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Speech therapy in Nebraska
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:35 am
by SarahAngeline
Does anyone have any suggestions for helping my 7 yo son pronounce his L and R sounds? He can be difficult to understand and now that he's 7 I'm thinking I need to do something. We had his speech evaluated by early intervention when he was in preschool and they didn't seem to think he needed speech therapy at that time. My options now are going through the school district which would mean taking him to the school, or going through insurance. Pretty sure the insurance option would be expensive and I really only want to pursue speech services, but my understanding is they evaluate their entire development and I'm kinda hesitant about that. Of course, the school district maybe would want to do the same thing, so I'm not sure what I should pursue. Are there any online or curriculum sources for speech therapy that could be used effectively at home? Has anyone in Nebraska had a child in speech therapy through the school district, and what did that process look like? Thanks for any input!
Re: Speech therapy in Nebraska
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 7:05 am
by Nealewill
I can not speak for Nebraska specifically nor can I speak for a curriculum out there. My son has significant speech delays and could read because of it. We went to children's hospital and it cost us $3,000 (we have a high deductible plan) but they got him speaking well and quickly. If you are able to afford the insurance plan, your child will probably learn to speak these letters very quickly. It may only take a month or so. If it were me, this is probably the route I would pursue. My son could only say about 1/2 of his letters correctly and he has auditory processing disorder. He needed speech and language therapy, which he went to for a little over 2 years. It only took him about 6 months though for people to begin to fully understand him though.
Re: Speech therapy in Nebraska
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:07 pm
by SarahAngeline
Thanks for your advice!
He is able to pronounce the L and R sounds better when doing phonics... I guess because he is concentrating on the individual sounds. I need to find out what our insurance will cover. We had so many medical bills last year that we were able to itemize medical expenses this year! We had another baby and ACA caused our premiums and out of pocket max to increase. We are just finishing climbing out of the debt hole and so if I can do it without paying an arm and a leg that's preferable at this point.
I found an app for iPhone called Articulation Station. I'm going to give that a go with him and see how it works. Does anyone have experience with this app or know of other speech therapy apps? Am I crazy to attempt to correct on my own?
Re: Speech therapy in Nebraska
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:04 pm
by mommybelle
I just recently contacted our local school in Georgia for the same reason. My 8 yo cannot quite get those R's and L's down right. I spoke to a speech therapist and was told to bring her in for a "screening." The speech therapist told me that after the screening if she felt that she would qualify for services that I would need to register her through the public school system and then deny "academic services" (since we homeschool) in order to receive speech services. After the evaluation, I was told she would qualify for the services. The speech therapist told me that after the official evaluation (since that was just a screening), they probably would recommend that she attend speech at the school twice a week at 10:00 a.m. She would be in speech with 3-4 other children. I assumed that she'd be in speech for an hour, but I have since learned that the total speech therapy each day at that 10 o'clock hour will probably only be for 30 minutes. I did understand that the evaluation will only evaluate her for speech. But, obviously, every state is different.
So, I myself am trying to figure out the best next step. I do not particularly want to go through the paperwork to register her with the public school system. And I don't like the idea of getting three kids out the door twice a week for her to attend speech at 10:00 a.m. for only 30 minutes, especially since that 30 minutes will not be one on one time.
I have spent a lot of time researching my options. I have read online that correcting the R sound is very difficult, and that it takes the right speech therapist to make progress. The speech therapist I met with actually felt like my daughter's speech would be easy to correct though. I am considering purchasing Speech Buddies which are tools to help correct with placement of the tongue and such, but I have no clue whether or not these are effective. I've also read information on the Entire World of R and Super Star Speech. Both of these books were recommended to me, but again, I have not tried these myself yet.
Re: Speech therapy in Nebraska
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:35 pm
by moedertje
Hello Sarah
SarahAngeline wrote:
I send you a PM.
Although our speech therapist is very impressed with Preparing Hearts for my 9 year old, the rest of the message does not include HOD!