If you have experience with speech therapy

I had a longer question written out, but really, this is it in a nutshell:
Should a speech therapist ever imitate a child's improper pronunciation?

ETA:
I mean like this-
ST says- Do you know what day of the week it is? DS says- It's Tursday.
ST- TURSday?? It's TURSday?? What day is that? It's THURSday.
And then goes on to work on the "th" sound with him.

This approach is not my cup of tea, and seems degrading. Just not sure if I am being overly sensitive. (DS is 4)

Message edited 3/27/2014 9:58:56 PM.

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

Dd gets speech therapy. I would think they would repeat the CORRECT pronunciation to teach the child. And up til about 3 (which is the age EI goes to) they don't worry too much about enunciation.

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

you are supposed to say the correct thing...for example...if a child says "eep eep" instead of beep beep....you encourage and say yes good for you..."beep beep" that's what my sons therapist suggests for us to do as well!

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

I work very closely with speech therapists at my job, and they never approach children that way. They always repeat the word with the correct pronunciation emphasized. (e.g., "Right, it's THursday! Can you try to say it like I say it? Put your tongue between your teeth")

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

My DS is 5, and this is how his new speech therapist does things. He wants him to hear the difference between what he is saying and what he should be saying.. it has been great for DS, and he loves his speech therapist so I dont think it makes him feel bad.

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

She might be trying to assess if he 'hears' the difference. Some kids do and some don't. Other than that, it's not the best idea to kept exposing a kid to incorrect pronunciation. Also I don't like how the therapist seemed to mock your Ds in the example you gave. That would just serve to make him feel bad. Why do that?

I would just ask her out right if she's trying to assess if he hears the sounds correctly. If she says no, then tell her to stop modeling the incorrect way because it reinforces the incorrect way.

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

I'm a speech therapist... and I have used the approach you're talking about. BUT usually I used it with older kids who are more at a maintainance level. Like, they know how to make the sound correctly, but "slip up" once in awhile in conversation. when they slip up in conversation, i'll say "TURSDAY??", just to make them more aware and help them "catch" their mistake. And like somebody else said, she could also just be making sure your son hears the difference between what he is saying, and the correct way. You can't really work on correcting the sound until the child understands that they are saying it wrong, ya know?
but I guess its all in the way she does it, too. it she does it in kind of a fun way, that's no so bad... but if shes doing it in a degrading way, I can see what mean. I would talk to her and just ask her where she is trying to go with that.

Re: If you have experience with speech therapy

Thanks for all of your thoughts on this.
She seems to do this out of habit. It is just her way I think. I feel like she is overall too negative, and I don't think the imitation is necessary, even if she wants to show him how he is saying the word vs. the proper way. They get along well, but I really do find this insulting to DS, even if she does it to make him laugh at himself (that's what it seems like). He was not self-conscious about his speech before. I don't want him to be now. She also interrupts him while he is speaking to correct his speech, which I can't believe.... All I need is for him to start stuttering now.
I think it's just not the right fit for us. We are paying privately, so after sleeping on it and reading your comments, I think I will try to find someone else. If anyone else has any thoughts, please let me know.
Thanks!