Anyone else think that speech therapy is a sham?

[Anonymous]

Both of my boys have done speech therapy for years. We did start and stop though because we moved to a different state. Speech therapy works best if whatever is being done in the sessions is also practiced at home. Just a couple sessions per month isn't enough to drive home the therapy. Kids will forget. It has to be practiced more frequently to make the change/improvement permanent. Its just like learning an instrument. You take a lesson weekly and then you go home and practice to get better. You should be getting "homework" during every session that needs to be worked on at home. If you aren't getting "homework", then I would ask for things that you should be doing at home to encourage improved speech.

[Anonymous]

Through the school system? Yes, perhaps. I don't know. I only have experience with private SLP. I have two kids born with cleft lip/cleft palate and they definitely needed speech help. With cl/cp, the muscles are not attached until surgery so the kids are waaaay behind on articulation. We opted for private b/c the public SLPs are not typically trained in the specific techniques to help kids with clefts, b/c it's not seen as much these days. But our private SLPs have been excellent. Maybe you have to up the ante and pay for private, OP.

[Anonymous]

Speech therapists do the same things you do at home (usually) unless you are simply a lazy parent. If you look at the time frames it takes for the children to start talking in therapy, they are always extremely different.. sometimes it takes 3 months.. sometimes, 9 months.. The only thing it does is make you feel better as a person, because you tried to do something.. The fact is, if you are working at it at home as usual, the child will talk when their brain develops the ability to form the words, or when they choose to. There is no magic that a speech therapist performs. It's just repetition, and response triggering.
"It must have been effective because my child started talking while in speech therapy"... no.. the fact is, they started generally around the time they would have, regardless.. you just happened to have them in therapy at the time... this is not to say that therapy is useless. Therapy can be useful if you have limited time to teach your child. AKA both parents work full time on staggered shifts, and the child gets bounced around a lot. there isn't much conversing going on in such a home, everyone is working or tired from working. hence there isn't much interaction going on. this is where a therapist comes in handy. Keep in mind, there is nothing a therapist will do that you can't do at home. There's no magic wand they can wave to make words appear. It's just a matter of the brain's communication "turning on" at a certain time, and being prepared for it.

[Anonymous]

Op I also have twins in therapy and feel the exact same way as you do. We decreased the frequency of services significantly because the kids are going to eventually learn this stuff whether we do therapy or not.

[Anonymous]

I suggest looking up (books are best source) what a therapist actually does (this is for all parents, not OP), learn the techniques, and apply them yourself at home. You'll have the same results, and even quicker since it is being used ALL THE TIME at home. No, you can't force a child to speak through therapy, they will do it when they are ready, but it always helps to nudge them along with good techniques. Maybe it will speed them up, but nature seems to take it's course as usual regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speech therapists do the same things you do at home (usually) unless you are simply a lazy parent. If you look at the time frames it takes for the children to start talking in therapy, they are always extremely different.. sometimes it takes 3 months.. sometimes, 9 months.. The only thing it does is make you feel better as a person, because you tried to do something.. The fact is, if you are working at it at home as usual, the child will talk when their brain develops the ability to form the words, or when they choose to. There is no magic that a speech therapist performs. It's just repetition, and response triggering.
"It must have been effective because my child started talking while in speech therapy"... no.. the fact is, they started generally around the time they would have, regardless.. you just happened to have them in therapy at the time... this is not to say that therapy is useless. Therapy can be useful if you have limited time to teach your child. AKA both parents work full time on staggered shifts, and the child gets bounced around a lot. there isn't much conversing going on in such a home, everyone is working or tired from working. hence there isn't much interaction going on. this is where a therapist comes in handy. Keep in mind, there is nothing a therapist will do that you can't do at home. There's no magic wand they can wave to make words appear. It's just a matter of the brain's communication "turning on" at a certain time, and being prepared for it.

You are pulling up an old thread to ramble about things that others could find really offensive. Clearly your kids really didn't need therapy and you don't get the concerns of kids with developmental delays or disorders.

[Anonymous]

That's fine. People can be offended. Your feelings don't matter when it comes to reality.

[Anonymous]

As for pulling up an old thread, incase you didn't notice, it was already bumped before I commented. "necro posting" on an old thread is a crap callout anyway. New information should always be added to a subject for those who may come across it at a later date. Anyone who says otherwise is simply against advancement of information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's fine. People can be offended. Your feelings don't matter when it comes to reality.

You cannot have a SN child, especially one severe enough to be in speech therapy for years with that comment. What is your agenda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for pulling up an old thread, incase you didn't notice, it was already bumped before I commented. "necro posting" on an old thread is a crap callout anyway. New information should always be added to a subject for those who may come across it at a later date. Anyone who says otherwise is simply against advancement of information.

You didn't provide any helpful information.

[Anonymous]

lastly, yes my child was a late speaker... She is perfectly fine now. And there is nothing wrong with the info I posted. I don't even see how it could be offensive. It's not like I'm calling anyone out. I'm simply stating that working at home with the child is just as effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lastly, yes my child was a late speaker... She is perfectly fine now. And there is nothing wrong with the info I posted. I don't even see how it could be offensive. It's not like I'm calling anyone out. I'm simply stating that working at home with the child is just as effective.

You obviously don't know much about speech therapy. It is a much broader field than just helping your late talker. My kid was an extremely early talker with a huge vocabulary and no articulation problems. But he needed speech therapy in grade school. You have no clue why is was needed or why it was immensely helpful to him because you don't know what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lastly, yes my child was a late speaker... She is perfectly fine now. And there is nothing wrong with the info I posted. I don't even see how it could be offensive. It's not like I'm calling anyone out. I'm simply stating that working at home with the child is just as effective.

You obviously don't know much about speech therapy. It is a much broader field than just helping your late talker. My kid was an extremely early talker with a huge vocabulary and no articulation problems. But he needed speech therapy in grade school. You have no clue why is was needed or why it was immensely helpful to him because you don't know what you are talking about.

The child probably caught up by 3 or 4, which is later but not a true late talker. If she caught up that easily and quickly and is fine now, it wasn't a true issue which is why speech therapy wasn't that helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speech therapists do the same things you do at home (usually) unless you are simply a lazy parent. If you look at the time frames it takes for the children to start talking in therapy, they are always extremely different.. sometimes it takes 3 months.. sometimes, 9 months.. The only thing it does is make you feel better as a person, because you tried to do something.. The fact is, if you are working at it at home as usual, the child will talk when their brain develops the ability to form the words, or when they choose to. There is no magic that a speech therapist performs. It's just repetition, and response triggering.
"It must have been effective because my child started talking while in speech therapy"... no.. the fact is, they started generally around the time they would have, regardless.. you just happened to have them in therapy at the time... this is not to say that therapy is useless. Therapy can be useful if you have limited time to teach your child. AKA both parents work full time on staggered shifts, and the child gets bounced around a lot. there isn't much conversing going on in such a home, everyone is working or tired from working. hence there isn't much interaction going on. this is where a therapist comes in handy. Keep in mind, there is nothing a therapist will do that you can't do at home. There's no magic wand they can wave to make words appear. It's just a matter of the brain's communication "turning on" at a certain time, and being prepared for it.

Nope.

I have no doubt that for some kids, they would have easily developed language on their own with normal, healthy parental interactions. For other kids, though, the specific methods and activities SLPs do are critical to their development.
You're right, there is no magic wand. But there are also kids who will not develop accurate and effective speech without serious intervention. Maybe you should just be thankful your kid wasn't one of those, rather than blathering on about areas you clearly don't know a lot about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Through the school system? Yes, perhaps. I don't know. I only have experience with private SLP. I have two kids born with cleft lip/cleft palate and they definitely needed speech help. With cl/cp, the muscles are not attached until surgery so the kids are waaaay behind on articulation. We opted for private b/c the public SLPs are not typically trained in the specific techniques to help kids with clefts, b/c it's not seen as much these days. But our private SLPs have been excellent. Maybe you have to up the ante and pay for private, OP.

What SLP did you see? My 3 year old daughter had UCLP and we are looking for a SLP with experience working with kids with clefts. She has hypernasality and some annunciation problems.

Thanks!