Our imp isn't talking. It's not just "he doesn't talk much" but more like "at all." Oh, he says a few things, but he's not nearly where he should be for how old he is.
So, we did what any responsible parents would, and took him to a speech therapist to get an assessment. The therapist was a part of the still-standing outstanding hospital system in Joplin, and was very good. She noticed a few things about him, and says he definitely needs speech therapy.
Then, she made the mistake that makes me doubt her abilities and professionalism: she recommended the state-funded programs. The ones that send a therapist to your home to help with your under-three.
Thank you, no. I will not have a social worker in my home. I'd really rather not have one attempting speech therapy with my son, or any type of therapy. If my son is doing speech therapy, he's doing it with a real speech therapist that has a degree in it, and has done that and only that for his/her career. I will not permit someone with a degree in social work with a few credit hours in language acquisition to provide "therapy" to my son that may or may not help him learn to talk.
I'm more than capable of doing the research and learning enough to do that much. We neither need nor want government involvement in our family.
10 minutes ago
Maybe he doesn't have anything to say?
ReplyDeleteI'm serious---HE has two very articulate parents (from your writing skills shown on your blogs)--he may prefer to listen?
Does he pay attention to instructions, etc.?
Yes, if therapy is needed get a hotrospro!
"hotrospro!"
ReplyDeleteOops---GET A PRO!
My brother had some pronunciation issues as a child (He would talk, it just wasn't very intelligible to anyone who didn't spend a lot of time around him). My parents took him to a "real" speech therapist (someone who had even done some medical training, like to learn the anatomy of the speech organs). A few months and he was a lot better. I am pretty sure this was a private-practice person recommended by our pediatrician; I remember my mom taking my brother to her office (which was in her house) for sessions.
ReplyDeleteI presume your son interacts normally with other people and such, and the speech is the only problem? (My minister and his wife are going through a diagnosis process to see if their young son might be autistic; he doesn't really speak but also won't make eye contact and doesn't like to interact with people)
Oh, the imp *loves* people. He makes eye contact and is very affectionate--with people he likes. For a while, he wanted nothing to do with playing with me, and had decided that he doesn't like my mother very well and won't play with her, now. Honestly, he preferred to play by himself in his room until the baby was born. Now, he wants to come out into the living room and play with us all.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't like to play children's games. He doesn't like children's songs (except for "Old MacDonald" since it has critters, and it's one of his books). He likes other children, until they start acting like brats. He doesn't talk. He's barely intelligible to us, most of the time.
He knows many of his colors, and can say some of them--when he wants to. He knows something like half the alphabet. When he does say something recognizable, it's usually a full, grammatically-correct sentence that uses pronouns correctly.
He doesn't point to ask for things. He doesn't make many single-word requests ("ju," "bath," "dy" for candy, "der" for water, "up," "down," "door" for I want to leave or look outside or just play with it). He whines, throws fits, and refuses to even try to let us know what he wants, most of the time.
He's almost three. And he's about where he should have been a year ago.
I would like to offer you a suggestion. Professor Thomas
ReplyDeleteSowell (PHD economics Hoover Institute, Stanford) is one
of the brightest men I have ever read.
He has authored more books, academic papers and opinion
columns, than the number of underpants I have owned in
my 55 years on this planet.
Sowell, like Albert Einstein suffered the same problem
as your "Little Imp." He has authored several columns
on the subject, but what is more important he has written
two books about late talking children.
I have not read these books, but knowing the quality of this mans mind, I would suggest you read the following:
Late Talking Children and The Einstein Syndrome
Both are available at Amazon in Kindle form for $9.99
and the dead tree versions are only a few dollars more.
Sight unseen, I would recommend both of these books for
no other reason than that he is one of the most gifted
intellectuals of our time, and I have no doubt in my
mind his research will have been meticulous.
Thanks for the suggestion, Leonard--I've ordered both books. I'm also a Sowell fan.
ReplyDeleteYou share, "When he does say something recognizable, it's usually a full, grammatically-correct sentence that uses pronouns correctly." This more than anything else you shared about your son's verbal skills stands out to me. My eldest talked constantly, but pretty much no one understood him but me. In preschool, the teachers suggested the same thing was necessary to correct his 'speech problems,' in my perception that it was more of an understanding problem--my son spoke better English than the teachers who were suggesting to me that there was a speech problem.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, you obviously have good instincts---trust what your gut tells you, first. You are absolutely correct about who to go to for help--and who not to get 'help' from; should your son need it...The Speech and Hearing Center is what it is here; and it is all they do.
I wish you good luck with all of it, and applaud your initiative, HH. I remember how panicked my parents were that my younger sister wasn't talking (although she WAS a pointer a la Maggie Simpson). But that was the early '80s, too. She did start talking, launching into full sentences--especially to scold my aunt when she wasn't paying sufficient attention to her niece.
ReplyDeleteI second the Thomas Sowell resources, too.
While I am concerned, I'm not nearly as concerned as my family, nor as "concerned" as my family members that I dislike. "Oh, it's alright--I know there's something wrong with him" is a common statement from a couple of my aunts.
ReplyDeleteActually, there's less wrong with the imp than there is with my aunts. He's smarter by far, and speaks and listens better than they do.