This did not surprise me because we have been keeping an eye on his speech since he starting talking over a year ago. There are certain words he cuts off, or cannot pronounce correctly. At this point, he is still not really talking with more than 1-2 words to ask for something. There has been a lot of progress in the last few months. Since he was one year old, our son would say "cu"(referring to "milk"...we think he was trying to say "cup"). Joshua has now resorted to asking for milk by saying "mmm" so it is progress in the right direction. There are a lot of things he has learned over the last few months and are excited about.
I am not writing this to diagnose or put a label on my child. I think that was my fear when I was thinking about asking my friends for help or putting this out there. Initially, it seemed more comfortable to keep this between my husband and I. In the end, I'm realizing my hesitant behavior is not because I am embarrassed. It is all about protecting my son so he later does not feel embarrassed himself or feel like he has been put in a box. My fears about this topic stem from my own childhood...
I was the speech child. I even went to kindergarten twice. I think the way I felt about myself growing up is what I do not want my son to experience. I want Joshua to excel. I want him to have the best self-esteem. This is just coming from a parent that wants the best for her child. Just as I am sure you want the best for your child.
Joshua has another appointment coming up to be observed. From there, they will determine if possible speech therapy is the route to take. Maybe they will say everything actually looks great, or maybe they will say he does need therapy. Either way, educating myself on this topic is important and I am sure others would like to learn more too.
My main purpose for this post is to get over my own insecurities, but also to ask for advice and support. The professionals will be giving me info but I would like to hear from those who have experience with this too. Feel free to email me if commenting on here is not helpful: ehermesch@gmail.com
Does anybody have experience with a 2-5 year old who has done speech therapy?
What is some good advice or experiences you can share with me?
-Elizabeth
I was actually in speech therapy from the time I was in kindergarten until 4th grade. It was through the school, so I had to leave class 2 days a week and it was soooo embarrassing because every one knew where I was going. However, I always did well in school, I went to college and now I am a lawyer. In the end, speech therapy helped me and I so glad my parents made me do it. To this day, I still pronounce some words funny and I really have to pay attention to how I say things and also listen and learn correct pronunciations. So, this might just be a little bump in the road for your kid that he has to get over in order to move on and be successful.
ReplyDeleteTo this day, I still say "button, and crayon" weird. It's pretty bad when my kindergarten students would laugh when I said those words. I would remind them that Mrs. Hermesch has some words she can't say and that's okay...we're all learning. I was lighthearted about it but I would also ask them, "well, how do you say it?" lol. My kinders were giving me a lesson on it too
DeleteI took a speech therapy class in 1st and 2nd grade, but still was able to participate in advanced classes in school. I excelled in reading despite my speech problems and by 3rd grade I no longer had to take them. I think my speech classes helped build my confidence at such a young age. It's just a small side detail in your child's life and therapy will help him in so many other ways.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. It can build confidence. It gives tools that kids normally wouldn't get outside of speech class. Although I went to kinder twice, by the time I got to 2nd grade I was more than up to speed that they let me skip 2nd grade altogether. Speech therapy is to get you over that little hump and most of the time the kids really excel. Thank you for sharing your experience. It actually helps reiterate that I'm doing the right thing with getting my son in early for speech if he needs it.
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