Articulation Update

This morning I attended a meeting to talk about Anna's articulation test results and to draft an IEP (Individualized Education Program) in early childhood education with speech through the district. And let me tell you what a relief it was! zx

I have always been on the teacher side of an IEP and always thought so highly of the whole IEP special education program (when it's carried out correctly with parent support). So being on the parent side, I didn't know how I would feel. But leaving the meeting, I felt so supported and relieved. Anna is getting the best support and I couldn't be more happy. I just don't understand why some parents are so abrasive to IEP's.... but that's a whole different topic. Maybe it's because they don't like the label special ed. I just love that my child will be getting the exact attention she needs.

According to her IEP, she starts speech therapy classes with another little girl a week from Tuesday. She will attend one class each week for 30 minutes. We will get homework from each class. Between the class and the homework the teacher really feels like Anna can make huge progress in a couple of months. Her hope is that Anna will be dismissed by the end of the school year. That would mean that Anna would produce targeted sounds in spontaneous speech with 80% accuracy. AND That would be awesome!!!

Here are the issues, according to the screening test, and what she will be working on during the sessions....

The #1 issue is called Consonant Sequence Reduction. It is when two or more sounds are supposed to blend together and one is ommitted. With Anna, they occur when she blends the letters s, l and r with other consonants. Example- she says moke for smoke, toosb-ush for toothbrush, wower for flower. She does this, according to the test (and I totally agree), around 80% of the time these combinations appeared in the test.

#2 is called velar fronting. This is when sounds typically made in the back of the mouth (K, H,NG) are made in the front of the mouth (T,D,N). For example Anna saws towboy hat instead of cowboy hat and nate for snake. Her k and g sounds are deficient 100% of the time she uses it- she uses the sound of t for k and d for g because she's using the front of her mouth instead of the back to say the sound. She just has to learn to use the back of her mouth.

#3 is called the stopping of strident sounds (s,z,sh,ch,f,v,j). This is when a sound is supposed to have air flow and when the air flow is stopped it creates a different sound. Example- she says toap for soap and dip for zip. She does this a little under 50% of the time she speaks these sounds. She uses the sound of d for z and t for s.

4. L's and R's. She really isn't using them clearly at all. But this is developmental and not expected until age 4 and will blossom as she matures. The speech therapist has no concerns as of now, but will test her on these before she exits the program.

According to what I see daily, her delays, according to the test results, are right on. So, wish us luck! I will need the homework because I would have no clue as to where to start with working on these skills!

Much Love,
Jenny

PS This also means a doughnut a week for us since Dunkin Doughnuts is right next door! :) Rewards at it's finest!

PSS I should have mentioned that Anna's test scores indicated a low severe delay in phonological skills but the speech therapist thinks that since some of the things that she was tested on are developmental in nature and will correct themselves as she matures. She believes that Anna is not severely delayed, but just moderately delayed. Regardless of what she is, I feel awesome knowing that she will get help from people who know how to help her.

PSSS She has already made a huge stride with her S sound. She know says ssssspoon and ssstar.!