speech therapy - 6 Aug 09

The previous speech therapy session was a month ago cos he missed the mid-July session due to his bronchitis.

It's becoming difficult to get his co-operation in participating in the speech activities. He got off his chair & wanted to sit on my lap, from the beginning of the very first activity. From then on, he never did sit back on his chair although he did stand in front of me or move to the side of me. Towards the end, the just leaned into me with his back arched backwards saying "nooooooo".

He seems to be very self conscious. I think he does want to be able to do what you ask, but to do it well (& get praised) but if he thinks he cant do it well, or if he's not quite sure what you want of him, then he wont participate, or will use his "mouse" voice.

We did have to be flexible in changing the activities slightly, now & again, to get his co-operation. Towards the middle of the first activity, he did speak much louder.

Activities we did were with the aim of:
- having him practice requesting for things in longer sentences (in preparation for school) E.g. Mama, do you have....?

- practising the c sound, but this time using words ending in c E.g neck, duck

- co-ordination of motor skills and speech in order to slow down his rate of speech. (e.g. point to one box for each syllable) His speech is at times too fast & he misses out some syllables or articulation is unclear. Other times, he repeats himself several times to make himself understood. These are typical for people with dysarthria.

Noted that:
- he will need more practice in expressing himself in words for others to understand him. For that, I'll have to "catch" him in daily situations where he still uses body language/whining and exemplify there & then what he should say instead.

- he can make the c sound quite clear in those words ending with c, so it's just a matter of time that he will be able to say clearly words that begin with c or have c in the middle.

- it'll be a big challenge for him to co-ordinate the timing of pointing and speaking. But this skill is also important for him when it comes to reading. He has to read one word at a time & speak it out before going to the next word.

Therapist also noted that:
- he was better able to clear the phlegm from his throat as he didn't gag and his voice was not "wet"

- his disagreement to participate in activities is very age appropriate. Other kids do that too (the therapist has 3 kids, one of whom is my son's age & her clients are mostly kids).

- Self consciousness aspect & speaking too softly & not using his words to express himself will probably sort itself out when he joins school where he has to overcome these in order to participate. Therapist based this opinion on past experiences with other clients.

The best part:
Therapist concluded that he'll just need once a month speech therapy from now on! It means he's progressed well. Hooray! This is after about slightly under a year & a half of speech therapy.