Preschool says son needs speech therapy

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't sweat it. Lots of kids get some amount of speech therapy and/or OT before they start school. It's much more common now than it was when we were kids and there is far less stigma. An evaluation from a professional therapist wouldn't hurt. A lot of times the SLP or OT will just give you some instructions for exercises to do at home if the issue is minor.

[Anonymous]

By ,4 most people outside of the family should understand him. Most of the time.

There's more to speech than just pronouncing certain sounds and letters.

Doesn't hurt to look into it.

[Anonymous]

Speech therapy is for a variety of issues - pronunciation, receptive speech delays, expressive speech delays. It's totally possible for a very verbal child to need speech therapy for pronunciation and zero concerns on receptive or expressive speech. For a preschool aged child I would 100% take advantage of any offered supports - they can only help. Just as an example, my son was on an IEP for speech plus PT/OT in preschool. He seemed bright but was reached so many milestones just short of the point of major concern. We accepted the school IEP recommendation and also got private services. By 6 he was on target - after 3 years when he was re-evaluated he was taken off the IEP. He's in middle school now and doing really well all-around - great grades, plays sports, has good friendships, etc. It was a very stressful time for us as parents when it seemed there were all these reasons for concern. But do I regret the therapies? Not at all. Maybe some of it is learning style where some children pick things up instinctually and others need tailored teaching. I think his speech, PT and OT really helped him get on track, and once caught up he was much better prepared to succeed.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is 3.5 and very verbal, but missing a few sounds that make her difficult to understand. I find myself translating for her quite a bit when others are around, because of all her missing sounds.

Sometimes at 2 and 3, speech is still considered to be developing, so his teacher at the time may have still seen some of his speech as within the normal range, while by 4, he should have figured it out. If he hasn't gotten there, then he might need speech therapy to help him. Can't hurt to get him evaluated.