receptive - precursor to speech?Perhaps Rita does not live in the US. In most countries there are no programs to help these wonderful children. Heck, We are in Cannada (Quebec) and here our children have to wait untill at least they are 4 years old to hope a therapy (long waiting lists). Those who can not afford to pay for them privately have to wait that long or more. Rita if you live in a country where it is very difficult to find help try to learn from the net. There are great speech therapy videos on You tube (thanks to the wonderful parents who contributed to it) and also maybe learning some ABA or floortime. Good luck to you. My son has always had excellent receptive language. Now at 11 yrs. old, and the maximum amt. of ST (as allowed by school dist. + privately paid at home), he still does not have any expressive language. He does not have any physical limitations that could account for this. Each child is different, and I don't think we can ever know the reasons why or what the outcome will be. Keep doing the best you can and encourage your daughter to do the best she can. Above all, always keep hopeful and positive!! Is she getting ABA? My ds had a speech delay and his receptive language was behind his expressive. He would use words correctly he could not comprehend when said to him. Apparently that is not uncommon. I have known other kids who can absolutly understand everything but have very little or no expressive language. So I don't know that I would pinpoint her problems with expressive language on her problems with receptive language. I also don't see how complying with sitting has to be the precurser to getting taught . Sure it helps but there are other formats and in the end the program has to adjust to how the student can learn instead of needing the student to adjust to how the program prefers to teach. I agree with others - if she has not made any progress it is time to revisit how she is thought and if she receives the right kind and right amount of services. Be sure that you put any concerns and requests into writing. My dd is also 3 y/o. A few months back she had no speech. Zero words and what I believed to be less (if possible) receptive skills. In June she was enrolled in an ABA based school and now has tons of words, (labels mostly but she has finally started calling me Mommy!). When she started ABA she wouldn't sit either. The trick was finding what motivated her to sit and then sneaking the therapy in when she would. It is an art and only a skilled therapist is going to accomplish this. I am a firm believer in ABA, but if your dd is not going that route, I believe at the very least she needs a therapist that is going to find a way to engage her long enough to work with her. Now that I think of it, I remember when my dd had speech at home thru EI before she started school and at first she wouldn't sit for that either. We got one of those booster type high chairs that you would normally strap to a regular chair to sit at the table, well we put her in the booster chair and sat her on the floor in it until she got used to sitting with her therapist. Once they built up a rapport, we slowly started taking her out of the chair. First we took her out for the last ten minutes, then the last twenty minutes and so on until we no longer needed the chair. I find it puzzling that a 3 y/o child who does not speak does not receive speech services. Please push for a new therapist or a new method of therapy. A skilled and motivated therapist will find a way to work with your daughter. It is up tp the school to make sure there is measureable progress. PM Tzoya who is a special ed advocate and ask her what the next step is. You definatley do need a new SP, and I cant see any reason why the school would deny you that. There is no reason she has to sit to learn speech. The teacher must change her approach to get your little one interested and WANT to learn. Early Intervention helped us bring my son form 5 words at 18 mo to NORMAL speech level at almost 3 yo! Let us know what happens Hi Rita,Just to give you a little piece of mind, my son had ZERO receptive speech at 3 years old, and was totally non compliant. Every little step from that point on, sitting in the chair, imitating hands up, etc., was a precursor to understanding speech. I noticed the biggest leap in receptive language at 6 years old. He can understand basic directions (pick that up, put it in the garbage, we have no cookies), things like that. It has helped his speech also, because before the leap of receptive language, all he had was echoing what was said, with no understanding. If I would ask him"do you want to go to the store?' He would respond "store?', without knowing what I said. Now, a year and a half late, if I ask him the same question, he will say "store" for "yes" and "no store" for no  . So, although it isn't an entire sentence, at least he understands what I am asking. The thing is, progress with our kids is sometimes slow, very slow, and steady. I decided a few years ago, when he turned 4, that I would talk to him like any other kid. I would give him commands, even though he wouldn't understand the simplest things, like "get your shoes", I would say it anyway, then bring his shoes. After hearing the same phrases over and over, they start to click. Try the same. I bet in a couple of years, she'll surprise you. nakama
Hopefulmama (love the name btw) - I am in the US - infact in the mecca of autism - NJ!!! Her schoolprg is VBA based - so they do "manding" instead of prompting//// but the issue from their standpoint is that my dd refuses to sit and comply for them to even BEGIN "therapy". I feel like I am not there to observe and yet at home too, she doesn't want to learn - everything with my dd is an issue... I KNOW that and all this while I actually justified the teacher's frustration but now I feellike THEY should helpme finda way... its NOT my field..., its my child but I dont know how to handle these behaviors and make her learn. And I am convinced that my dd is VERY severely affected so I really REALLY need to find a way to "manage" her ona daily basis... she is getting bigger and more aggressive ... i need her to LEARN/communicate....so if it takes restrictive environment, thats fine.. the thing is tho her class has 4 autistic kids...1 teacher and 3 aides!!! so really she is getting a lot of "petsonalized" attention and still NOT helping! On a good day my non-verbal son will sit in a chair for 10 minutes and he still gets one on one speech and is non-verbal. There are definitely days where the entire session is spent with refusal and tantrums, but that does not mean they get to stop offering therapy.There are many speech therapy exercises that are adapted for kids who can't sit. I was in the room the other day and the Speech Therapist was playing modified hokey pokey and singing and working on body parts. (put your foot in, put your foot out..) Sometimes the entire therapy time is spent just working on learning to sit. She sits him in a chair and hands him a wait card. After 3 minutes she tells him all done and he gets to stand up and put the Wait card back on the board. If he does it anywhere near correctly, he gets a reward. Repeat. When they started that - "Waiting" was more like 10 seconds. Or she will have a favorite toy in the room and have the kids work with the Wait Card, and the My Turn Card. She could also be doing hand on hand exercises and beginning PECS or switch based communication or sign language. Giving a non-verbal kid a means to communicate can do alot of decrease aggression. Hi Rita, I am glad that you have theoritically have the hep ou need, just continue to help your child to communicate by any means possible. Hang in there! (Huggs)!! hi again, Ok so my 3 yr old has NO speech - she was doing a little better last yr but now has regressed in terms of speech and she goes oto school where she doesnt really get toomuch speech.. bec they tell me that till she cxan learn to comply and sit (BIG problem with her to sit). they can't realy do any one-on-one speech. Normally I would be furious but I do see their point! Even with 3 hrs of speech a week for 1 whole yr, she didnt really pick up ANYTHING! Also bec she understands very little (VERY LITTTTTLE), maybe I am thinking that maybe that is interfering with speexh? what do u think? |
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MY dd had ABA since she was 22 mos old - 15 hrs of ABA, 3 hrs ST, 3 OT - per week from EI! She was doing ok and then suddely plateaued or even slightly regressed - also went from being a compliant-passive little girl to an aggressive(hiting/biting/scratching) and cranky girl.