Need advice on discipline

[Anonymous]

Thank you, Thais. Would love it all!! If you could give me the name of the an oral motor therapist for evaluation. I will go buy the book, so no worries there. I don’t think our SLP is really as qualified and invested as I would like her to be, but SLP’s in CT are very few and far between that are any good. We have seen most of them that are affiliated with Birth to Three and we are now getting private speech for Dylan that has helped tremendously, but our birth to three SLP’s that are really good are so busy so it is very hard to find a good one that has the ability to take on another child and also works in our area so we are pretty limited. Can not afford to keep taking these kids to uncovered outside therapies, but also can’t afford not to. UGH, sometime this sucks. BUT if I could get a good eval, then maybe I can direct them more to what Carter needs as the family goals are what I set, not what they set…..

Now I’m rambling! But thank you so much ! If you want to PM me the name, that would be great.

Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Let me get back to you — i do not mind sending you the book if you want. I have another book that is really really good — it is for professionals but it is a book by SLP in CT, and it has great descriptions of things, including dysarthria (which is not easy to find, as it is really a name for low tone / low strength but with no signs of damage to brain sometimes)… it has a series of tests that are pretty easy (although Carter is prob too young for them) but i did try and complete them for Matthew and all pointed to dysarthria before we got a written diagnosis.

I will get back to you tonight or so… once i can put both boys down for a while and find the book.

[Anonymous]

Got it!! i will send it to you — really, it is great and there is no point spending money LOL.

It is called preschool motor speech Evaluation and intervention. Written by Margaret M Earnest — says about her that she focuses on motor speech disorders… for the past several years has worked for CT birth to three. She lives in North CT but does not say where…

Maybe take a look at the book — otherwise, there are 2 people in CT (near Norwalk or Stamford, cannot remember) who are oral motor and PROMPT certified SLPs… otherwise, can always ask Matthew’s SLP in Armonk to see if she would do an eval or she knows someone else.

Let me know — PM me your address. This book i think is wonderful… there are some scribbles in there… but i thought it was great too for when i worked with SLPs…. because you can ask questions and really know if they can work with your child or not.

It is also wonderful because it is written for SLPs and suggests how to structure sessions, ie starting with sensory input, moving on to oral motor, then what type of games you should be playing, some prompts you could try for your son etc etc

[Anonymous]

Ann Marie, I’m sorry but I just got back from work and see that you had a question. Thais did a GREAT job answering it! LOL She’s correct, it sounds like Carter has an issue with low muscle tone rather than apraxia. I’d get an SLP to take a look at his facial and oral muscles. Wait, did you say that he’s getting speech therapy now?

[Anonymous]

Hi Thais, that would be great! You can bring it to our playdate if you want as I probably won’t get to read it until then. We are in the middle of year end with audit and tax season at work, so I am still working now at 8:30 and just finishing up! I appreciate it and can’t wait to get it from you, Thank you!!!

No worries, Marianna. We do get Speech, but I don’t think she is as experienced or invested in Carter as we need her to be. I think she just comes for her 45 minutes every week and does simple things that we are already doing. So, I need to discuss with our coordinator and see what she thinks, but our coordinator is also our PT and she is amazing, so I think we might just have our PT come more and carry out most/all of Carter’s therapy and then just have SLP/OT as a consult. This is the best case scenario, and we have tossed the idea around before, so I might see how that works for us.

I think I can go get an SLP evaluation at a pediatric rehab center near us that is independant from Birth to three. It has different criteria of course as to how far behind a child has to be to need services as the birth to three criteria is different, but it will point out his specific issues as they see them, so that might be a valuable thing to do as well. I am interested in these people that Thais pointed out that are right in my state, so I might look into them as well.

Thanks guys!! I appreciate the input, and sorry to hyjack this thread!!!!!

Ann Marie

monty1232008-01-08 20:37:17

[Anonymous]

I hope that Carter gets all the help he deserves :))) Do you feel comfortable discussing these issues with the SLP you have at the moment?? Are any oral-motor goals mentioned anywhere in her goals?? Did any other therapist mention that he might have an oral-motor issue or do you suspect he has it but it hasn’t been confirmed?

[Anonymous]

I know there are oral/motor issues, but the slp that we have I don’t think is that familiar with these issues. I think she is more a good therapist for typical dev. delay. She has the same suggestions we have already implimented i.e. pictures for communication, signs, etc. Carter knows the signs for eat, drink, more, train, open, help me (modified because his hands are stiff but we know what it is) and a few others, so that is helpful, but I want her to work on strengthening his mouth and working with wakign up his tongue, etc, so that he can eventually use spoken language as opposed to signs. Don’t get me wrong, I love that he has an avenue to communicate with us, but I want him to be successful in preschool, school, etc. These are part of our goals (very basic) but not really being carried out as well as we would like to see.

I think a meeting is in order with our PT (coordinator).

Thank you all for all of the input and explainations! I really appreciate it! Marianna, you can come stay with us for a while and develop a plan! 🙂 Are you far from CT? 🙂

[Anonymous]

Ann Marie, LOL…thank you hon. I would LOVE to get out eventually! My parents live 45 minutes away from us and I get to see them once every 2-3 weeks (with baby #2 coming, I think it’ll be even less frequent 🙁 We live in NYC so that’s not too far from CT. I’m glad that you have so many suggestions from Thais (re: oral motor specialists near you, etc) and that Carter’s communicating with you somehow. There are so many different aspects in SLP that it’s nearly impossible to specialize in all of them. Some feel comfortable with feeding issues while others with language development, for example. Good luck with your search and feel free to talk to me whenever you need 😉

[Anonymous]

A collegue of mine suggested a book “1-2-3 Magic” by Dr. Thomas Phelan. Anyone heard of this book and/or used the techniques?

[hellbennt]

yes!

we use it to some degree with Jonah.

it’s very very helpful!!!!

once you read through it (buy it used! it’s a quick read/skim) & ‘get’ the idea(s) then you just kind of go with it & wind up doing what works best for you…

Along with 1-2-3 magic, I also use the info here (skim/surf through the links/menus): http://joanneaz_2.tripod.com/positivedisciplineresourcecenter/id23.html

and, more recently, the forum here: http://www.beckybailey.com/mboard_login.cfm

[Anonymous]

If the child has issues, the book that they use at Kennedy Krieger for behavioral purposes, including feeding, is called SOS support for parents. It does contain a whole section on time outs and what to do when those do not work but most importantly, it goes into detail as to how to modify behavior slowly and how we could be reinforcing negative behaviors without noticing it

[Anonymous]

We LOVE that book! We first started using it with Kaelyn right after she turned 2. It worked really well for a long time. Then we let ourselves become a little less consistent and she became more defiant. Recently we started consistently doing it again and it’s worked well. We’ll probably start with Alex this summer. She really doesn’t seem to understand cause and effect right now.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for suggestions. I’ll try getting my hands on that book and I’ll try even harder on finding THE TIME to read it :)))

[Anonymous]

It’s actually a really easy read, if that’s any consolation.

[Author]

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