Animal sounds/Noises

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

So Brooks OT was here today and although she said she is doing great w/ her words and communicating skills she want's her to learn animal sounds and noises that things make and be able to know the difference. Huh Don't get me wrong, all those thing are fine but, in my opinion communicating her needs to me are far more important than learning that a dog goes bark bark and a cow goes moo. Maybe i'm just way off base here and don't know what i'm doing so i'm asking for some advise. What is/was more important when your kids were Brooks age? Plus, we've really been working on the walking and feeding herself w/ utensils and the OT thinks that is great too but these darn sounds she is just stuck on. Why? I'm confused I did say we would start practicing sounds but i'm not giving up on the walking, eating and communication!!!

[damarasmom]

Okay, I hear you on this, but I just have to say...Damara is now 4 and the only animal sound she is making is "ROAR" and she says every animal says "ROAR"!!! So, it might not be such a bad idea...plus I'm sure they make great mouth shapes and this might be the reason behind this??? All I can say is it sure would be nice that when I asked her what sound a bird makes I got something other than "ROAR!!!" with the loud voice and the hands making the paws of a bear!!!
Kinda funny though

[momofrussell]

Ok..a few thoughts. Why does the OT care what sounds she makes anyway? Isn't that the ST dept? LOL

My other thought would be that when working on identifying sounds and putting them to the proper animal you are using more then one skill actually. Identifying/matching AND using your oral muscles to make all these different sounds...which in return would help with feeding, speaking, straws, etc. So there could be a hidden method behind her madness.

Did you happen to ASK her why? I would have asked the OT exactly what you are asking us! She'd know why she was doing what she was doing

A.

[Emilysmom]

Jennifer,
I totally agree that your number one focus needs to be on having Brooke learn sounds/words that will help to get her needs met!!
That being said............I'm wondering if the ST is thinking about the fact that it is a very typical "milestone" for toddlers to learn and say the various sounds that animals make, and that's why she wants Brooke to work on this IN ADDITION to the other sounds/words she might be working on? Just cause it's what kids do at that age??
I'm not sure. I do remember working on animal sounds with Em, and it was fun! I just don't remember WHEN we did it.

Susan

[lorraine]

William hasn't got many sounds/words yet but he does a great 'UFF UFF' when he sees or hears a dog, or when we say what does the doggy say? This is brilliant fun for him at the moment.
But I'm with you on the importance of learning words that will help her communicate her needs too.
I agree with what Susan said, maybe she is thinking of what typical kids learn at this age?

Have fun
Lorraine

[CC]

I Second A. on this one

"Why does the OT care what sounds she makes anyway? Isn't that the ST dept?"

I think learning animal sounds along with communicating skills all go together, KWIM

We just always worked on all words and sounds of animals and such. From the get go reading to Chris you know the books that say the Cow says Mooooo ...

BUT honestly that has nothing to due with OT, so I am confused too as to why she even brought that up

CC ~

[Emilysmom]

Oops..........yes, I must have missed that it was an OT who suggested it. Seems more like an ST thing to me too.

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Brook has never had a ST. Now I feel like i'm doing a great dis-service to her. When does/should that start? Her OT aka school teacher has always been the one to set her talking goals and her learning goals. Hmmm, now I think i'll be questioning this at the next school time.
I did call and ask her why the sounds and her anwser was to build up her mouth muscles. I think her mouth muscles are fine myself I just always have done what she says so that's one less thing on her "list" of stuff for Brook to conquer. I'm just confused on what is more important right now. Now that she is getting so much bigger, all this new stuff is coming into play and i've never been at this stage before.

[Emilysmom]

Jennifer,
You are most certainly NOT doing Brook any disservice. She is obviously doing GREAT! And I wouldn't worry about when anyone else started with ST. I'd just request an eval by an ST and get her started with working with Brook. This is a GOOD time!!!

Susan

[momofrussell]

See, I was right then LOL I figured the OT had some hidden OT reason for the ST approach, which would be oral motor skills NOTHING wrong with that.

On the ST stuff.... we didn't have ST until Russell was 3 1/2 and we had moved to IL!!! We didn't get ST when he started school at age 3 back in CA. Not everyone subscribes to the thinking that ST is something you should do from birth. And obviously your OT has the sounds and oral motor stuff going on, so I wouldn't worry too much. ST will come.

We ONLY had PT for the first 3 yrs (almost 3 yrs). That was OUR choice and it wasn't a disservice. Our PT was awesome and she came to my home twice a week and she too would work on ST and OT stuff... just because she knew her stuff. I COULD have had OT and ST but I would have had to cut down on PT AND go to a global center based program and give up my in home stuff, and it really wasn't an option. So, we stuck with our PT for all of it. She then started a center based program a few months before Russell turned 3 and we followed our PT there. She had OT's, ST's, etc and Russell received global services for about 4 months or so. That was it.

Sorry for us making you feel like you were doing something wrong... I didn't mean for you to doubt yourself or decisions you are making... or your trust in your OT.

A.

[Chris too]

We started ST at 10 months. Stevie was not even babbling at that age. She had a great SLP who had her talking at age-appropriate level by 18 months. Just before she turned 2, we lost our SLP & Stevie went down to a 50% and more delay in just 3 months. New SLP & she is now nearly back to age-appropriate language after something like 8 months of ST. Stevie responds to therapy very well, but does not do well without. She may be an exception, but every child is an individual.

I agree with Susan: now is a great time to have Brook evaluated. Do not grieve over possibly lost time, Brook may well have not needed any ST.

As an aside: animal noises are great for improving diction & for learning associations. Stevie does at least a dozen animal noises - love the elephant raspberry trumpet she does!

[Connie]

Did read everyones post so I maybe repeating this....

Collins therapists always worked together when it comes to goals. Our OT was in charge of feeding issues so it could be that by working on these sounds she is trying to increase muscle tone which will help with feeding issues and....also speech issues.

Also, if we are having fun making animal sounds this will help set the foundation for future words.

I've found that if Collin is given a task to learn...if it is presented as a whole he gets lost but if I break it down into smaller tasks then put them all together after he has learned the individual parts it is much easier for him. Does that make sense?

Plus...Collin still makes the cutest monkey sounds and motions!!!

Connie

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Thanks everyone I will be looking into getting her some ST help. I wish I could remember everything but it seems that her OT is also her ST but I just can't remember. She will be back sometime next month and we'll talk about it then. Made myself a notation on the calendar so as not to forget. For now we will just start practicing. Were going to the farm today so what a perfect place to start animal sounds I just try so hard to do everything to prepare Brook for life, I sometimes forget the fun parts of learning new stuff and animal sounds are fun Dad's job is fun stuff. Mom's job is learn, learn, learn!! Mary said last night "Chill out mom, look how good she is doing!" From the mouth of babe's I better try to be more fun or Brook will grow up thinking mommy the drill sargent