Love the rhyme you shared. She does love making music and singing songs. I will give this a try.

Hello,
This isn't exactly the same situation but I wanted to share. I don't remember the exact age (about the same) but my son started speaking very late. We took him for an evaluation and they said his comprehension was off the charts but he just didn't talk much and they enrolled him in Speech therapy. He went to a few sessions and then just started chatting away one day. He was also a preemie at 36 weeks. They said we might experience some developmental delays but by a certain age it would all equal out. Well, now he is 5 and has already been recommended for gifted testing, he never stops talking and can read at a first grade level.

I think it is prudent to use some of the recommended resources and also schedule the testing. However, don't worry about it too much yet. Best Wishes!

My son is 4 years old as 2/2/09, he was diagnosed at 3 yrs, by a behavioral specialist thru our Kaiser plan, to be speech and developmentally delayed/severe. One thing I noticed was he walked at 2 yrs old and did not talk to us at all. I thought this was odd and so then I started to seek evaluation which resulted in the above mentioned diagnosis.
He was diagnosed in March 2008 and I started him in special education pre-k in April 2008 M-th for 2 hour sessions thru the school district for free. Then he qualified for in class speech sessions 30 min a week. I did not see much improvement then I used the chain of command and requested another IEP meeting to increase the speech therapy times alotted 10 min to 30 min 2x a week with OT therapy which felt he could benefit from. This was challenging for my husband and I. So then as a parent my first concern was he needs some additions to this recipe. So I then enrolled him into a pre-k private preschool 3 days a week to afford my son some normacy in hope that he could acquire and benefit from children without the delays in development. Thus far I have seen some improvement in his speech but not a whole lot. The fact of the matter we as mothers/parents have to advocate for our children and be their cheerleader or they will go unnoticed and fall thru the cracks. So my point is try everything and try to get these services free thru the school district your in. I am now discovering that my 4 yr old has a short attention span and he has been put in time out 3 times this week, this is disturbing. Now the we have a coctail- my son is speech delayed= short attention span as a result of his frustration of not being understood=behavior problems start to surface. So patience and research and advocating is what I am doing for my son. Things to consider, get your child re-evalusted, pop into his classes to observe the classroom seen, get daily reports from teachers to include regression/or progres being made, CD/phonics etc. Right now I am trying to see if I can hire in home tutoring.

Try (Big Red Dog)- "Clifford Phonics" CD at Walmart, I am going to purchase this CD recommended by the private school pre-k teacher on 3/6/09

Hi , not the same situation but similar. I have two kids a five year old and a 4 year old , the five year old had the same situation , now he that he is five we still have a hard time understanding what he say, but in the other hand my second child stared talking clearly since he was one year old.

Our PD said that is very normal to happened with sibling, the oldest was struggles to talk when the baby will to fabulous .(sad but true, it happened with other family friends kid as well) why because the youngest learns from the oldest..the little words that they that they master. In the other hand to the oldest child just because they don't have a bigger sibling to learn from, understand this was our case it may not be your .( And my son suck his thump so had everything to lose..ha-ha)
good luck!

You're doing great to have her assessed, but at just 4, you shouldn't worry. It sounds like it is a motory problem with her tongue and that will strengthen with time. Use the program they recommended, make up some silly songs that help her practive certain words with music and no pressure. Get her comfortable telling people something like "my tougue hasn't caught up with my brain yet" as a response when she's not understood. Let me know that it is a muscular problem that she has to practice, like throwing a ball. Teaching my son how to shell sunflower seeds in his mouth worked miracles and was fun. (Didn't outgrow his "r" issues until almost 8 years old!) Good luck and be patient. Do be sure to have her retested the spring before kindergarten, so that if she needs Speech in Kinder, she's already got a file started. Some schools are reluctant to refer kids at that age!

Please take a look at the following web sites that may be of assistance:

www.getreadytoread.org

www.starfall.com

www.brightsolutions.us

In addition, I would like to encourage you to read the following article:

www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/2349

Please note the first bulleted item. Should you be overly worried -- no. But, providing appropriate interventions can make all the difference.

If you feel it is appropriate, I would also like to invite you to join and post at the Learning and Attention Difficulties group here at Great Schools:

community.greatschools.net/groups/11554


Children can be bright, even gifted, and have areas of specific weaknesses -- as neither is mutually exclusive.

Thanks so much for the information. Some very good tips to keep in mind. I have printed out your post and put it in my file so I don't forget when the time comes.

Your story brought back memories of my older son who at 4 was also not able to be understood. The speech therapist is trying to suggest that your daughter's delay are simply 'developmental' -which means that she is otherwise developing normally and that this speech issue will clear up on its own.
That could be - we all grow and develop at different paces - but the speech therapist then says to bring her back in a year. My concern too would be that in a year or two or three, that the speech therapist says then 'it's not developmental and now we will begin therapy when therapy would have been helpful all along.

Has your daughter has her hearing tested? Does she have a history of ear infections? Hearing issues and a history of ear infections can delay or even impede our spoken language. I'd begin again this time taking your concerns to your pediatrician or family doctor. Some insurance plans will pay for speech evaluation and if yours would, I'd have her tested again. Did the speech therapist who tested her work for the school district or for the "Intermediate Unit"?
Ideally I'd want an evaluation from a private speech therapist and if your insurance would help you pay for speech therapy, that could no harm and only help.
And if the private testing shows more or greater delays than the first testing, go back to your school district with the private testing in hand and tell them based on it you'd like your daughter to receive the free speech therapy.

Thanks for the suggestion of using the private therapist test results as leverage with my school district; they were slightly different. Her hearing has been tested and there is no history of ear infections.

I have been using a CD called Speechercize at home, and I think it's actually starting to help. I wish it were a DVD, because there are times when I'm not sure we are doing the exercises correctly. Also, since I'm not a trained therapist, I don't really know what to emphasize, how much to do in one day, etc. I feel like I'm failing my little girl. She is so bright...starting to read three-letter words already and won't actually turn four until next week. Even so, she is not perceived as being as smart and capable as she is simply because she can't make herself understood. Sigh.

Your concerns reminded me of taking "speech" myself in early elementary school. I, too, had issues with certain beginning sounds. Although it was many years ago, I was blessed that my school had a wonderful speech teacher. The only "tools" we used were a marble notebook and a small mirror. We had a lot of fun watching in the mirror as we formed the different sounds. You can do this with your daughter...you will be able to see the difference, right in the mirror, between saying words the right way and the wrong way by the shape of your mouth and where your tongue goes. It's a great way to practice and it did work.