Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can start working with my child to help him develop his speech? He is on a list for early intervention but since it is a free state-sponsored program, it may be awhile until his speech therapy sessions start. Unfortunately, our insurance does not cover speech therapy for articulation purposes.

I was hoping to find a book, tape or site on the internet to use as a guide to start working with my 2 year old until we are able to get the speech therapist sessions started.

Thanks--Trish

Hi Trish,
I know what how hard it is to get Speech therphy. I am still waiting for Hobbes to get it and we have been waiting over a year. I am lucky enough to have some help from a Child Developement council who has helped in some way to help Hobbes speech. You can try using the one word like if your child wants Milk , then you just say Milk.

Janette, I think that you may had some speech help more than I so any suggestion?

Using simply one word or a two-word sentence (ie, Mommy go/Mommy do) is a great start. You can also concentrate on getting the first sound of each word. You might want to do a google for the Hannen programme. It's a course with some great ideas of how to do speech therapy through play.

I am going through the speech and language problem again with my youngest son. My 6 year old had a major delay and now my youngest is significant. I am waiting for our SLP to arrive today for a private screening as our therapy does not start for months yet so I wanted to get a head start on it, too. It is expensive to have this done and I am not sure how much private therapy we can afford, but I am unwilling to wait for January for screening and therapy to begin in March or April as I am sure he has swallowing issues as well and this SLP deals with swallowing issues.

Iain is only 20 months old, but once the SLP comes by today I will be posting our results and her suggestions in the miscellaneous or updates section and this may be useful to you as they are so close in age.

I will be posting our results and her suggestions in the miscellaneous or updates section.
We'll look forward to the read, Leigh!

Yes, let us know what comes of it.

So, how did the private screening go?

Oh, I just realized that I lost this topic. I really do not remember seeing an email for it, so I am sorry. I do not have time to post our screening test right now, but promise to do so sometime this weekend. (hope that I get a reminder email!)

We are still completing our survey for Iain and I must say it is tough since there is so much to it. Our private therapist is great, but I can not afford to bring her in as often as I would like. We have seen her 3 times now and it is definately making a difference. Today we were having another feeding skills assessement done on Iain and our OT noticed a difference as he is jabbering a lot more and making more sounds. We are encouraging all sounds and not concentrating on actual words. That actually has made a big change.

That's great, Leigh! :D It's nice to know the money you're spending is making a difference. When do you go to CHEO, (I think that is what it is called).

We are to go in the new year for the first quarter, I think. Could be anytime from January to March.