Hey there! You’re listening to the Mighty Mommy with some quick and dirty tips for practical parenting.
Just over one year ago I discovered something unexpected. My daughter has a moderate speech delay. I never expected this because neither my husband nor I had speech delays as children and my family has always been quite chatty. It simply wasn’t an issue I had ever been confronted with before. When my daughter turned three and still wasn’t talking I had no idea what to do. Our pediatrician suggested pre-school and we gave it a try. Unfortunately, that resulted in a frustrated little girl and a lot of tears. I soon found that I had a friend who had already gone through something similar and she was able to point me in the right direction. When your child has special needs, no matter how simple or severe, there are steps you can take toward finding the help you need.
When our children are noticeably ill or injured, we take them to the doctor. While your child may not be sick, a visit to your pediatrician should be your first step when you notice something isn’t right. All children progress differently, but if certain areas of growth have you worried, tell your pediatrician at your child’s regular check-up. If your child is over two he may only be having yearly visits. If this is the case, you should set up an appointment with your pediatrician to discuss your concerns. The doctor should address your concerns, run any necessary physical tests, and let you know the results. The reason you want to contact your doctor first is to discover if your child has any problems with hearing, vision, or other physical hindrances that could be causing your child’s progression to be delayed in specific areas.
If you and your doctor have determined that your child doesn’t have a physical problem that can be resolved with medical attention, your doctor may be able to refer you to a specialist in educational needs. If you don’t get this information from your doctor, you will need to locate it on your own. I was lucky enough to know someone who had the information I needed, but that may not be the case for everyone. You can contact your school district’s office and request the location and phone numbers of local special education programs. You may also want to check with any local moms, parenting groups, or churches. You are most likely not the only person in your city who has been in this situation. If you want to keep your anonymity while researching this, as some people do, you can check online communities such as mommytalk.com or mamasource.com. There are many other parenting websites available, but these two are examples of sites with local communities. You can connect with people in your vicinity and see if they have had to take similar steps with their own children. The friend that directed me to my local testing facility was someone I’d met through the MOMS Club. You may also be able to obtain information from local libraries or youth centers.
Most children who have special education needs can be diagnosed starting around two and a half years old. In my case, my pediatrician and I had decided to wait on testing my daughter until she was three. I was in denial. If I had it to do over again, I would not have waited. If you have any concerns at all, I recommend that you have your child tested as soon as possible. The sooner your child is tested the sooner you can get him enrolled in a program that fits his needs. You may also find that your child is progressing as expected and simply ease your mind. Since my daughter was my first child, I had no idea that there was a problem until I realized that other children her age were much more articulate. In my case, I had a daughter who was excelling in other activities involving motor skills while her language and cognitive skills were not catching up. It scared me when people started throwing around words like “autism” and “hyper-activity,” but by contacting the right people and educating myself, I was able to discover the real issue and deal with it appropriately.
If you have any concerns at all surrounding your child’s educational growth, take the steps needed to find out if there truly is an issue. Because I was able to find the assistance I needed, my daughter has been in a terrific pre-school program with other children her age. The classes are smaller and the teachers are trained to deal with children who have special needs. There is also a speech therapist working with the class. The changes I’ve witnessed in my daughter over the last year have been amazing. Her confidence is better and she’ll be able to start kindergarten at the same level as her peers. Oh, and now, she never stops talking. She’s just like her mommy!
That’s it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show. Thank you for listening.
I’d like to ask you to please take a moment to complete the listener survey that you'll find in the sidebar at the Mighty Mommy website. The website is http://mightymommy.quickanddirtytips.com. Thanks in advance for taking the time to help us learn more about you and your preferences.
If you’d like to request a topic for the Mighty Mommy you can e-mail me directly at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com or leave a message by calling 206-202-2185.
You can also read the full transcript of this podcast at quickanddirtytips.com, where you can leave comments and check out the other great podcasts. This week Grammar Girl is talking about how to use the word “graduated.” So be sure to check out her podcast!
This is your friend the Mighty Mommy wishing you happy and fun parenting!
