Developmentally delayed...

I finally took my almost 5 year old to his 4 year well check (we finally got medical insurance). I figured he was a little delayed in his speech (he stutters, delays, and doesn't say too many words). Well... it was confirmed. I did an ages and stages survey and he's behind in both speech and fine motor. The next week his preschool teacher pulled me aside and confirmed (without me approaching her or telling her about the doctor's appointment before hand).

What's your experience been like with therapy? I'm sure they're all excellent at what they do. I'm just nervous. I hope they can help him and he can catch up eventually.

my son turned 3 in august, and he has been in speech and ocupational therapy since he was 18 months old. The services have been GREAT, and he is definitely catching up. I am confident that he will be ready to go in to school with his same aged peers.

And the therapy is a lot more like one-on-one play than it is, like, therapy that an adult would imagine. They use play to teach words and concepts, so kids tend to find it fun.

My nephew was 3 when he started speech therapy. He would go to a "pre-school" at one of the elementary schools and they would work with him and a few other special needs kids. He would have speech, also.

It helped him tremendously. His vocabulary expanded by so much. Now....He speaks just fine. Still has trouble coming up with the right words sometimes, but what kid doesn't?

Also, he is also delayed in fine motor skills. Not extremely, but you can tell the issue is there. The way he uses a spoon, holds a pencil, etc. But being in kindergarten is helping him, as he doesn't qualify for therapy because he is in not below the 5th percentile.

Quoting ~*Icat*~:" my son turned 3 in august, and he has been in speech and ocupational therapy since he was 18 months old. ... [snip!] ... than it is, like, therapy that an adult would imagine. They use play to teach words and concepts, so kids tend to find it fun."

Awesome! Did they give you ideas that you can do at home to help him along? I love the play idea.
I hope he can start kindergarden on time. He goes to a private school and he's supposed to start next year, if he's ready.

Quoting Tiger Lily ♥:" My nephew was 3 when he started speech therapy. He would go to a "pre-school" at one of the elementary ... [snip!] ... etc. But being in kindergarten is helping him, as he doesn't qualify for therapy because he is in not below the 5th percentile."

I'm glad to hear that they were so helpful!

They won't give him therapy since he's not in the bottom 5%? I wonder if that's an insurance issue... his pediatrician has already given the referral so I hope we're god to go there.

It seems like boys have the developmental issues more than girls

My nephew-in-law has speech delay too. He was even diagnosed with mild autism but we were glad to see great improvements because of his ongoing therapy now. According to his teacher, he is intelligent and a leader in his class. Hopefully, he'll be in a regular class next year. He's on therapy for 2 months now, I think.

May daughter has been in Speech therapy through the local early intervention program for 1 1/2 years. She will be five in Feb. within the first few months of her starting we started to see improvement and by the end of last year after a year of therapy other people started to understand her without us there to translate. Shes also in Preschool now and I was tolled during registration that they may not have to carry her therapy over to kindergarten which would be fantastic. She has come so far in such a short time. She loves her early intervention classes . We work closely with her therapist to tailor her therapy to her specific needs and they send info home all the time to help keep the learning going. Over the last year or so her behavior has improved too. Before early intervention she would get frustrated because she wasn't being understood and would act out . Now we can understand her and life at home is much better.

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Thanks everyone  


He has his first therapy appointment in December.