up.

So, I am looking for recommendations on any kind of device that you have - and if you have used any apps for this type of thing, what would you recommend?

And hey - if your in the technology business and would like to offer us a tablet to use for our sons therapy - I would be happy to provide advertising for you on the blog, twitter and facebook - just contact me and we can get things started immediately.

9 comments:

  1. This is so interesting! I'm so glad you were able to find the proper care for your son and that your health coverage was able to support that. Let's try to share this out to Apple, Toshiba etc!

    I hope that a company is willing to help!!

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    1. you are awesome - thanks for sharing on twitter!

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  2. I am debating whether or not my little guy needs to be assessed for his speech - it's a hard decision sometimes.

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    1. it doesn't hurt to have them assessed - the earlier the better

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  3. My middle didn't talk til he was 2. It was a challenge. We did speech through our local early years intervention program which helped a lot. He still (at 6) is impossible for many people to understand. He talks fast and scattered which makes it a challenge. Cool on the apps - never heard of that! If I had any thing that ran them, I'd try it!

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  4. My son was a late talker and even now at 4, he has trouble pronouncing certain sounds, words etc. We will probably be heading to see a speech therapist and have his assessed as well. Never hurts to find out right? You would be amazed how helpful apps on tablets and smartphones are when it comes to educational games! We have ipod touches for the kids with tons of fun educational apps!

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  5. This is a great post! Don't feel guilty. Sometimes we are simply unsure. That comes with territory of parenthood. The steps you and your son have taken since is inspiring!

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  6. This post is great! My brother needed speech therapy during his adolescence. My parents put it off and put it off until school was insistent upon it when he was in grade 6.

    I'm so glad you've taken the steps to find your son the proper care! :)

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  7. Speech pathologists deal with all aspects of communication including speech, writing, reading, signs, symbols and gestures. Speech pathologists also work with people who have difficulties swallowing food and drink.

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