How does a speech therapist work with toddlers to get them to speak?

Question

My son was evaluated today by the program called SoonerStart. He will be two next month and is still not speaking, or doing shapes, and has poor motor skills. A lady from the program came and did some exercises with him to see what level he would qualify under to participate in the program. A score from 50 or below is good, he scored 120. She asked him to stack some blocks up, instead he would bang them together. She said that is the level of an 11 mo old. She put a cheerio in a small bottle and asked him to get it out by turning the bottle over but instead he stuck his finger in it and got mad because he couldn't get it. Hes not speaking either. Shows no sign in learning toys whatsoever, has a very short attention span. She told me he will be assigned to a speech therapist and a therapist to work with his other motor skills. Has anyone else had any similar experiences and can tell me about it? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Answer 1

Fabulous! Your son will be off to a great start! The earlier the intervention, the better the results! I am a special ed preschool teacher who works with two and three year olds. It sounds as if your son has a mild general delay, which means that he is delayed in more than two areas (social, cognitive, gross/fine motor, self-help skills, or language/speech). The things you are describing are indicative of this. A toddler speech/language pathologist (SLP) will work with your child through play. They will play with him, label everything they are talking about, and will seem to talk constantly. This is what you will want to model at home as well. Another idea is to get him into a preschool program (preferably one that specializes in children with special needs or one that is language-based). Children learn rapidly from other children, so having him in a preschool program (say, 3 mornings a week for 3 hours/day) will give him access to the children models around him. The speech pathologist will give you lots of ideas for use at home, and they may also work with some exercises to strengthen the mouth and tongue if they are not working efficiently. Your child may also be referred to an Occupational Therapist (OT) or Physical Therapist (PT) for help with motor skills, depending on which skills need more work. It sounds right now that he needs more help with fine motor skills and motor planning, so that would probably be taken care of by an OT. Again, at this young level, this is done during play. The child never knows they are doing "work" because they get to walk on balance beams, swing, jump, roll around and climb. (Truthfully, my favorite day at preschool is Therapy Day when we take the kids in our group to see the OT... it's just so much fun!) We have an on-staff OT, PT, and SLP, so we are very lucky. Again, the OT will give you activities you can do at home to improve your child's motor planning skills and coordination. A great book to check out, which has many activities for children with motor planning problems, etc. is The Out of Sync Child Has Fun, by Carol Stock Kranowitz. It is geared towards children with sensory integration problems, but it has some really awesome activities that can be used for children with motor planning difficulties, language delays, etc. And, typically children who have general delays have some sensory issues as well, so it will probably help anyway. Other things you can do at home:
- talk- A LOT. Talk about everything you see and everything you do, no matter how inconsequential. Your child will begin to connect the language with the objects, enhancing his vocabulary and creating those cognitive connections that are vital to learning to speak.
- request him to talk- If he wants more milk, have him attempt to say "milk" or sign it to you using sign language. Sign language is a preferred method of communication with pre-verbal children because it does not require the dexterity that speech does. Go online to www.babysigns.com to get some easy signs to teach your toddler, such as more, eat, drink, cookie, cracker, milk, and please. Use these in conjunction with talking so he associates the two together. The more senses of the body you use to teach something, the more integrated into the brain it becomes. Signing is easier for toddlers who lack fine coordination skills, and eases frustration for them when they can't tell you with words what it is that they want. This will give him a voice!
- Use picture cards to help him make selections- take pictures of his favorite things to eat, do and play with. Print them out, paste them to construction paper to make them sturdy, and laminate them (or cover with clear contact paper) to make them durable. Then, you can put magnet strips on the back to stick them to the fridge, or you can put them on a key ring to carry with you. Allow your child to show you with the pictures what it is that he wants. Or, if you are going somewhere, show him a picture of the person you are going to see (good for when you are going to a therapy session) or a picture of where you are going (such as the grocery store, McDonalds, Walmart, etc.) This way, he is able to understand what you are saying by connecting the image with the words.

Good luck! If you have more questions, feel free to email me.

Answer 2

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Boys language development is typically a little later than girls. Also children in bilingual homes are a little later. No your child does not have to be placed in the developmentally delayed preschool. You and your wife are part of the IEP (individual education plan) team. You will have a meeting to determine appropriate placement for him. If you do not want the setting that they suggest, refuse it. I believe very strongly that all children are entitled to the LRE (least restrictive environment). This would be the regular ed setting. He can receive speech services (and i suggest this, if he qualifies) at school, during, before, or after the day.

Answer 3

Well, actually, I am going to school to be a speech therapist. I can make a suggestion - www.helpinghandspediatrictherapy.com has a break down of some exercises they do for children - also, you can try going to youtube.com and typing in the search bar, speech therapy. I have seen a few therapy sessions on there with a little girl. Also, a website called toddlerstoday.com has some articles. - if it is easier, just google speech therapy for toddlers. A lot of times for children that small, a therapist will actually come in to your home and observe the way the child interacts. Then they develop lesson plans to target different goals. Another thing is that for older toddlers, the therapist can help show the child where to put his tongue by using a flavored tongue depressor and rubbing it on the correct surface in the mouth. There are so many different tactics that a therapist can use depending on what the diagnosis is for your child. I have seen a lot of great things come out of therapy so your best bet is to get him in therapy as quickly as possible to prevent further delay. I dont know if that helped at all, but hopefully you will find some answers!

Answer 4

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Answer 5

although my son is a bit younger only 9 months he has a speech, physcial and occupational theripist. PT just works on the things he needs learn or is behind in. like for my son he isnt crawling so they show him how to get on his knees show him how to do all the movements of crawling. speech for my son is just talking to him showing him how the mouth makes certain sounds like the vowels. also you should start watching him to see if he is just developmental delayed or actually has something else going on like a syndrom or disease (autisim, and such)

Answer 6

You are VERY lucky, indeed, to live somewhere that has these services available. A speech therapist will have your baby chattering his head off in less than 60 days. You can help by blowing at him. Seriously. : ) Puff into his face and encourage him into games of puffing back at you. Blowing/wind instruments like whistles, horns, and those party tooters that blow out and roll back in really help. Waggle-tongue games are excellent, too. Try to touch the tip of your nose with your tongue type games. Bronx cheers/raspberries and other funny sounds that get that tongue going all help. Blowing bubbles, spitting in the bathtub, painting with the tongue (using food coloring), etc. Again, you and your baby are lucky to have this help coming. Catching the problem at two is outstanding on someone's part. All will be MORE than well by the time he goes to Kindergarten. This is very common, especially among boys. Good luck. And, stop worrying. Get that smile back on your face for your baby so that he'll see all of this as fun. Which, as you'll soon see, it is. Save your "worry" energy for that day when he says, "Hey, Ma, canna have the keys to the car?"