Speech Therapy

Denise - posted on 04/18/2010

my 5 year old with downs is just now being able to communicate with us.

HopeandMike - posted on 03/28/2010

so if I can follow up...our ST showed up the other day with Twizzlers and Beef Jerky for our soon to be two year old to work on her oral motor skills! Needless to say, the new ST starts this week!!!!! I was afraid if we let her stay on next week not only would we have twizzlers and Jery but she might bring our daughter a 40 ounce beer to throw down...
Thanks for your support and help! lets hope the new therapist gets it right!

Mia - posted on 03/20/2010

Sign language is vital! My daughter, Mylie, is 2 and knows about 25 signs, our friend Hannah also with DS knows close to 50 signs at 2.5! It is so important and a huge disservice that your speech therapist does not believe in it. It can help tremendously but vocalizing, in my opinion, should be highlighted always with signing as a back-up... because it may be that they rely on signing only.

Rebecca - posted on 03/12/2010

Yeah, i agree with Kim... i have a 2 1/2 yr old son with DS he is doing well too.. except for language... we started using baby sign and he immediatly picked it up... he use to get mad and screech loudly when he wanted something, now he just signs for it, and it doesnt need to be complicated start with eat, drink, sleep, play...we started there and now he signs please, cracker, sandwhich, ball, etc. a great internet resource is aslpro.com there is a library of reg. and baby sign... check it out and i STRONGLY encourage you to use this... it made a world of difference for me and my family... and it will not stop your childs speech development, just say the word as you sign
one last thing... signing eat is the 1st one i taught, when you are teaching it it is best to do the sign and give the child something to eat right away, something little.... and reapeat so they understand if i do this movement, i will get something to eat... if u sign bed/bedtime put your child in the crib/bed so they associate that sign with the action/place.... just wait and see how quickly you and your child start to understand each other... its AMAZING!

Kim - posted on 03/08/2010

Hi There, So nice to hear that your daughter is doing so well! No doubt in large part to all of your hard work as parents! I can relate to you in that my main concern for my 15 month old with DS is his speech delay. He's also babbling like crazy, but not able to say much in the way of actual words. I started introducing my son to sign language about 6 months ago, at my son's ST's suggestion. I have to say, that I am stunned that your son's ST "doesn't know or believe in" sign language!!!!!!!!! Everything that I have read about communicating with both "typical" children & children with special needs, has strongly encouraged the use of sign language as a way to improve language development. This is especially true of children with Down Syndrome as nearly 75% of them are affected by some degree of hearing loss. Every child is going to meet developmental milestones at their own pace, regardless of diangosis. The bottom line is, though, that you have to be comfortable that your child's therapist is helping to enable both you & your child to meet those milestones with least amount of frustration possible. Personally, I would continue to introduce signing to my child, it's certainly not going to hurt & may help in the long run. I hate to say it, but I'd be looking for a new ST as well, pronto!