How long should one go to speech therapy before they are "cured"

[Suzybearybake]

My ds is 11. He has been going to speech since preschool. He has a lateral lisp and his speech is very slushy and quite fast. He can be difficult to understand and is asked to repeat himself often. I am wondering if speech therapy is really accomplishing anything. What can I do to make sure that he has some success , preferably before he enters the job market? Should we keep going? He does ok with his lessons but when it comes to real life application it really doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.

[Ottakee]

Have they looked at other physical issues? Things like overly large tonsils/adenoids, slight hearing loss, etc?

I would think that he would be showing improvement by this time. Does he have weak muscle tone?

[klmama]

Have you seen different providers to see if another approach might help?

[LizzyBee]

I have a nephew who is severely dyslexic and has apraxia. He started speech therapy at 2 yo and continued until he was at least 11 or 12. His speech is still not completely normal but he is intelligible. Depending on the cause of your son's speech issues, it is not necessarily unreasonable for him to be in therapy for so long.

ETA: Do you sit in on your son's sessions so that you know how to work with him at home between sessions? Does your SLP give you homework to do with him?

[Suzybearybake]

He has abnormally large tonsils/adnoids. We have spoken to his doctor about this and they to not feel that they should be removed. We have gone to both the public school and a speech pathologist in our area hospital. They had him speaking while holding a straw in his mouth at home but no real homework per se. I have not been in sessions with him because I have two other ds that I have to continue school with while he is in therapy( one of which is dyslexic and takes a while to finish).

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

You should be able to see progress over time. You may want to seek out a second opinion on therapy if you are not satisfied. And, I would ASK for homework/exercises/carryover suggestions from the therapist.

Just MHO.

[LizzyBee]

Would it possible for you to go to just a few sessions to get some idea of what the SLP is doing with him? I would ask for homework - our dd's SLP gave us homework sheets every week to reinforce what she did in that week's session.

[jacqui in mo]

At this point in therapy he should be having speech homework. As a speech therapist myself, I think not enough of our therapists make a concerted effort for carryover of the newly learned sounds into real life. There is a Stuttering clinic in our area that seems to do a good job. They make phone calls to the students and give them all sorts of assignments outside the therapy setting. I would ask the therapist directly to give him ideas & tasks to perform outside the home where he must use speech without the lisp. Video & audio taping of him reading aloud, reciting things, and extemporaneous speaking might be a good step. Do you have any outside the home coop opportunities for him to have speaking assignments? (ie drama, debate, etc). Does your son seem to be aware of his speech & can correct it if he is really concentrating on his own? He has to internalize the need for changing his everyday speaking habits, so the onus is really on him, but between you & the speech therapist there should be much more emphasis on speaking well outside the therapy setting. Jacqui

[Ottakee]

Have you seen an ENT? I would really see about the tonsils/adenoids. They made a huge difference in my son's articulation. Once they were removed we could understand him.

[jensway]

My son is almost 11 and has been going to speech therapy since he was 5 at public school. He has continually made improvements. We are still working on the articulation for the elusive "R". He has been given speech homework since 2nd grade. Sometimes his homework is stuff he does by himself, but most of the time it's stuff that I have to work with him on. The therapist usually comes out and tells me what my homework will be for the week as I help him.

Maybe speak with the therapist and let them know that you would be willing to work with your son at home if you had some direction.

[newlifemom]

Here's another thought. My son while very much younger with less speech under his belt was making no progress. My speech therapist was concerned that there might be an OT component. Please don't ask me how they are related. I don't know, but once he started OT his speech showed remarkable improvement. Could it be that there is some underlying issue not addressed in ST that is preventing him from improving? Like I said, just something to think about. HTH:)

[Kathy in MD]

Here's another thought. My son while very much younger with less speech under his belt was making no progress. My speech therapist was concerned that there might be an OT component. Please don't ask me how they are related. I don't know, but once he started OT his speech showed remarkable improvement. Could it be that there is some underlying issue not addressed in ST that is preventing him from improving? Like I said, just something to think about. HTH:)

I can think of 2 areas that an OT would treat that could make ST more effective. The first would be fine and gross muscle control. Even though a good ST would work on both strengthening the tongue and mouth and improving tongue and mouth positioning, an OT can intensely work on fine and gross motor control for the entire body.

The second area is that some forms of SPD affect the inner ear. This can affect language as well as balance and spacial awareness.

[Cadam]

It sounds like he isn't getting proper therapy for his problems. My son has moderate dyspraxia so that is what I know the most about. If a kid with dyspraxia is mis-dx and gets treatment for say, an articulation issue, that kid will not improve.

I would guess your son is either not dx properly (there can be multiple things going on, including physical issues) or not getting the proper therapy for his speech problems.

We always had homework, always. The clinic also had observation rooms for each therapy room so I could watch while dd was with me. It is worth it to watch therapy for a while and demand homework or change therapists. Years of therapy that is accomplishing nothing is just not acceptable.

Get the tonsils out.