My son will not be old enough to attend kindergarten until next year, so this fall I took him to the local school for free testing just to make sure he is on track and ready for the next year. Well, now I feel pressured to enroll him in their preschool because they said he might need some speech therapy. We can understand almost everything he says - although he does leave off the s' when combined with other letters - like in the word spelling. So it comes out sounding like pelling.  The preschool is free, government sponsored special education. The problem is this - the testing was optional - enrolling him is optional - but now they want to meet with me so I have to sign something to make it official that I am 'declining their services'. Is this normal? To tell the truth, right now I am on the fence about sending him to the public school or homeschooling. (Private school is not available here - we are in a small town in Interior Alaska). So I don't like how they are strong-arming me. He is an only child so we would have to really make an effort to find socialization opportunities in this small isolated town if we decide to homeschool. And what about private speech therapy - is that expensive and if the problem is relatively minor as we perceive it - can it be solved at home with the proper books and cds?

 We experienced something similar around 20 years ago. Our middle DS had a speech problem , hard to understand. We decided to have him evulated and were threatened that they could force us to put him in a school that was not our choice. WE had to get a lawyer. We had to sign papers saying that we chose not to have speech services for him. They never bothered us again. We homeschooled him. I found a teacher in a private school who helped me work with him. His speech did improve. He was late learning a lot of the sounds. R was a tough one for him. He said F for K's. He still has some problems but he learned to use different words as he got older. He has a good job, sweet wife and child.  Didnt slow him down.

Home school socialliztion works out. There is always Scouts, church activities and often a home school group . dont worry too much, do what you think is right for your child.Babs

I am a special education teacher, and this is normal.  Once a student has been identified as qualifying for special education services, the school legally liable to provide those services unless the student ceases to qualify or the parents refuse them.  They are not trying to pressure you either way; they are trying to cover their own liability, and there is a federally-mandated timeline within which they have to either provide services, determine that services are not necessary, or have documentation that the parents refused services.  They are only required to provide those services within the provided preschool program - that is, in fact, the purpose of the preschool program, to provide a place in which the services can occur;  by law, students must receive services in the "least restrictive setting" - that is, in a setting that as closely as possible resembles the setting in which non-identified peers would be educated, which caused schools which did not have preschool programs to start them, with no more than 1/2 of the students having identified learning difficulties (else, it  would be a special ed room with some non-special ed students - so no more than 1/2 can be identified). 

If he truly has a speech dysfluency, it could (but may not) have a negative effect on his reading, as students who have difficulties pronouncing sounds may not be hearing them properly, and may therefore have trouble with them in reading and spelling; on the other hand, it may be a fine motor issue with his tongue that will resolve itself with greater physical maturity.  Or it could be a number of other things that I don't have enough information or expertise to determine - I specialize in learning disabilities, not speech production.  Only you can decide whether or not you want to enroll him in the program - but the school is merely trying to cover themselves, not pressure you one way or another, no matter how it seems to you.

Linda M.:

The preschool is free, government sponsored special education.

The schools get extra funds for every child with "special needs". 

Do what you think is right. What feels right. Your the mom and you know best. 

My youngest son had a studdering problem. After two years of speach therapy at school he hadn't got any better. Come to find out they were treating him for a lisp for that entire time. I did some research on the internet and after working with him for two months his studdering was nearly gone. Only when he was really excited or very tired did he studder. After six months he was done with studdering.  I had to sign four different papers to pull him from speach therapy and meet with the principal, therapy teacher and guidance counselor to get him out.

cyn

 #1 - Sign up for Homeschool Legal Defence --  schools often try to strong arm you into signing papers, evaluations, testings etc that are not required.  They often put pressure on those with special needs children.  This will also give you access to some wonderful special needs persons they have in their organization.

 #2 - You can do your own speech therapy.  Look online for something called "Straight Talk".  It comes in 2 books - you need to decide which one you need.  I bought both books because (of course) my kids had opposite types of issues.  LOL.  Anyway, I think the whole thing set me back $50 - definately no more than $75.  I'm not dissing the speech teachers at schools but you are going to get much more progress because you will be able to implement the lessons 24/7.

We homeschool our kids.  My oldest has special needs, at 3.5 we had him evaluated privately by a speech therapist.  We didn't go through the school district, we paid I believe $300 for the eval.  My son has oral-motor issues and had a drooling/swallowing problem.  He didn't have a issue with pronounciation, but she did several standard diagnostic tests with him.  She didn't recommend we start therapy right away but if I remember correctly individual 1/2 sessions cost $80 each.

I ordered Straight Talk for my daughter, who is 4 and a half and does have speech/pronunciation difficulties.  She's never been officially evaluated.  We've used some of the techniques recommended in the book and are making headway.  According to what I understand, there is an "age-sound" chart that speech therapists use to determine at what approximate ages kids develop the ability to pronunciate certain sounds consistently.  The sound "s" to my understanding is one of the last ones to develop, which according to the chart in  Straight Talk (which is written by a certified speech language therapist) is 7.5.  So based on that alone your child to me doesn't sound like he has an issue because he hasn't reached the maturation period for that sound.

Look into ordering Straight Talk, use it for reference if nothing else.  I paid $55 plus shipping.  That might help you make the decision on wether you want to have him seen for additional help or if you'd like to work on it yourself at home.  Either way, wether you sign him up for therapy or not you'll have to do work with him at home to make the therapy most effective.

my dd had the same problem mixing sounds. she didn't do it all the time. preschool teachers noticed something and referred for testing with my permission. just because she is a nov baby and would be 4 entering kindergarten and didn't want her being at a disadvantage.  so we had the testing and she did speech therapy for a few months once a week with homework.  they gave me a chart about kids being able to pronounce certain sounds at certain ages.  they are not suppose to be able to pronounce every sound until 8.

the homework was working on the sound mixups with pictures/fun project of the sounds of the week.  she was fine after a few months.  it was subtle problem. as grandpa put it  she is certainly clear when she was mad!  no one in the family had noticed it because it wasn't a major thing.   laziness I think more then anything knowing her. :)

ds had problems being clear with everyday words but can pronounce all the pokemon names correctly lol.  when I correct him he won't said it correctly just gets mad.   sil said maybe he learned the everyone words incorrectly but the new words he hears correctly.  maybe (she is a kindergarten teacher) she has a point but we will see.   it isn't a physical problem because god forbid I miss say a pokemon name!

Hi, I'm a speech/language therapist - If the ONLY issue found with his speech was ommitting the "s" sound, I wouldn't worry to much at this time because it could still be emerging. Some children don't develop the sound untill the end of kindergarten.  However, you should still work on it with him at home.  Show him the placement of your mouth and tongue when that sound is made and through discrimination activities.