speech therapy & anxiety

kadiera · #1 07-01-2010, 09:53 AM

The good news: Alexander was really good with the psychologist last night. The new speech therapist is AMAZING.

The bad news: the speech therapy intake basically rates Alexander's language skills (both receptive and expressive) as non-existant...and points out that his very apparent anxiety in "novel situations" may be masking his true status. Certainly, there are many comments in the report that say that "father states that Alexander does X at home, but no evidence of that is seen in this evaluation."

*sigh*

I guess on the plus side, the therapist who did the eval is not the therapist he's actually seeing, and his actual therapist got him to make more sounds in the half hour I was there Monday than it sounds like the evaluator got in 90 minutes last week.

Oh, and apparently we may try an AAC device - after hearing our former concerns about one (namely, Alexander wouldn't play with anything that made sounds or had buttons) and hearing the EI teacher's attempts at getting him to choose photos out of a field of 2-3, she was appalled and said that the way they'd gone about it was all wrong. So...here's hoping for something that works.

JWorthington · #2 07-01-2010, 12:08 PM

Shucks, Janet, hope you can find something that does the trick. I'm no help I'm afraid, Sam still isn't talking!

LKN · #3 07-01-2010, 12:51 PM

Have you tried videotaping him when you are working on speech or other EI "tasks" at home? I would think the evaluation process would be smoother and more helpful for him if they could actually see what you are seeing.

Additionally, I do think it is a good idea that you are seeing a psychologist with him. If he does have the level of anxiety that you described about being so fearful around people and not liking buttons and noises, it is well worth it to start working on it with him. At some point, he will have to "perform" around more people than those he is familiar with so he can be helped and so he can begin to make more significant progress.

Good luck and hang in there!

rosi's mom · #4 07-01-2010, 02:56 PM

That video tapping idea is good. We might have to try it. Rosi hates new people and doctor's office type places. For some reason she took right to her EI speech therapist, but she doesn't like most other people. She doesn't like her physical therapist much so those sessions are mostly us working with her while her pt watches. That kind of works. When we go to the doctors she clings to me and screams (silently) when put on the scale or the table/bed for anything. It's hard for us to get her to do what the doctors want her to do. If you smile and wave at her from a distance she'll smile back, but don't try to touch her. I always feel so bad for her. She has much to be anxious about.
I hope they can figure out a good plan for Alexander that will help him learn and improve his ability to communicate, whatever it is.

Melisande · #5 07-01-2010, 11:07 PM

Hang in there, Janet. Some of these people just have to see our kids have potential!! Sometimes, a new therapist does the trick too!! I can tell you any kid that can figure out cause and effect can do AAC!

lynn · #6 07-02-2010, 10:52 AM

Glad you found a speech therapist who you like and may be able to make a difference (once Alexander warms up to them). I had a very good therapist early on who told me that the parent's report is golden, and what matters most is how WE feel the progress is coming along...

Joseph is rocking these days with his communication skills (signs) and he is asking for things unprompted, and responding correctly to everything I say (even to the point of signing please & thank you when he asks for stuff)- So he was retested last week by his ST because she has also been seeing things that his intake eval said he does not do and she wanted a better testing for his goals/outcomes part on his IEP.... anyway, according to the most recent test, his receptive skills are almost nonexistant: but as I sat and watched the testing, I was just dumbfounded on the types of things that were even on the test...... which tastes sweet? candy or pizza, which smells good? flower or skunk? which do you put in your mouth? rock or apple? :::::: Come on now!!! My son puts nothing in his mouth! has no idea about taste! and has never smelled a skunk, yet alone a flower(dont even really clearly know if he does smell).........My 9 yo daughter who was also in the room asked why they didnt quiz on things he does know- for some reason she can get it but these adults cant????

rosi's mom · #7 07-02-2010, 11:01 AM

Really? They asked a trach kid about smells and tastes? They can't smell or taste like we do. Kids at a young age should be able to follow a basic command. Pick out a book over a shoe. Try to stack blocks. Stuff like that. Of course, I don't remember what Joseph can and can't do, but it seems questions along those lines would have been more appropriate.

kadiera · #8 07-02-2010, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosi's mom

Really? They asked a trach kid about smells and tastes? They can't smell or taste like we do. Kids at a young age should be able to follow a basic command. Pick out a book over a shoe. Try to stack blocks. Stuff like that. Of course, I don't remember what Joseph can and can't do, but it seems questions along those lines would have been more appropriate.

Alexander's EI intake last year, they asked if he "recognized common words like juice and cup" - seriously. We were still working on getting him to take more than 2 oz at a time by bottle. I pointed out that he knew the sign for suction (at the time, if we turned the machine on he jumped out of his skin, unless we signed it first!)

We've talked about videotaping, but more for the psychologist to see a real melt-down...but yeah, we may need to work on taping more interactions while I'm home next week, on everything.

One of the things the ST evaluator told my husband was that Alexander's inconsistency is one of her big concerns - the fact that he does things for us, like, "bring me a red ball" results in a red ball from the ball pit, but "where's the ball" won't actually result in him pointing out a ball for the therpists.

Some things, he's slowly getting better at - he'll turn on his own radio, for example. But he's slow to warm up to new toys, and that seems to be another place where the full eval throws up developmental red flags (slow now is a few days, as opposed to the months it used to take for some toys).

lynn · #9 07-02-2010, 11:34 AM

The entire test is such a joke~ because of his age now, he should be able to differentiate between ideas, and not just pick out items.. he is a bit delayed but not to the extent that the testing shows... now, if you ask him which machine would be used to suction out his trach.. he would be able to pick it out, or which item goes on the end of the suction tubing, or show him a picture of a syringe, he can sign medicine... but nope, they ask which is sweet, which is spicy, which is edible... now, his therapist knows him, knows his history, and I feel that she should have been able to reword the test to what he would have been able to know.. as which is shaped like a triangle(or which is not in a wrapper), which one is an animal(or even which one walks?) but he tested extrememly low becasue of the types of questions and his knowledge of these items.

oh, and there was a whole part about utensils, ect.... picture of soup- which would you use? picture of spoon or fork / which is used for drinking? picture of spoon or straw? now, he is oral, completly non tube fed: and he only uses a baby bottle to drink, and is trying out yogurts with a spoon.. nothing else... perhaps if you showed him these items and asked what you drink with or what you eat with he would be able to know.

Ainsley's Mom · #10 07-02-2010, 12:31 PM

I'm glad you got a speech therapist that you like! The testing is often "standardized", meaning if it's for official evaluation it has to be the same for each kid they aren't allowed to change it. It doesn't seem fair, but that's the way it is. On the plus side, the worse they do on the test the more services they qualify for. But it's hard because we want a true picture of our childrens' abilities. I hope you start to see some progress with the new therapist.