help, is speech therapy enough?

Post Reply New Topic

My HFA son is 4 1/2 he has been having therapy for past year and half. His speech therapy is for around 10 minutes a day at pre-school where they play games ie 'put hat on teddy ' and ' big gloves on small doll'. He would match the clothes with right person. I have similar games from therapist which I now and again play with him.

He started off with PECS this helped him to build a big vocabulary and started him off saying 'I want'. He doesn't use PECS at home but has a picture timetable at pre-school.

He is speaking in some sentences, but speech is still unclear.

Can someone tell me is the therapy he is receiving enough? Do playing picture games really improve speech? Is this and PECS all speech therapy is?

Thanks for your help.

Just the dropping of "I want" is a big step. I knew a lot of NTs that still use " I want" for every thing in kindergarten.

Just take it slow and maybe up the time to 20 minutes.

It's hard to say whether the amount of speech therapy is enough - it depends a great deal on how much his teachers are willing and able to carry over the "program" into the routines of the classroom. If they are good at it, ten minutes a day might be enough. If they aren't, there might be no amount that would be "enough." Getting speech every day, even for ten minutes, is probably better than getting one or two longer sessions per week, which is how many children receive their therapy. Still, it would be good if it could be a bit longer, or (LOL) twice a day! Schools will act like there is a "regular" amount that a child of a particular age is "supposed" to get. Really, a child should get what is needed in order for reasonable progress to be made.

My son is 5 now, and attended special needs pre-k beginning at age 3. He received about 3 hours per week (spread out over the week) His special needs teacher also incorporated it into her daily teaching program. My son's speech therapist did therapy in a natural setting for example decorating cookies, or making animals out of food, or doing art projects, or playing with a dollhouse or trainset. My son's speech has really improved tremendously. They did use a lot of pictures for him too. I do my own "speech therapy" with him just by talking to him as much as I can every day.

Without knowing your son's issues, it is hard to know if speech therapy is enough. My son also receives occupational therapy and physical therapy to work on his fine and gross motor skills.