Speech

This was an intense week was for me.  Lots of ups and downs.  For my own records I'm going to summarize a few days day, starting with Tuesday.

(As a background, it's been no secret that Garrett struggles in speech, and has for some time now.  He was tested through Kids on the Move in January 2010, and again through Alpine School district when he turned 3, in August 2010.  Both concluded he had a severe speech delay.  Not sure about the numbers, but he was shortly below having a moderate delay, so it was mildly severe at that point.  From Jan til Aug '10 he was going to an articulation class as well as meeting with a speech therapist.  When he graduated KOTM and entered the school system he only had 20 min a week with a speech therapist.  We saw much more improvement when he was with KOTM.)

TUESDAY

• Took Garrett to get tested through the school district in hopes of getting him qualified for a preschool, to get more time and more help with his speech.  
• The conclusion was that he was less than 1% for speech for boys his age.  A severe speech delay.  Their suggestion?  20 min of therapy a week.  I was stunned.  Why hadn't he qualified for more??  Their answer?  He didn't fit the requirements for preschool, or anything else.  Confused and stunned I left feeling deflated.  However, I'd heard that you can pay to get your normally developing kids into preschool, so that was my next step.    
• Took Keira to get evaluated for Kindergarten.  As suspected she blew the teacher away with her knowledge.  Answered nearly every question and then some.  Hello rollercoaster of emotions!  It was a fun thing to watch.  :) 
• Spoke to the preschool teacher about getting Garrett into the preschool.  She said that due to govt regulations they aren't allowed to accept a paying student who has been evaluated and didn't qualify.  Confused?  Yes.  Yes I was.  
• At this point I was getting more and more upset that my son tested at less than 1% for his age in speech and I was not getting more help!  I did my own homework and found that there is a program in the district called Tots Learning to Communicate, designed to help children with language.  Are you kidding me??  I was getting furious that they hadn't mentioned this, and was wondering what else was available to me that I wasn't hearing about.
• This day I also learned about (thanks to my mom and NOT anyone in the district) a new technology for speech therapy that will do in months what regular therapy does in years, if at all.  This excites me.  They use something like a retainer with 100 sensors on it that sense where the tongue placement is when a person speaks.  It's relayed to a screen showing where the tongue is as it's there in real time.  That way when a person is using the back of the tongue when they should be using the front of the tongue they can visualize it and see the change.  I really like this idea.  I called and left a message with the company that offers this.

WEDNESDAY

• I heard back from the company who offers the technology called the Palatometer.  They could take Garrett and it would be 30 minutes, once or twice a week depending on his severity.  The initial cost is $400, with $50 per session.  I'm sold on the concept and the benefits it could have for Garrett.  However, unless they can accept payments it will take us awhile to save up for that initial payment.  The sooner we can get him started on this therapy the better, so I'm holding my breath that they will accept payments!
• I spoke to someone who used to be in charge of the TLC program.  She described what goes on there and it sounds great for what Garrett would need.  I asked why he wasn't offered that and she wasn't sure, and said that it sounded like he would.  On to another phone call to find out.
• I called the district and asked them to tell me in more detail why he wouldn't qualify for preschool.  I was ready to fight them on that decision, but they said that the preschool is for kids with either a language problem, a physical handicap, or a mental handicap.  Since his low point is purely in speech he didn't fit the requirements.  That made a little more sense, although I was still upset that they were only offering 20 min of therapy.  That just didn't produce much results for us in the past.  I expressed that  concern to the person in charge and she said that she'd talk to the speech therapist and talk about more options (including the TLC program) and call me back.

THURSDAY

• Dropped Richard off at the airport for a weekend business trip.  
• I heard back from the speech therapist.  She apologized for the trouble I'd had this week and said she looked over the testing center's results and saw some mistakes.  She said they had some new people there and must have done some things wrong.  For one, he DOES qualify for the TLC, and she was confused why they didn't mention that, especially for how severe his delay is.  Me too.  Me too.  :\  She also said that they were suppose to retest something and didn't, which may also qualify him for the preschool.  She spoke with the preschool teacher and they agreed that they'd like to retest him in that area themselves.  
• SOoo... this coming Wednesday he'll be retested by the speech therapist and the preschool teacher to see if he does indeed qualify for preschool.  

  

So we went from limited options to a number of options.  I'm happy, but not with how much mama bear that had to come out to produce these results.  The principle of helping kids should be above the criteria they've created that kids need to meet.  A child testing that low in anything should cause concern and inspire as much help as they can offer.  Ridiculous.

Anyways, we're still not sure what we'll do, but we'll see what Wednesday's results offer.  We would really love to have Garrett use the Palatometer more then anything, so I'm crossing my fingers that that will work.  The idea that he could be almost up to speed by the time he starts Kindergarten makes me happy.  I worry about his spirit being crushed by his speech delay more then anything.  I can already see it taking a toll on him.  He is smart enough to know that he's behind.  I just want to get him proper help before it becomes a big problem in school.  Either way, though, I'm happy with the options in front of us now.