MY SON HAS SOME PROBLEMS W/ HIS SPEECH AND I WAS TOLD THAT THE SPEECH THERAPIST AT THE SCHOOL SAID IT WAS “NORMAL DUE TO HIS ETHNIC BACKGROUND”. I ACCEPTED THAT IT WAS NORMAL AT FIRST, BUT I JUST RECENTLY WAS TOLD THEY SAID BECAUSE OF HIS ETHNIC BACKGROUND. I AM WHITE AND HIS FATHER IS HISPANIC. MY HUSBAND DOES NOT EVEN SPEAK SPANISH- NO OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE HAD SPEECH PROBLEMS. HE IS SEVEN NOW AND I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED HIM TO GROW OUT OF IT- IF THAT WAS THE CASE. ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE W/ THIS? I BELIEVE IT IS REALTED TO HIM HAVING DIFFICULTY IN READING/ WRITING. I WOULD APPRECIATE ANY INPUT.
Re: SPEECH ?
Have they actually evaluated him? I would request in writing for a complete evaluation. There are lots of speech/language issues that are related to reading as well.
Sometimes children who learn two langagues are behind intitially on their language development. This doesn’t seem to be the case with your son and besides, by 7, there shouldn’t be any effect. I would not let them get away with telling you that.
Dea is right about private language therapy if the school won’t supply it. But I will tell you it is very expensive. I have looked into it several times—it runs $100/hour where I live.
Beth
how close are you to a university that has a speech and lang
You can get an inexpensive complete diagnostic session for about $65 at the university I attend and you can also get speech and language therapy twice a week for a minimal charge..You may want to look into it…
Let me know what kind of testing the SLP did at the school and what the scores were and I can give you some help. I am in training and getting my masters in Speech in 2 months…I can’t wait!!
Re: how close are you to a university that has a speech and
Thank you all for your advice!!
It is not the biggest problem he has at this point. He is really struggling w/ reading/writing- That is my main concern. As I said, I think it may all be related.
They did not do a formal speech evaluation- She just talked w/ him for a few minutes. I think I will request a full evaluation, or I might check w/ UT (University of Texas) and see if they can help. Funds are limited so thanks for that tip.
At this point I don;t think I can rely on anything the school tells me!
Re: how close are you to a university that has a speech and
Amy, what are they doing to help his reading? I will recommend a few things that might help: a book called “Reading Reflex” by Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness (under $12 at Amazon) and Earobics cd-rom (home version, www.earobics.com). Be careful because schools often do not train their special ed. teachers in effective methods of remediation. Time is valuable and he needs help now!
Janis
My dd is now in 3rd grade and I wish I had done private speech for her when she was younger. We just didn’t have the time with the other remediation we were doing- so it’s next on our ‘list’.
Our school told us in 1st grade - “she’s has problems, but within the norm for her age”. Then in 2nd grade, no improvement -’ She has problems, but she is within the norm for her age’. Now, 3rd grade, no improvement ‘She has problems, but since we can understand her, she does not qualify, you should look for private’. (now keep in mind, they only ‘listened’ to her talk for less than 5 min and determined all this.)
My hindsight advice, is that if it’s a big problem for him right now, go seek a private therapist.