Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tongue Tied

When Sammy was little he received speech therapy every other friday for a whole year. The main attribution for his speech delay was fluid in his ears, which made it hard for him to hear clearly, therefore he never truly learned what things sounded like. The doctor told us he was hearing things as though he always had water in his ears. Here is a video of him when he was 2.5, singing to his cousin, and you can hear how his speech is kind of muted. After getting ear tubes, though, his hearing issued were corrected and a big improvement was noticed in his speech. In fact, here is another video of him singing the same thing one year later. He wasn't perfect, but he was on par with normal kids, and most people could understand him.

But he was only three then. Now he's five and a half, and kids at school are starting to point out that he sometimes says 'bideo' instead of 'video'. When he says his name, the S sound gets lost and people can't understand him. When we went to his kindergarten registration last month, he actually failed the speech screening. That only means that he needs therapy, so I think that marking his sheet with a big 'FAIL' was a little bit of overkill. But the therapist explained to me that the type of lisp he has isn't something that he'll be able to grow out of, it requires treatment to correct.

Because we all know that kids can sometimes be mean, we decided to seek out treatment for him for the remaining months before kindergarten begins. Unfortunately, we'll have to pay out of pocket for services. But hopefully by the time summer is over, he'll be able to clearly speak his own name so that his new friends won't call him Dan or Stan. I think it'll be money well spent.


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Arizaphale said...

I deal with lots of kids with speech issues and they usually have good results. Just keep your eye on his phonological awareness, hearing sounds in words, as sometimes early speech and hearing issues can be precursors to literacy difficulties. (If you didn't start hearing sounds in words til later than usual, it is sometimes difficult to 'sound things out' when you get to school).He's probably fine but it's always worth bearing in mind.
He looks so cute in that hat!!!!!

Lora said...

I am right with you on this, and have a blog post in my head but I'm not sure when I'll have the time to get around to it.

Kids at preschool are starting to point out the "sounds the kids are having hard times with", according to Jake. Jake who does the Sthindy Brady thing.

The pediatricians don't seem to worry about it, but I don't want my kid being called a sthissthy (or worse, maybe kids don't say sissy any more about kids with lisps) when he gets to school.

I'll be thinking of you and Sammy, I hope everything works out for you guys. And us guys. And all the guys everywhere.

Tracey said...

I have worked with kids for a while and some are actually so jealous that the kids receiving speech therapy get to go to this special class while in school.
On the flip side, I think private therapy out of school will be more effective with quicker results, as it is one-on-one and no time is lost walking to the class, being picked up, etc.
I think you will be amazed at the speed with which you see improvement.