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What should I expect at a speech and developmental evaluation?

What to expect at a speech therapy evaluation?

  • I took my 3 yr old son to the doctor today for a wellness exam. All was well, but the doctor asked if I wanted him to refer my son to a speech therapist. The doctor hadn't even asked me any questions about my son's speech. I told hm if he thought it necessary I would certainly do it. The doctor said that if there were any speech delays/problems it could really set him back in school/learning. I guess he told me this because he thought I was resistant to taking my son, which I am not. I was surprised that he mentioned a speech therapist without me asking to be referred, which I was thinking about `because I don't think my son articulates well at all. Anywho.... What can I expect at the first visit with a speech therapist? What kinds of activities do they do to help a child speak better?

  • Answer:

    If your child has articulation problems, you should check out Speech Buddies. I am a speech therapist and used the S with a 4 year old last week and it helped her quite a bit. You can give it a try at home and if it works for your son could save you money in therapy costs. I would encourage that you try to work with him sooner rather than later - it's much easier to correct problems at a young age. If you do go see a therapist she will start by assessing your son and working with him on word games and activities to improve his speaking ability. If it is a speech delay, she will try to figure out why he is delayed and customize her treatment from there.

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You can google 3 year old speech development and you should get a good list But in general 3 year olds are pretty smart. I thought this was pretty good http://www.parentlinkalberta.ca/publish/docs/02_-_Speech_Sounds_Checklist.pdf and don't worry if he does have a speech delay its best to get him caught up now. Also if he qualifies for clinical therapy then he would probably qualify for school speech as well and he could get free preschool in a "developmental preschool" all school districts are required to have one. Just call your school district and tell them you want to have your child screen for speech therapy. After the screening (depending on if he passes/fails) he will be evaluated and then they will decide if his speech will inhibit his education and decide to admit or not admit to preschool. But preschool helps tremendously for these little guys. Also come check out my blog that is dedicated to parents in similar situations at www.snhiddenhandbook.blogspot.com the site is directed at parents that are just past where you are at it is aimed towards the parents whos children fail the speech screening and will need further services. The next posts will talk about IEP's (Individual Education Programs) and preschools which may interest you.

My son was in speech therapy at an early age. The biggest thing I made clear to the front office staff and the therapist is that we are here to play and (here's where I had to spell some words sometimes) that my son does not know that he has a delay and I want to keep it that way. I believe that if they know they are "behind" or not doing well...it will create a complex and hurt self-esteem. First visit is an assessment and you can ask your office what they'll do, but the three we had asked him lots of questions (to gauge age appropriateness for lots of different thing): everything from, "what is this picture of? (A fork.) to "these three pictures tell a story, can you tell me which goes first?" ...just LOTS of questions. They will let them play with different toys and the whole time they're playing...they're being assessed and they don't even know it! It is a GOOD call to go, especially to the assessment. Some schools/cities offer free evaluations and therapy if needed as party of Early Childhood Development. In AZ, Mesa Public Schools offers this (at least as of a couple years ago).

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