# Speech Delay



## horsepoor21 (Mar 14, 2007)

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with a child who has a speech delay? My son , Jace , will be 7 years old in May , he was diagnosed with a speech delay when he was 2 . I had always wanted to homeschool him but I let the doctor talk me into putting him in a special needs class at the public school where he had Early Intervention , Speech Therapy and also Occupational Therapy ( he didn't know how to use scissors yet? Who gives their 2 year olds scissors? :shrug: ) Anyhow , after about two years there I saw hardly any progress and I pulled him out and have been workin at home with him every since . I've seen alot of progress but he still cannot pronounce certain sounds like "L" and "J" . I can understand most of what he says , he really likes to talk fast and will just start speeking jibberish if you don't slow him down . Strangers still have troubles understanding him without me there to translate. 

Okay ,now I'm rambling ..... My question is , will he ever be able to talk normal ? Other kids his age don't normally like to play with him at the park , they call him a "baby" which just breaks my heart. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to improve his speech? Thankyou so much in advance !
-Amy


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## RockyGlen (Jan 19, 2007)

Look for a program called Straight Talk. It is a speech therapy program for home use. It worked wonders for us.


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## horsepoor21 (Mar 14, 2007)

Thankyou so much , I'll go look for it right now ! :dance:


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## Jim&Chele (Jan 15, 2006)

I suggest just practice. Sit down with him at least 2 times a week and help him with tongue placement. Start with the L and just show him where to put his tongue. Start by doing La,La then move on to some words after he has figured out where to put his tongue and then just remind him when he is talking. I work in the speech field and the words we use are lake,log,leg and lock. HTH


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## halfpint (Jan 24, 2005)

I second the recommendation for Straight talk.
Dawn


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## Seeria (Jul 21, 2006)

With our son we kept him home and had private speech therapy when we could afford it, part of which was insistance they teach us how to work with him. He did pretty well until we for some brainless reason put him into public school for two years where he regressed in some areas and completely quit advancing in others. 

We pulled him and do homeschool and home therapy now, not with any program but plain talking to each other. Playing, gaming, studies, even surfing the web for topics he likes--we get a lot of conversation going with this technique and he's finally improving again. At 9 he still has problems pronouncing some letters and he has roughly 20 words he is "lazy" about, purposely so it seems. I spent nearly 3 years in speech therapy myself up to age 12, so I remember a bit of my own laziness and training. We're starting to use a lot of (boring) flash card drills and recorder/feedback techniques that was used on me back then. This is proving good for getting rid of lazy speech as he can't go back to playing with us until he he gets a complete run correct.

Best of luck with it and lett us know how he does.


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## DocM (Oct 18, 2006)

Third recommendation for Straight Talk.


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## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

My ds cleared up a lot once we started phonics and we began working on sounding out words. Reading out loud helped, too. I used speech steps for a while when he was learning to read. It seemed to help, also.


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Sometimes speech disfunction is a famamilail trait, it runs in ours hte kids are missing certain letters/sounds. With the right teacher they can progress with the wrong one they go nowhere-had that experience with our eldest. Also some children don't start to speak til they are older. My son spoke only one word at a time til he was around 3 then sat down on my dad's lap one day and told him how to drive a car in detail! We all were shocked. My eldest had the worst problem and was in speech til she was about 10 or so. She still has some issues and mnay people think she is a new englander or british. It's just her speech patterns. I would not stress out too much work on one sound at a time usually the worst sound is the last one that will form. This is how they worked on my 2 DD speech issues, SH was their last sounds to develop. Quite often speech and reading problems go together. My brother who had major problems and my dd who was the worst of the GK both have dyslexia. Dyslexia they have found tends to run in families as well. So there is probably some type of connection somehow. I never stressed over their speech and felt it would come my sil is a freak and is wooried to death her son will have issues but hey he's an only child and mom hovers over him constantly why should he speak is my opinion, kid can't even get dirty!


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## horsepoor21 (Mar 14, 2007)

Actually , I believe Jace has dyslexia , my husband definetly has it .

Does anyone by chance have any good recommendations for help with dyslexia as well ?

Also , with the Straight Talk , I see two versions for sale , do I choose number one or two ? The description on them both seem to fit him but I don't have the $$ to buy them both right now . Is $45 about what ya'll payed for your's ? Thankyou again !


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## NMHaines (Sep 1, 2007)

It is my understanding that even if you homeschool your children they can still receive speech therapy through the schools. This may differ between states, I am not sure. Our state Medicaid paid for both of my children to receive speech therapy. 

Wendi


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## horsepoor21 (Mar 14, 2007)

I would be interested in speech therapy but I've already tried the therapist here and I did not like her . She couldn't even get Jace's attention which is one of the reasons I pulled him out .

Hmmm.... I'll just keep researching I guess ! :baby04:


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## njmama (Jan 4, 2006)

horsepoor21 said:


> Also , with the Straight Talk , I see two versions for sale , do I choose number one or two ? The description on them both seem to fit him but I don't have the $$ to buy them both right now . Is $45 about what ya'll payed for your's ? Thankyou again !



Is he speaking at all? If he is mispronouncing words or using the wrong sound, i.e. wabbit instead of rabbit Straight Talk 1 would be what you are looking for. If he is nonverbal,delayed or has trouble putting sentences together Straight Talk 2. If all of the above applies start with 2 then work towards 1.

45.00 is so reasonable for what Straight Talk offers. Worth every penny.


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