https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:32:26 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909956 Tue, 11 Feb 2020 09:28:39 +0000 jhd 2909956@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@josina: that's a great update! My oldest has always refused to repeat words back, especially at that age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909907 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 14:06:21 +0000 josina 2909907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: How awful to have that first speech teacher constantly thinking something else is wrong!<br /> Our speech teacher agrees with us that she is just behind; she's at-her age or above in every other area except expressive. I agree, I think some kids just need more time to get going. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909897 Mon, 10 Feb 2020 13:02:50 +0000 hellobeeboston 2909897@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@josina: speech therapy went well for my younger son. We had him tested at 18 months and he got in, his receptive was excellent, but his expressive was way below. We did it up until he was 3... Someone came to our house once a week to work with him, and we also had him do a group once a week with other moms &amp; kids... Our speech therapist that we started with wasn't my favorite, she was an alarmist and we were having him tested for all sorts of other things that she kept saying were red flags, and not developmentally appropriate, but he tested fine. We ended up asking for a different speech therapist who we liked a lot more, and she wasn't constantly worrying us.... I think he was just a bit delayed. By the end of speech he was doing awesome. We also worked with him A LOT in the house on our own to get him talking.... </p> <p>He's 4 now and people can't believe how much he talks non stop, it just took him a while. I think at 18 months he said like 5 words... So I think speech helped, plus the group, plus us working with him, and even his older brother helping to get him to talk instead of him talking FOR him... honestly. I just think some kids need more time to get going... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909802 Fri, 07 Feb 2020 14:48:49 +0000 josina 2909802@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had our meeting today and decided that DD has improved enough that we can stop speech therapy for now - but will reevaluate in September.<br /> She's had huge improvements since she started therapy (2 word sentences to 6), but also doesn't actually 'talk' to the speech teacher, so she's going to send us activities to do at home with her instead. She does feel that she'll probably need some therapy later on to develop her words better, but for now we're going to work on it at home. </p> <p>She had to evaluate her based on videos we sent since the last meeting the only word she said to her was purple! DD is very stubborn and if she doesn't want to do something, she won't, so repeating words back is not her thing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909508 Mon, 03 Feb 2020 12:24:18 +0000 codeitall 2909508@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started just after he turned 2 with Early Intervention. It took him a while to warm up, but they did really well working with him and giving us tips on things to do that week to keep it going.</p> <p>For my son, he was in the bottom percentile when initially tested and he still is 50% understood by a stranger at age 5, but seeing the therapist has helped us diagnose over time. We've been able to see him demonstrate various phonological patterns that weren't obvious in his testing and that we can specifically address. He's been hard to diagnose because he has hard sounds like /ch/ covered, but /s/ is usually omitted.</p> <p>Now he's going weekly in the afternoon for a half hour session with the speech therapist at the school. DH and I both WOH and she was able to accommodate us after school which helped me fit it in my work schedule. I've readjusted to WFH on his speech therapy days and it still works well. I see the way she works with him by attending the therapy with him and I can use the same cues and games she does throughout the week.</p> <p>TLDR:<br /> Speech therapy should help you as a parent learn how to coach her at home to get the biggest gains. Don't rely on the speech therapist to make breakthroughs without you consistently reinforcing it at home. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909496 Mon, 03 Feb 2020 10:49:40 +0000 josina 2909496@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for all the replies, sorry if I don't tag everyone! It's helpful to hear everyone else's situations.</p> <p>At 32 months dd tested at 25 months for expressive development (24 months is a 25% delay), so she barely qualified. I'd love it if we just tested out, but I think she could use help speaking clearly. Our meeting about transitioning got moved back to Friday.<br /> One of our neighbors' son is in speech and she has info. for private therapy that will actually pick her up and take her back to daycare, so we can possibly go that route, and It'd be more like twice a week, vs. once a month. We'll need a pediatrician referral, and our ped. had never been concerned, but if we push for it I don't see why they wouldn't. We'll have to see also if our insurance covers it.</p> <p>Would love to keep this board going for everyone's progress and those that start! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909466 Sun, 02 Feb 2020 16:26:13 +0000 MrsADS 2909466@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Following. My 20 month old gets speech 2x/wk through early intervention. Our private insurance does not cover speech at all. His receptive language has improved, but the only words he says spontaneously are mama, dada, and ball, although he will mimic/repeat words we say. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909463 Sun, 02 Feb 2020 12:34:03 +0000 Elizabear 2909463@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You are right and follow your gut! To see the most progress, have your therapist teach you how to be your child's therapist. This is what frustrates me most about public systems. If a child has a delay, that child has it 24/7. Once a week or biweekly is not enough! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909429 Sat, 01 Feb 2020 13:51:23 +0000 chypmunk 2909429@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We just recently started, DS is 19 months we had the referral from the ped and we just had our first session this past Thursday and I feel it’s encouraging... we are currently on 2xs a week until he reaches 3 and we would have to then transition him to another program if he still would need it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909417 Sat, 01 Feb 2020 00:19:53 +0000 Shantuck 2909417@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had mild delays so we got a referral at the two year pediatrician appointment. We started maybe 2 months after her birthday. We had weekly appointments and by the time my daughter aged out at 3, she had caught up. I think twice a month sounds too infrequent to see real progress... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909413 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 23:11:26 +0000 peaches1038 2909413@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@muffinsmuffins: thank you so much for sharing! I am no stranger to advocating for him! I hope that we will be so lucky to have a major improvement after tubes of the fluid is still there in March, which I’m guessing it will be. He has already had the earphone test and passed that, so we know for sure that it is the fluid. It is SO hard to know when to push doctors because you just feel like “THAT mom” and they are supposed to do what’s best for your kid. It’s so infuriating. I went through it when DS was younger and had RSV and no one took it seriously and because of their “wait and see approach”, he then needed breathing treatments with a nebulizer multiple times a day for over a YEAR. 🤬🤯 You sound like an amazing mama. Thanks again for sharing </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909412 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 22:25:09 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2909412@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@peaches1038: very similar experience for us as @gotkimchi: we also had conductive hearing loss and an ENT that delayed his surgery for 2 years trying to be conservative and wait to see if it fixed itself (spoiler alert: it didn’t and I’m still bitter as hell over it) We ended up seeing audiology 4x and he failed the hearing tests every single time due to fluid. They blamed it on him being sick or getting over sick 2x but then finally we convinced the audiologist to push the ENT for surgery and he relented. The final test they did the earphones that bypass the canal and he had a perfect result, which was extremely telling. No word of a lie, he was speaking like a typical child within 2 weeks of his tube and adenoid surgery. So much that his SLP asked what we did that was different with him because his speech exploded. There was a motor component for sure, but after that same along he was stuck for about 6 months in terms of progress before surgery. Absolute game changer for us and the best thing that we ever did for him. Keep pushing even if they brush you off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909410 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 22:08:22 +0000 peaches1038 2909410@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: thanks! He had his tongue and lip ties lasered at 15 months. So far no adenoid issues 🤞🏻🤞🏻 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909403 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:35:45 +0000 gotkimchi 2909403@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@peaches1038: you can definitely message me. I feel like we’ve been through so much, ear tubes/adenoid removal, so much speech therapy, clipped a tongue tie, soft palate specialist, and probably more I’m forgetting right now </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909401 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:13:36 +0000 peaches1038 2909401@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: thank you! I will definitely be pushing for tubes but they needed to make sure the fluid was not transient first. I haven’t gotten the full report with scoring and percentiles, but the SLP said that the air and sound should be propelled forward and he’s letting it escape from the sides. She said it’s a motor pattern that he won’t grow out of. I am in the healthcare field and will definitely advocate for increased services as needed. He is in a private preschool right now and unfortunately there are no therapy services. I really appreciate your thoughts!! I might message you once I get his full report for more insight if you don’t mind! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909400 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:00:00 +0000 gotkimchi 2909400@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@peaches1038: we got tubes and it fixed my lo hearing loss so I would really recommend that and push for that. The first surgeon we saw was very conservative and wanted to wait and that really delayed our progress. Is he in school at all? That’s honestly the easiest way to get speech services because it doesn’t affect your schedule at all - what are his speech issues? In my experience bi monthly is not enough unless you are diligent about doing therapies at home which was so hard for us due to schedules and life and my lo not enjoying us interacting in that dynamic </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909399 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:30:38 +0000 peaches1038 2909399@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am following along as my newly 4 yo just started speech last week. He also has been diagnosed with mild conductive hearing loss in both ears and he has another assessment at the pediatric audiologist are the end of March to decide if we need to pursue tubes. He is going to a private clinic 2x/month. I hope that will be sufficient as both my husband and I WOH and have daily inflexible schedules. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909397 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:19:36 +0000 jhd 2909397@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've been seeing SLP since birth for feeding and speech. We currently do a combination of speech through the school system (he's in K so he gets it twice a week as part of his school day) and private therapy. I feel like he really started to make the most gains in intelligibility around 4 which also coincided with us getting into private therapy twice per week. I think some of it was also understanding better what the therapist was asking him to do.</p> <p>I'm sure it's really hard to manage with 2 parents WOH. I WAH and have some flexibility. But my son was starting to notice that other people didn't understand him and it was affecting his confidence. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909395 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:17:29 +0000 Foodnerd81 2909395@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My younger daughter qualified for short term speech therapy when she was 3, so it was in the public school. We went weekly for about 3 months, until the end of the school year, and i think she showed a lot of improvement. I had her screened again this year (right before she turned 4) and she didn’t qualify for more services, but she is still slightly delayed. Her delay has always been fairly mild anyway. Right now she has to be really focusing to say most S blends, but it seems like she cannot day SN or SM sounds. I’m thinking if i keep doing the exercises the speech therapist gave me, she’ll keep improving? </p> <p>I’ve considered going the private route, as I know a few people who have done it and their insurance covers it, but I haven’t bothered. But in your case with work schedules, that could be an option and then they can work around your schedule. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909394 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:11:52 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2909394@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We dealt with apraxia along with hearing issues that required tube surgery in the end. Started therapy at about 20 months old until 4.5. We did 1x per week throughout that time including private and public when available. The practice time in between was the most important. But our private SLP worked really hard with him finding what worked and it would take off in fits and then he would plateau for a while, sometimes for 2-3 months at a time. Game changer was tube surgery and he exploded with his language. You’d never know really that he could only say one sound for like 2.5 years of his life. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909393 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 17:07:48 +0000 gotkimchi 2909393@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had a very serious case but once per week wasn’t enough for us, we ending up going 4x/week and saw major improvement. 30min each time. Also improvement isn’t linear so it would feel like nothing then all of a sudden click. Appointments were a pain because we didnt go to the public school for pre-K which would have made things much easier so instead we scheduled her speech at the public school on her days off from private daycare and then we saw a private therapist twice weekly on the alternating days after daycare. It was a pain but we wanted her as caught up as possible before kindergarten. Now in kindergarten she gets speech twice per week and we still see our private therapist once per week but have just cut her back to every other week</p> <p>ETA by serious I mean at a 3yo evaluation she was less then 0.1% and she was rated less then 50% understandable to an unfamiliar listener at 4 </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/speech-therapy-howd-it-go-for-your-lo#post-2909391 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:46:24 +0000 josina 2909391@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD started speech through our local AEA progam at around 2-1/2. The speech therapist sees her twice a month usually, once at our home, once at daycare, so it'll be maybe 6 times by the time she graduates out (she turns 3, so its a different program; meeting next week) and has to start going to the school (which I'm really not sure how we're going to accomplish when we both WOH).</p> <p>She's been talking much more, up to 5 word sentences, just not easily understood. I just don't feel that the speech meetings do much since it's 30 minutes and DD is shy so barely talks to her anyways.</p> <p>SO, tell me how speech is going/ or went for you. </p>