How Does a Speech Therapist Work With Toddlers to Get Them to Speak?

by familymwr

Question by Koozie: How does a speech therapist work with toddlers to get them to speak?
My son was evaluated today by the program called SoonerStart. He will be two next month and is still not speaking, or doing shapes, and has poor motor skills. A lady from the program came and did some exercises with him to see what level he would qualify under to participate in the program. A score from 50 or below is good, he scored 120. She asked him to stack some blocks up, instead he would bang them together. She said that is the level of an 11 mo old. She put a cheerio in a small bottle and asked him to get it out by turning the bottle over but instead he stuck his finger in it and got mad because he couldn’t get it. Hes not speaking either. Shows no sign in learning toys whatsoever, has a very short attention span. She told me he will be assigned to a speech therapist and a therapist to work with his other motor skills. Has anyone else had any similar experiences and can tell me about it? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Best answer:

Answer by jjsoccer_18
although my son is a bit younger only 9 months he has a speech, physcial and occupational theripist. PT just works on the things he needs learn or is behind in. like for my son he isnt crawling so they show him how to get on his knees show him how to do all the movements of crawling. speech for my son is just talking to him showing him how the mouth makes certain sounds like the vowels. also you should start watching him to see if he is just developmental delayed or actually has something else going on like a syndrom or disease (autisim, and such)

Answer by patois
You are VERY lucky, indeed, to live somewhere that has these services available. A speech therapist will have your baby chattering his head off in less than 60 days. You can help by blowing at him. Seriously. : ) Puff into his face and encourage him into games of puffing back at you. Blowing/wind instruments like whistles, horns, and those party tooters that blow out and roll back in really help. Waggle-tongue games are excellent, too. Try to touch the tip of your nose with your tongue type games. Bronx cheers/raspberries and other funny sounds that get that tongue going all help. Blowing bubbles, spitting in the bathtub, painting with the tongue (using food coloring), etc. Again, you and your baby are lucky to have this help coming. Catching the problem at two is outstanding on someone’s part. All will be MORE than well by the time he goes to Kindergarten. This is very common, especially among boys. Good luck. And, stop worrying. Get that smile back on your face for your baby so that he’ll see all of this as fun. Which, as you’ll soon see, it is. Save your “worry” energy for that day when he says, “Hey, Ma, canna have the keys to the car?”

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