What Can We expect...Speech Evaluation for 3 Year Old

This is a sensitive issue for me. At the age of 2 1/2, our son wasn't talking much and so we started him in speech therapy with JoCo Infant Toddler Services. They were excellent and he made great progress. Prior to his third birthday, he had to be evaluated by the school district to see if he would qualify for continued speech therapy after he turned 3. I took my son to the evaluation and they asked him to "play" in this 10 ft square, enclosed space where they had all manner of toys, puzzles, games, etc. There were three women who were evaluating him and for 40 minutes they peppered him with questions and demands, one after another..."Jimmy do this... Jimmy can you point to this?... Jimmy where's the truck?... Jimmy draw a line... Jimmy stack these blocks..." On and on they went. They barely gave him a chance to respond. Not to mention he was totally overwhelmed by being in an unfamiliar place and being hounded by three strangers! No wonder he got a bad evaluation. I was extremely upset that day and even more so when we got the report that said he was developmentally delayed. I knew he had a speech delay but this report made him out far worse than he was, all because of that lousy evaluation. The ear and eye evaluations were simple, and no big deal. But that speech/social evaluation was horrible. Luckily the woman they paired us with for his speech therapy is wonderful. The first day she was here with us, she even commented that he was much more advanced and better off than the evaluation report stated. She's doing great things with our son and he's making excellent progress.

Best of luck with the evaluation. I hope you have a better experience and things go well for you and your daughter.

The school did it completely different from what I was used to w/ EI. They pretty much had an entire team and they observed him playing, interacted with him, and video taped the evaluation. From there we had a meeting about two weeks later where they went over everything. They went over the letters/sounds he could make, how high they observed him counting, his social skills, etc

My 2 1/2 yr old did not talk until she was 18-20 months old. She grunted, pointed, and cried until we figured out what she needed or wanted. For water we figured out she was using the word "wabble" for water. Who knew??
I spoke to her doctor and he suggested we work with a special services too. They did a paperwork evaluation that you and your husband fill out about. Mostly questions you have to answer, they did stacking blocks test on her, and also did a tympanogram. Which she had some negative readings on. So after talking with the ENT, we had her tubes out.

WOW she took off speaking!! They said she was hearing like we hear under water. She still has Articulation issues in her speech. So we are working with the school district about her going to the elementary school Pre-school program to work with a speech therapist.

A speech therapist told me that the best thing for a child is to get help earlier than later. Maybe they will grow out of the speech issue as they get older, maybe they wont. If they don't you have to back track all that time lost. Good luck to ya.

Updated

My 2 1/2 yr old did not talk until she was 18-20 months old. She grunted, pointed, and cried until we figured out what she needed or wanted. For water we figured out she was using the word "wabble" for water. Who knew??
I spoke to her doctor and he suggested we work with a special services too. They did a paperwork evaluation that you and your husband fill out about. Mostly questions you have to answer, they did stacking blocks test on her, and also did a tympanogram. Which she had some negative readings on. So after talking with the ENT, we had her tubes out.

WOW she took off speaking!! They said she was hearing like we hear under water. She still has Articulation issues in her speech. So we are working with the school district about her going to the elementary school Pre-school program to work with a speech therapist.

A speech therapist told me that the best thing for a child is to get help earlier than later. Maybe they will grow out of the speech issue as they get older, maybe they wont. If they don't you have to back track all that time lost. Good luck to ya.

The evaluation will probably have several parts so be prepared with your daughter's early developmental history. I often requested that parents bring baby books, if they have them! They will ask you detailed questions regarding early language development and likely early motor development.

Someone will do the developmental/social history with you and then they will work with your daughter. They will likely do formalized testing, as she is old enough to be compared to typically developing toddlers. Depending on your concerns, they will likely do a global language assessment (CELF or the PLS) and a test to assess her articulation (how she makes the sounds). The evaluator will be listening to how your daughter responds to questions- does she understand language and express language at the same rate or is one slightly more/less developed.

They will also be considering her "social" language (pragmatics)- does she make eye contact when speaking; does she understand back-and-forth conversations; are there delays in her responding; does she respond when her name is called, etc.

You may want to also bring along a copy of her most recent physical- they will eventually need one for her file.

It's easy for me to say "don't worry", having been a special education administrator for many years, but I know that is easier said than done. Try to keep in mind that language delays are best remediated at a young age and your daughter will benefit from any therapy that the district may offer!

Good luck and remember to ask a ton of questions- they are used to it! Also request a copy of the report as soon as it is availabe and before you meet with the entire team. I have found that parents are more comfortable asking questions privately and tend to be reserved in "formal meetings".

When they evaluated my 2 yr old son for speech they also evaluated his fine motor, gross motor, and cognitive skills. Its just routine so don't be surprised or upset if they want to evaluate everything. I was with him the whole time. IT was a tiny bit stressful to him as they would show him a toy and then take it away to make him ask for it or look for it, but not too bad.