Speech Therapy for an infant with Down Syndrome?

Question

My son is 6 weekd old and he has Down Syndrome. Tomorrow we have our first IFSP meeting. At his evaluation we asked for a speech therapist to come. She seemd a little put out and did not quite know why she was there. She said there is nothing she can do until the baby is 1 years old. The research I have read says she should start to do "message therapy" and stuff like that right away. Any ideas on what I can tell the speech therapist so she knows what I am talking about and doesn't try to "get away with" not serving my son?

Answer 1

You need a physical therapist and not a speech therapist for your baby. That is why she was looking at you like you were crazy. After approx a year old when they child starts to babble and try to put together their first word is when you will need a speech therapist to come in. The physical therapist is the one that will do the massaging and working on your son's muscle tone. So you need to ask your pediatrician to refer you to a Physcial therapist for this. He is too young yet for speech. Their isn't anything for her to do since she only specializing in this area. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

To be honest, there's not a whole lot she can do right now that you can't do yourself. Massaging his gums and mouth inside with a nuk brush(tool) can be done by you for a few months. I would set up for another eval around 8 mos. old for the speech therapist along with the other therapies that your son is entitled to that he's not currently getting.
It really gets to be ALOT of therapists coming into your home. If you have other children or work, it DOES get to be too much. If you wait until 8 mos. old, your son will start receiving therapy around 9 months and that's a good age to where a speech therapist can do good.
I know because my son is 3 1/2 years old right now and went through our state's early intervention program. He had speech, physical, occupational, and developmental coming for awhile. Some came weekly, some every other. one came monthly and that seemed too often most of the time.

I understand that you want everything that's available for your son to help him. Your family's involvement will be the most beneficial ALWAYS. My son had all the speech therapy he could and is still not talking. He can say some words, understands everything that's said to him, but just does not know how to make those words. I think they call it apraxia.

You can, as a parent, request a monthly or every other month consult with the speech therapist, to show you the mouth exercises that you should be doing and make sure that you're doing them right. She has the resources to provide to you (i.e., sheets with exercises)

email me at: [e-mail] if you ever have anything else you want to ask. Sometimes it's nice to know how long something will take. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Speech therapy may be the wrong term... our son has Communication Therapy which addresses speech, sign language, recognition, and even feeding issues. I think you need to address these things with the therapist. It may be that an Occupational Therapist can address some of these areas for now, but I think Communication Therapy should occur by at least 6 months. Sometimes as parents we have to be very strong advocates....so if you feel your child would benefit from certain types of therapy they need to work with you. At your son's age, it's not like they will be doing therapy 5 times a week, probably more like once a week for a few months.

Fight for your son! You sound like a great parent! You might want to go to www.downsyn.com and check out the forum there, you can learn from the experience of lots of parents who have all been there.

Answer 4

My son has developmental delay, because of a car accident. we started to see his problems when he was 6 months but it took some time for him to start his therapies because of the insurance. He goes to a special school called The Debie School from the University of Miami. I don't know where you at but you can always look for any of these gov programs, they are based on the needs of the babies not the income and it works like a daycare but they get all the therapies they need.You can also get suplemental therapies(therapist go to your house). I know these because one of the parents of the babies that goes to school with my son has twins wiht down sindrome and they started their Physical therapies when they were 4monts and the spech before the year. They also get ocupational and feeding and swalowing therapies. Get well informe about any of these programs don't let them tell u there is nothing they can do, they'll be laying.Good luck and start right away therapies are amazing Iam very gratefull my son is doing wonderfull and has improved a lot.

Answer 5

Congratulations on making it past the first 6wks! I'm guessing you've already seen an improvement in your son's muscle tone over these first six weeks. My baby with DS is 3mths old and we've just had a paediatrician appt. He said, enjoy her as a baby, everything will happen, just later. It's nerve wracking as a new parent but everywhere I turn, everyone says, don't worry, they WILL do everything. Congrats again!!

P.S. Australia also has a Down Syndrome Support Group
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/downsyndromeaustralia/

Answer 6

Usually ST won't start until they are older. My son, who also has DS, didn't get ST until he was over 2. If you are really adament about it, what you need to do, is voice concerns about eating. then the ST may get involved. But at 6 weeks old, I wouldnt think ST would start just yet. PT is what is really necessary right now. And, I highly recommend sign language. It helps SO much.
Enjoy him being a baby!

Answer 7

you go straight to higher authority. she should already know what you are asking for. i worked with down sundrome years ago. i forgot the term - but know what you are saying. sorry. that person you went to and gave you attitude is either unaware, or 'put out' because she doesnt have the skills to do what you need and is bothered that you dont want her and want someone else.

go to her supervisor. do not put up with that. we did sign language with many children. my group leader taught many preschoolers and infants. she was and still is in very high demand.

the program is available for your child. that individual probably didnt have the skills/knowledge to do that - go straight to her supervisor!! dont waste time.