My heart hurts

Dd had her daycare evaluation the other day and one of her weaknesses is speech. I thought she was right on target but after speaking to one of her daycare friends today I see that they are more advanced then her in enunciation.

Her dr said she seems fine but I feel terrible, like I missed something. She does babble sometimes not using words but I thought it was her just being cute. She talks non stop at home but I didn't realize it's not as clear as her peers.

She is almost 3 and they are having free evaluations done next week so we are going to get her tested. Her doctor also wants us to see an ENT as she got a nasty ear infection this past week and she just wants her inner ears checked.

My heart hurts. I don't want her getting made fun of because of how she speaks and I saw one of the more articulate kids ask her a question and she didn't answer back. I'm crying.

Re: My heart hurts

Hugs. My dd has speech issues. She is in first grade and goes to speech class twice a week. Her first week of kindergarten a boy made fun of her. We talked about it and I explained who has the power to determine how you feel? I said to her that it was her choice to let someone else's words have power over her, or she could choose to ignore someone who was mean. I then asked her if she would have wanted someone else to stand up for her in the same situation. She said yes. We worked on self empowerment together. Of course a different kid made fun of someone else in front of my dd. My dd shut the bully down and defended the other child. She was proud of herself. The other child was ok, and the bully actually reformed himself.

As for speech, it is frustrating for my dd, because she has a small jaw, as she gets older though we have seen enormous progress. And she is in an advanced writing, reading, and math in first grade so it does not necessarily mean cognition wise that your dd will have issues. As I have said to my own dd, everyone has issues. Every person has things they struggle with. You can overcome this. I have complete confidence in you. I work on building up her self esteem. Fwiw, my dd sounded like Minnie Mouse when she was three.

My heart hurts

Hugs to you

It's soooooo common - so many kids receive speech and other services these days. It's all good tools to kind of help them along. It'll be ok :)

Re: My heart hurts

First off, many hugs to you!

She'll be ok! I know many kids that have/had speech delays and are fine now. But I understand why your heart hurts. It's your child.

My heart hurts

Thank you all for the kind words. She's an amazing kid and I just want her to have the best in life.

Re: My heart hurts

My son goes to speech 3xs a week. He will be 4 on Saturday. Been in speech for over a year. Hes hard to understand, I wont lie. But hes in pre k now. Teachers tell me how amazing he is. The other kids love him even though they have a rough time understanding him. I know its tough. I get sad when I hear kids his age speak crystal clear. Speech therapy is awesome. It helps alot. Hugss if you want to fm me feel free!!

Re: My heart hurts

It will be ok! It's so common.
And it's best that they found out about it now, so if she needs it, she can get help and she will be 100% fine by the time she is ready for school.
And I have seen many kids in my family and friends that weren't speaking at the level they should have been then one day, boom, they caught up.

She will be fine and if she needs services, they will work wonders with her!

My heart hurts

It will be OK. Its sooooo common. Both of my boys, ages 3 and 5 have the same issue. We are in the process of getting them a speech evaluation. I've heard therapy does wonders for them. She will be fine :)

Re: My heart hurts

Hugs to you! I remember picking my dd up from preschool and the teacher telling me she wasn't able to drink from an open cup and All the other kids were able to. She was sitting at snack and not even taking a drink. I was crushed but it was a wake up call since I knew some of her fine motor skills were delayed. We got her evaluated and got her services and now she is in K and you would never know she had a delay. It's very hard to hear something is delayed with your child but it's necessary and in the end it will help your child. Best of luck!

Re: My heart hurts

Most children misarticulate sounds at this age. I would have her tested through your district. They will do a full eval and recommend services if needed.

Re: My heart hurts

It will be okay, better to catch these things early on, then to wait! So many kids receive speech, and many other services these days. It's actually the new "normal".

I just want to point out that your doctor only sees her for what...10 minutes if that? So I would disregard anything they say unless they have evaluated for a particular issue. My son's ped. always said he was fine. He is on the autism spectrum, and had numerous delays when he was evaluated before he was 3. Good medical doctor, horrible for developmental. He said special ed. preschool was free nursery school, and my kid didn't need it. So, take what they say regarding speech, etc. with a grain of salt.

My heart hurts

Truthfully if it's just for articulation, I would wait til she is 3 and do it thru your school district. She will most likely not receive services for articulation alone if she is under 3. The school district will cover the evaluation and all related services if deemed necessary.

Re: My heart hurts

My heart hurts

The district said to start the ball rolling since she is almost 3 and they take a while. Daycare is having a private company come into school next week so we will start there to see what they say.

I'm dropping off the registration forms and such through our district on Fri. Planned to go FrI and Mon but they were closed because of the snow.

The woman at the district said since she is at the cusp of turning 3, Apr bday, they will treat her like a 3 year for evaluation.

Her dr said it couldn't hurt as long as it's free but she seems fine. She's a very active child so her dr said dd just concentrates more on her motor skills then she does speech. But dd is also very quick to tell us when she doesn't like something.

I have a call out to the ENT because the Dr said it's always best to get that checked out too since inner ear issue may mean she's hearing things wrong but we will see. She always complains about her ears in swim class when she is lying on her back, she now has plugs but that may have something to do with it.

My heart hurts

I honestly would not do the free one thru the daycare and wait for the eval thru the district. They will do a comprehensive eval (physical, psychological, speech, etc ). If the day care person's testing reveals she does need services, the district will have to do their own testing anyway. I would wait until she actually turns 3 because a few days on the scale can mean a difference in her score. I would submit the paperwork in May, have them do the testing during the summer and have services implemented in September. Because it is just for articulation, she will not qualify for services over the summer. If they do the testing in April, they will have a committee meeting either late April or May and by the time services are implemented, the school year will be finished. She may get a session or 2. I would let her turn 3 and see if she truly needs the services. They grow by leaps and bounds each day and you never know. I'm not trying to talk you out of doing anything, but as a special ed teacher and my sister in law is a speech pathologist, there is no reason to put her thru the free testing.

Eta: the ent is a great place to start

Message edited 2/9/2016 2:26:53 PM.

Re: My heart hurts

My heart hurts

Is it possible that she has a tongue tie?

Don't be upset. You're doing the best thing for her by getting an evaluation. So many parents refuse to go that far because they don't want to admit that there may be an issue.

Good luck!

My heart hurts

No. They checked for the tongue tie. My two girlfriends who are special ed teachers and who are around her all the time said she's on track but if we are concerned wait till she is actually 3 to go through the district like pp said.

She will get smushed in with 2 year olds because of her age and the evaluation won't be beneficial. We are going to hold off on the district till May. Get the free evaluation done next Thurs since they will already be at her school and have the ENT to see if they see anything that's off.

This is stressful. In the meantime we will just keep working with her with flash cards and correct her when she babbles.

Re: My heart hurts

Re: My heart hurts

Don't be hard on yourself!
My DS just started speech right before he turned 5 for articulation. He didn't qualify when he was 4
I did have his hearing checked though and im glad I
Did..he had chronic fluid and a hearing loss. He just got tubes and his adnoids removed and immediately said "mommy everything is louder"

Re: My heart hurts