Thursday, January 24, 2008

Speech Therapy

Ok so finally James saw the speech therapist from ECI on Tuesday and let me start by saying I'm not impressed with ECI. First it has taken FOREVER to get the poor child approved and now they are only going to come once a month.

The lady was very nice but she kept saying over and over again how he was so borderline and she just didn't know if she should approve him. Then she recommends that we wait 3 months and have him re-evaluated, well now that sounds great except ECI only comes out until they are 3 and if I wait 3 months, it takes another 3 months to approve him then gee we get what 2 sessions before they pass him along to the school system? Gee doesn't sound like to positive of an approach to me.

James is a very smart child he understands most everything I tell him (when he wants to), and he is somewhere between 4-6 months behind on speech. Here is my delima and please don't ever tell dh I made this post, I don't want my son to have the same difficulty speaking that his father does. Jim was in special ed in elementary school for no reason other than it was very difficult to understand him and back then they didn't know what to do for them. Jim is the ONLY one in his family to graduate from college and he is very intelligent but he has a very difficult time speaking in large groups or in stressful situations such as interviews. Jim has had a lot of trouble finding jobs in the past because he doesn't interview well. Heck I have to make him repeat himself multiple times very often just to understand him.

James talks but 90% of the time you can't understand him and he is starting to get very frustrated and I'm sure discouraged because of it. On the other hand maybe I'm jumping the gun heck I spend half the time waiting for something to go wrong with one of my children simply because I've been so lucky.

I know you guys will tell me to follow my gut that the mommy instinct is usually right, but honestly my mommy gut is confused here to. I don't know if I need to push the issue or just take what ECI gives and see what happens.

In the meantime we have a hearing test next week and an appointment the following week with an ENT to see check that his adenoids and tonsils aren't enlarged. I have a couple of numbers for private therapists that were given to me by friends that I think I'll contact for another opinion as well.

7 comments:

Amy Kilpatrick said...

I am so glad you are taking every road to figure out what is going on with James. I also want to remind you that there is definitely a difference in how well and how early a boy speaks vs. a girl. Ali spoke as well at 2 as EJ did when he was 3. Generally, girls are verbal earlier and boys are physical. I KNOW THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, so take all that for whatever it's worth!

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

I would push harder though I agree with Amy -boys develop speech later.
Given your Dh's history don't let it slide - your instincts are there for a reason.
Read whatever you can and start following the tips - multiples too are behind the 8 ball with speech so don't wait.
It is so hard to know sometimes but it can't hurt giving him a nudge along.

Dorinda said...

I wish I had advice for you but my girls aren't talking at all yet so I'm just going to follow your story first. Thanks for paving the way!

My name is Tammie said...

I would push for EI to approve you. Maybe a note from your Pedi would help? The only reason I say that is because my son, who is 2 1/2 is SOOOO hard to understand. He talks a lot but we cant understand half of what he says. It sounds like he has a major case of marbles in his mouth. We have had speech for a while now and it is improving. We also do signs which help him communicate, but in the long run obviously clear speech is the goal.

Good luck. EI is a pain to deal with for sure.

Casey's trio said...

Hi, thanks for stopping by our blog and saying hello! I thought I would chime in on this issue as well. I would definitely push for services. Your son may be borderline for services, but he is AT RISK and that should be enough to qualify him. And I certainly would push that he be seen more than once a month. My girls all receive speech therapy and they are seen weekly.

Good luck. I know it can be frustrating.

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

i found this tonight on twins but would apply to trips too

http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/mbc.htm

♥.Trish.♥ Drumboys said...

Ps read to end of the column -sorry