Speech Therapy: How Much? What Kind?

When I first started Chelsea in speech therapy, I assumed that all speech therapy was the same (you "go to speech"), and read in an article that 40 sessions of speech therapy "cures" most speech impediments.

Here is what I have found worked for Chelsea for speech therapy.

How MUCH therapy should we do?
My humble opinion is, the more the better! With apraxia, there is a direct correlation between number of hours in therapy and the outcome. Research states that 3-5 (30 minute) sessions a week are recommended. With that said, there are always limiting factors- money, time, energy, etc.

Try to use all the resources you can- this is your child's voice! Hire a grad student, advocate for more time at school, enlist a mother's helper to watch your other kids so you can focus on your special needs child, whatever it takes! BUT- this way is exhausting, and you will have days when you cry and think it is useless and wasted money. I had those times.

THERE IS HOPE!!!! Currently, Chelsea is 5  years old and has roughly 300 words that strangers can understand (if they listen close!). That is AWESOME for a kid with SATB2 Associated Syndrome! But it took 2-3 years of building the foundation and working on basic sounds over and over and over and over.

What KIND of speech therapy should we do?

Birth-2 years old

• At this time, I didn't know the extent of Chelsea's speech problems, but we did some sign language and PECs
• For sign language, we did hand over hand. Remember, it took Chelsea about 10,000 repetitions to get a single sound or movement, so patience is key!

• We laminated pictures of food, and put magnets on the back. At meal/ snack times, we would place options on the fridge, and she picked what she wanted. You can use PECs for any kind of activity!!!

• Talk non-stop! I would commentate everything I did "Now Mommy is chopping the carrots to put into the pot to make soup, see how the carrots are orange? Let's feel them!" All. Day. Long.
• When I got tired of talking, I would put on audio books. Language bombardment to the MAX!!!!

2 years old- 3 years old

• For about 2 years, we did PROMPT therapy. This is a method to treat Apraxia of speech, and is basically the speech therapist (SLP) cueing speech by touching spots on their mouth

• Chelsea did this with her early intervention SLP, her school SLP, and private SLP
• At the time, her private SLP wasn't trained, so I organized a PROMPT conference, and my SLP was allowed to be trained for free, which was awesome

4 years old- 5 years old (present)

• Since 2014, we have really hit Apraxia specific speech therapy hard, focusing on the K-SLP method, which combines ABA (behavior modification, usually used for autistic children) with speech therapy. It was developed by Nancy Kaufman
• We visited Nancy Kaufman at her clinic in Michigan, and it was incredible! I wrote all about the visit HERE

Chelsea working with Nancy

• I also attended 2 Apraxia conferences through CASANA, the national Apraxia organization. Those really helped me with knowing how to work with Chelsea at home and what to train her SLPs in
• We have an AMAZING SLP for Chelsea who is fluent in sign language, and is able to use ASL and Apraxia specific methods to work with her.

  Work at Home

• Ask your SLP for homework, then always always do the homework!
• Some is better than none! Don't set a goal of doing an hour of speech a day, then get overwhelmed and not do anything. 5-10 minutes is better than nothing! Try to get in at least a little every day!
• Look up ideas! We are blessed with the internet, so peruse pinterest, google ideas, or watch youtube videos to get ideas for speech that day!
• Make it fun! Your kiddo won't be into something unless you make it fun, and whatever works, roll with it!