Speech again... any thoughts?

[Jodi]

Ryan is 8 and, according to his current SLP, he has a language disorder which will prevent him from ever obtaining the skills to have clear (or even fuzzy haha) speech. I can't remember the technical lingo for it, but it has something to do with phonology.

Ryan started using a communication device earlier this year. It is pretty neat, but heavy and kinda a pain to drag around.

So, I was hoping to hear from parents of older kids with DS that have significant language deficits. Ryan's cognitive skills are pretty good. He is doing well with writing and spelling (he got a 100% on his spelling test last week - his words were: want, big, his, hot, no, out) and is doing simple addition up to 10. Our big issue is behavior still (that thread is coming later) but speech is right up there to me because it is so important in terms of what his future may hold.

If you could share some thoughts, ideas, successes/failures, etc. I would be so grateful.

Thanks Uno family!

Jodi

[Jessie]

Jodi, Jodi, Jodi. I really wish I had something inspiring to say here, but the fact is, I'm slowly starting to accept the fact that Jason will never speak clearly enough for people to understand him. It just breaks my heart.

What did the SLP suggest in regards to techniques to use for his language disorder - just the communicative device?

I know that communicative devices, the picture books (what the heck is that called, Jason even has one), etc., are all meant to help them with communication. And, they probably do help to a certain extent. However, living with those things in your real, everyday life can be, quite honestly, a pain in the butt for all involved. It's simply not realistic that Jason is going to carry around a book of pictures with him to build a sentence for a complete stranger. Nor probably is it realistic that Ryan will always have his comm device with him.

I wish there was a magic trick to getting communication problems fixed. Jason is almost 14 and we will not give up on speech therapy, but the progress has been painfully slow and I'm not sure how much more progress we will see. We just keep plugging away at it. Our biggest issue is getting him to initiate speaking. He can do most things by himself and doesn't NEED to ask us for things. We have to force him to use his words by sometimes literally standing between him and the napkin, snack, whatever, in order for him to use his words that he does know. It's exhausting.


Jessie