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What do speech therapists do?
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 429210" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Speech therapy covers everything to do with the function of the mouth and pharynx as well as language (therefore that aspect of brain function). However, within speech therapy, they often specialise. Therefore my good friend who is also difficult child 3's speech therapist, is not sufficiently qualified, she says, to help mother in law with her swallowing problems. But she's been brilliant in working with difficult child 3's language issues as well as doing the annual assessments we need for school.</p><p></p><p>Over the years we've seen some great speech therapists and some duds. I accept you are certain your son does not have Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) - that means that J is likely to be a lot easier for the therapist to work with, than difficult child 3 was at that age. Remember, difficult child 3 is Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as well as ADHD. Trying to engage difficult child 3 at age 6 was a tall order - not only was he hyperactive, he would focus only on the written word, he was all over the place fiddling with everything in the room and ignoring the people and his language delay meant that he didn't have the comprehension needed to engage with anybody. And yet - speech therapists were assessing him from age 3. So if they could do it with my son, this one you saw should have had far less trouble with J.</p><p></p><p>You say J seems to have some language issues - even if his language is within normal range, if there are oddities in any way, either to do with the mechanics of speech (such as a stammer, or other speech dysfluency) or language (either exceptionally advanced or delayed) then it needs to be carefully assessed. difficult child 1 was assessed at age 15 and the speech therapist (I know now) did not dig deep enough; she found some oddities but did not really define them. Since then I have seen what a GOOD speech therapist can do. difficult child 3's recent reports have indicated that he now scores within normal range (or exceptional) for everything. But she still dug deeper and identified gaps - speech/language splinter skills, if you will - which will always be a problem for him with word retrieval and related function.</p><p></p><p>With a good speech therapist, there is an overlap with neuropsychs in the testing methods and also in what they can find. A speech therapy assessment is important. However, for the most accurate results, the child does need to be engaged. From what you describe, I know difficult child 3's speech therapist would have no trouble with J. She often assesses challenging clients, including those with autism and ADHD. There are many tools they can use, it sounds like you struck out with this one.</p><p></p><p>When finding another, talk to the GP about the problems. We had problems (big time) when first trying to get various tests done on difficult child 3. The first main test was a hearing test which the GP tried to administer himself. Not a hope - difficult child 3 refused to have the headphones on. But when we went to a special clinic for testing young children for hearing, they were able to involve him and fully engage him, so they got really accurate results. They basically met difficult child 3 where he was, found the key to engaging him, and worked from there. A similar technique would have worked with J - asking him to engage and offering a small short-term reward. With difficult child 3, the reward was being allowed to drop a marble down a chute then watch the marble go plinky plonk all the way to the bottom through the obstacle course. Brilliant!</p><p></p><p>A kid with ADHD can also be a problem for a neuropsychologist. difficult child 1's first assessment was a dismal failure - the school tried to assess him (without my knowledge or permission, too) and he was so anxious he was unable to sit still, did not complete the testing. But they still scored it as if he had, even knowing it was inaccurate. They then tried to tell me he was "retarded" even though he was at that time working well in class, working well above the level you would expect of a child with the scores they had just found. They then tried to use that to 'prove' to me that I was a bad mother, pushing my child to achieve beyond his capability. They had an agenda (because I had been pushing them to provide for easy child with extension work) and were using difficult child 1 to beat me over the head.</p><p></p><p>difficult child 1's next assessment was private. He was much more relaxed. But he also was difficult to engage. At one point he decided he didn't want to answer. "I'm bored with this. I don't want to do this any more. Let's talk about birds instead," he told the psychologist. The psychologist had to work really hard to keep him engaged but still warned us his results were a likely under-estimate.</p><p></p><p>What I suggest you do, besides finding someone else (although you can see how therapy will go - you need a GOOD assessment, both neuropsychologist and speech) is involve J. Let him know that he is seeing these people in order to try to help him find ways to improve his experiences with school. Don't tell him it's for school performance, or to help him behave - do not let him feel that it is in any way his fault. or not. Keep it open and easy-going, but make it clear - you know he is not happy and you are trying to find ways to help him get more out of school. Never underestimate the ability of a child, even a young inattentive one, to want to engage if they feel someone is genuinely wanting to help them in an area where they are not happy. Find something that is an issue at school and let J know, "We're trying to find out what the problem might be, so we can help fix it." The problem is not him, the problem is the problem. In the same way that perhaps an ingrown toenail might be a problem when you want to wear running shoes, and treating the ingrown toenail and reducing the inflammation makes shoes comfortable again.</p><p></p><p>You need a speech therapist with some ability to engage the child and work harder to maintain his focus. Sometimes you have to give the child a little space to do his own thing, but the business with the imaginary crocodile - a good speech therapist would have got up, gone to the window and talked to the child about the crocodile. Useful information could have been gleaned from such an interaction.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 429210, member: 1991"] Speech therapy covers everything to do with the function of the mouth and pharynx as well as language (therefore that aspect of brain function). However, within speech therapy, they often specialise. Therefore my good friend who is also difficult child 3's speech therapist, is not sufficiently qualified, she says, to help mother in law with her swallowing problems. But she's been brilliant in working with difficult child 3's language issues as well as doing the annual assessments we need for school. Over the years we've seen some great speech therapists and some duds. I accept you are certain your son does not have Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) - that means that J is likely to be a lot easier for the therapist to work with, than difficult child 3 was at that age. Remember, difficult child 3 is Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) as well as ADHD. Trying to engage difficult child 3 at age 6 was a tall order - not only was he hyperactive, he would focus only on the written word, he was all over the place fiddling with everything in the room and ignoring the people and his language delay meant that he didn't have the comprehension needed to engage with anybody. And yet - speech therapists were assessing him from age 3. So if they could do it with my son, this one you saw should have had far less trouble with J. You say J seems to have some language issues - even if his language is within normal range, if there are oddities in any way, either to do with the mechanics of speech (such as a stammer, or other speech dysfluency) or language (either exceptionally advanced or delayed) then it needs to be carefully assessed. difficult child 1 was assessed at age 15 and the speech therapist (I know now) did not dig deep enough; she found some oddities but did not really define them. Since then I have seen what a GOOD speech therapist can do. difficult child 3's recent reports have indicated that he now scores within normal range (or exceptional) for everything. But she still dug deeper and identified gaps - speech/language splinter skills, if you will - which will always be a problem for him with word retrieval and related function. With a good speech therapist, there is an overlap with neuropsychs in the testing methods and also in what they can find. A speech therapy assessment is important. However, for the most accurate results, the child does need to be engaged. From what you describe, I know difficult child 3's speech therapist would have no trouble with J. She often assesses challenging clients, including those with autism and ADHD. There are many tools they can use, it sounds like you struck out with this one. When finding another, talk to the GP about the problems. We had problems (big time) when first trying to get various tests done on difficult child 3. The first main test was a hearing test which the GP tried to administer himself. Not a hope - difficult child 3 refused to have the headphones on. But when we went to a special clinic for testing young children for hearing, they were able to involve him and fully engage him, so they got really accurate results. They basically met difficult child 3 where he was, found the key to engaging him, and worked from there. A similar technique would have worked with J - asking him to engage and offering a small short-term reward. With difficult child 3, the reward was being allowed to drop a marble down a chute then watch the marble go plinky plonk all the way to the bottom through the obstacle course. Brilliant! A kid with ADHD can also be a problem for a neuropsychologist. difficult child 1's first assessment was a dismal failure - the school tried to assess him (without my knowledge or permission, too) and he was so anxious he was unable to sit still, did not complete the testing. But they still scored it as if he had, even knowing it was inaccurate. They then tried to tell me he was "retarded" even though he was at that time working well in class, working well above the level you would expect of a child with the scores they had just found. They then tried to use that to 'prove' to me that I was a bad mother, pushing my child to achieve beyond his capability. They had an agenda (because I had been pushing them to provide for easy child with extension work) and were using difficult child 1 to beat me over the head. difficult child 1's next assessment was private. He was much more relaxed. But he also was difficult to engage. At one point he decided he didn't want to answer. "I'm bored with this. I don't want to do this any more. Let's talk about birds instead," he told the psychologist. The psychologist had to work really hard to keep him engaged but still warned us his results were a likely under-estimate. What I suggest you do, besides finding someone else (although you can see how therapy will go - you need a GOOD assessment, both neuropsychologist and speech) is involve J. Let him know that he is seeing these people in order to try to help him find ways to improve his experiences with school. Don't tell him it's for school performance, or to help him behave - do not let him feel that it is in any way his fault. or not. Keep it open and easy-going, but make it clear - you know he is not happy and you are trying to find ways to help him get more out of school. Never underestimate the ability of a child, even a young inattentive one, to want to engage if they feel someone is genuinely wanting to help them in an area where they are not happy. Find something that is an issue at school and let J know, "We're trying to find out what the problem might be, so we can help fix it." The problem is not him, the problem is the problem. In the same way that perhaps an ingrown toenail might be a problem when you want to wear running shoes, and treating the ingrown toenail and reducing the inflammation makes shoes comfortable again. You need a speech therapist with some ability to engage the child and work harder to maintain his focus. Sometimes you have to give the child a little space to do his own thing, but the business with the imaginary crocodile - a good speech therapist would have got up, gone to the window and talked to the child about the crocodile. Useful information could have been gleaned from such an interaction. Marg [/QUOTE]
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