All About Speech Therapy

[cherrygal]

sheryl:

Hi

My 2.4 yrs old son is assessed with mild delay in speech by a speech therapist. Besides going to speech therapy which is 1 to 1, any class that is in a small group where he learns to interact? What other things can we do at home to help him?

Is he in any childcare centre or playschool? Enrol him in one and with the social setting, he may be influenced by his peers to speak faster.

My mom believes in this, so even if we have family caregivers, we still insist on sending our kids to childcare once they reach 2yrs old. They pick up language skills and manners better there.

Surround him with cousins on weekends if you can as kids open up to kids. We adults are boring...

[atfc]

sheryl:

Hi

My 2.4 yrs old son is assessed with mild delay in speech by a speech therapist. Besides going to speech therapy which is 1 to 1, any class that is in a small group where he learns to interact? What other things can we do at home to help him?

hi, you can try out this preschool called stamford little geniuses in bugis. (http://www.stamford.edu.sg/genius) they are giving out free for the 1st month for new-comers.

my girl is studying there right now and its not bad. their teachers are very nice and caring. since its free, might as well try it out and see whether its suitable for your kid

[autumnbronze]

sheryl:

Hi

What other things can we do at home to help him?

Talk, talk and talk.

Talk to your child about what you are doing at home. For instance, if you are drying your hair using a hairdryer and he is in the room, just talk to him about the process of drying your hair etc. Hopefully soon, curiosity will be aroused and he may want to touch the hairdryer and learn to operate himself and hopefully that is he would have picked up words like hairdryer or start asking questions ....

Talk to your child about your day at work or how you spent your day. My DH does that a lot. He actually shares what happened at work with DS everyday if he can. And so do I, like I tell him about my shopping experience at NTUC, what I bought etc ....

Talk to him about the cartoons he is watching on tv. Or the book you are reading to him. Tell him your views. Do you think that cartoon/book character is funny? Why etc ....

Just talk about anything under the sun. Not only are you helping him in his speech, you are helping him pick up general knowledge, firing up his imagination and teaching him to be self-aware. For instance \"boy, the hairdryer is not an instrument to play around with, its dangerous because ......\"

And yes, as another forummer suggested, you may want him to be surrounded with kids his age, ie cousins, neighbour's kids etc ...


Later, when you see some progress, then its time to ask ask and ask ...

ALL THE BEST :hugs:

[jedamum]

sheryl:

Hi

My 2.4 yrs old son is assessed with mild delay in speech by a speech therapist. Besides going to speech therapy which is 1 to 1, any class that is in a small group where he learns to interact? What other things can we do at home to help him?

your speech therapist should have some exercises for you to practice at home; if not, ask him/her.
one of the 'exercises' that my ST got us to do is to ask questions about a book; ie, we don't have to read the storybook word by word, but we look at the picture and try to engage in a discussion with the child. if the child's sentences are not complete/proper, we will have to say it in the proper structure and get the child to repeat our sentence. key note is to only do it about 15min or half hour daily (depends on the child's attention span) and don't over do it as some speech-delayed kid may find it frustrating as they cannot grasp the sentence properly.
MHO.
another thing is to switch off the TV.

[pingsped]

sheryl:

Hi

My 2.4 yrs old son is assessed with mild delay in speech by a speech therapist. Besides going to speech therapy which is 1 to 1, any class that is in a small group where he learns to interact? What other things can we do at home to help him?

Does he have receptive language difficulties, ie limited vocabulary & difficulties understanding sentences or explanations ? Receptive language difficulties can cause delays in speech.

If yes, then talk to him slowly using short picture books and objects. This has got to do with auditory (temporal) processing & memory difficulties, so it's best to speak slower & use short sentences.

If you are concerned abt expressive language difficulties (assuming he has some speech), work on
a) phonological awareness (sound) &
Some children have difficulties hearing sounds in speech. A phonics program can help them to process sounds better. But this is usu recommended for older kids. You can buy very simple phonics CD/DVD & get him to listen.

b) metalinguitic awareness
Stage 1 readers which have repetitive or elaborative sentence structures can also help a child have a better sense of how a sentence is constructed.

He's still quite young. It can be just a case of slower development. He may outgrow it by 3 yr old.

cheers

[ddmummy]

Hi


Does anyone of you have any recommendations of a speech therapist?

I am looking for one for my 5yo DS.
His English enrichment teacher recommends him to go to one to improve his pronouciations. DS will swallow all his "s" and his "c" becomes "k" etc.

Tks

[GSK]

Hi


Maybe u wanna check on his ears 1st, are they being blocked. It does affect the speech. If yes, maybe u can ask doctor to prescribe ear drops for him.

Thanks.

[xian_kai]

Is anyone bringing their kids to see speech therapist at NUH (Child Development Unit)?


Cos the ST whom my son is currently seeing has recommended an enrichment center to me. She said that she knows this principal cos the principal has bought one of her student to see her before. ST also told me that a lot of her patients (kids) who later was taught by this principal has improved a lot. Though in the same breathe told me that at NUH, they are not allow to endorse any learning center etc.

So now I am wondering, if it is common for a speech therapist to make recommendations to any enrichment centers? Or am I thinking too much here.

Thanks in advance.

[Sun_2010]

Can under stand ur dilemma.


This endrosement is a double edged thing.
The problem is most parents wouldnt know a good centre - even when we enrol, we worry is it worth the money and the effort. So when an expert recommends it can help. At the same time there is a doubt whether the expert is getting a commission/doing a friend a favour…

So my advise - if you do not know other centres that are good thru experince or friends experince and you can afford ithis centre- give it a try. And asses based on what improvements you see, how ur child feels and how yoou feel at the centre.

Afterall the ST is sticking her neck out against the NUH policy by recommending; so she probably genuninely feels that the centre does a good job. And you want the best for ur DS.


All the best

[xian_kai]

Thanks. Think you are right, as I currently do not know of any center which can help DS.


So maybe I will stick with this recommendation.