My two preschoolers have the perfect schedule. It's each day, same time and place, for almost 3 hours in the morning. I want to keep them here, as they have adjusted well! The youngest one might need to switch schools for speech.
Thanks to those who offered help already. My main question is, can I have her get speech therapy at home once weekly? Or, do I feel compelled to send her to the district preschool each day? She LOVES her current school. Also, we pay for it. The public school has a huge waiting list for their program (who knows when she'd get in, etc.), funding issues that keep changing the speech program. Just makes me nervous because her current school is a sure thing, and certainly she's growing and learning a lot in 5 days of preschool here! Either way, she's in a 2's program. She still has two more years of preschool after this year. And, she might not eve qualify for anything, but I'm trying to plan ahead.
I say get her into whatever program you can that helps her with her speech and so she won't continue to fall behind. One of my sons took speech therapy from age 2 until age 10 and it made a huge difference in his life.
Good luck!
Yes.
Never wait on development. Never. She has no time to waste, and the only thing you really have that is free is time. Once that is gone, you don't get it back.
If your school district is offering something more than an hour of speech per week, you should assume that, not only does she need it, that it is the minimum essential service that will make her barely functional in a school setting. That is all the school is requried to do. You should get a private evaluation as well, and if you need to supplement the therapy to maximize her development, then you should do that in a heart beat. Now is the time that it counts the most.
Your perfect schedule is not really perfect at all if your child's speech delay causes a cognative delay and lingers on into all areas of academic acheivment from reading to science and into adulthood.
She will like being able to communicate better than she will not like school, and therapy at this age is pretty much play based too.
Go. Get her in as soon as you can, and if you have to wait more than a few weeks for services, get her some private therapy now.
M.
just a note here too, if your child qualifies for a preschool program, not just speech, they will have to provide bus service in most cases. Also, speech is different than language. A speech delay is an issue, but a languge delay is less obvious and needs more therapy and intervention. Speech is physical, langauge is mental...While you may get some responses that say their child out grew a speech (articulation) issue, you will not hear that about a languge issue, ever. Articulation issues that cause severe intelegiblity issues can then cause a deterioration of langague ablities, but a child can sound fine and jumble words in odd ways without a good grasp on meaning and word usage and have a big need for speech and langague therapy (the word "langague" is pretty much understood in there!)
Here's the thing about speech delays... if you catch them early and intervene intensely, they are likely to go away before your child ages-in to Kindergarten. If you elect not to address the issue, then your child will continue to misarticluate words or transpose words or demonstrate the errors until they are addressed. The older she gets the more difficult it is to relearn how to speak.
When you finish with the language evaluation, a team will sit down with you and review the results. If your child qualifies, do it. Talk with them about your logistical concerns and they may be willing to provide intinerant speech at your child's current preschool, meaning that the district will contract with a therapist who will work with your daughter either in her preschool or at your home. If this isn't an option, then I would suggest enrolling in the therapy program.
This is going to sound harsh, but as a special education administrator I have to say it- if your child needs help, do it. It may inconvenience you, but that's not your child's fault! You are waffling on a decision based on what works for you, not based on your daughter's long term success. Think about that for a minute.
Long term, if your daughter has articulation errors (you don't say what the evaluation is for specifically, but this is the most common reason) she will not likely "grow out" of it without direct therapy. This can happen now while she's little or it can happen in elementary school. Kids are not patient. They will not ask your daughter to repeat herself until they understand her. They will just move on to something or someone else.
If she's eligible, do it. If she's not, keep an eye on her progress and have her re-evaluated as soon as she is in Kindergarten.
Depending on your insurance you could get speech therapy though another program. I know Beaumont has speech therapists at a children's center in West Bloomfield. I think this is something that insurance would have to cover though. You could keep her in your preschool and go in the afternoon for speech somewhere else.
Can your other preschooler go to the district preschool as a peer model? That is what we are doing with our twin boys. Originally they didn't have a spot for my "typical" kid but one opened up. I am so glad because I was stressing about having them go to two different schools.
You can get speech therapy at alot of places; if insurance does not cover, then you would have to pay out of pocket. Abilities Center in Walled Lake, DMC/Childrens in Novi, Beaumont, UofM are all places that offer speech for little ones.
If she qualifies for speech in school (and that is a big IF) then perhaps you can take her to the school at a time other than preschool time to get the services. When my son was 4 we took him to the elementary school where the speech therapist was housed at the end of the school day - he was her last appointment and she evaluated him, he qualified, and then she saw him 2x a week and eventually got down to 1x a week. Now he is 25 and hard to believe he ever had articulation errors.
You will have to do a little research to find what will work. But don't be afraid to ask for what you need.
Each State, has "Early Childhood Intervention" programs.... which also includes for speech therapy. It is free... and for kids 3 and under. They come to your home.
That is what my son had.
It was wonderful. And my son loved it.
I just called them myself, You don't have to go through a Doctor to be referred.
My son was speech delayed.... early intervention, is important.
all the best,
Susan
Rehab hospitals have speech that you can take her to. You would have to have insurance or pay yourself. Yes many do also do children also not just adults. SW Rehab in Battle Creek is one of them. They would test before they treated also.
A lot depends on exactly your child's needs, if you can get therapy, what the district preschool is like. Where we live two year olds get speech therapy at home through the state, only at three do they offer a public school program find out more about the district preschool. When the district preschool said they would consider him for their three year old program IF he couldnt put two words together i started thinking he would be better off in a school full of upper middle class kids who were better role models, then in a program set up for speech delayed kids, mildly learning disabled kids and kids who cant afford preschool. Can you afford to pay for speech therapy if you cant get through the state? would your health insurance help pay for private speech therapy if your pediatrician wrote a script?
