<p>My 15 y.o. D talks quickly and softly. She also sometimes seems to have trouble getting the words out. Her teachers have never recommended speech therapy .
It is not a huge problem -but she does have to repeat herself often and even when she is trying to speak up -she still doesn’t project very well. It is starting to bother her.
Does anyone have any experiences with speech therapy and an older child? Will they think we are crazy ? </p>
<p>Contact your school and speak to the speech therapist there. Tell them your concern, and ask if they would please do a screening with your daughter. The therapist should be able to do a screening, and give you some ideas, or recommend a more formal evaluation (which would entail a special education referral). She might not qualify for services as she would have to have a special education speech need. But do ask. That is why those folks are there!</p>
<p>Would private voice lessons be a possibility? Or a private drama program?</p>
<p>Some schools offer electives in public speaking. if yours does not, perhaps you could find a summer program? </p>
<p>I’ve been surprised by how many speech problems are overlooked. I met a 20 year old, who talks too fast plus. (No one had ever recommended speech therapy or diagnosed the problem.) It doesn’t take long to learn, on internet, that she suffers from Cluttering. then, research who are specialists in field, and if they can recommend anyone in the area. Specific problems such as these can be addressed in therapy. A teen or 20 y.o. can learn the exercises and practice a lot on their own.</p>
<p>In sum, yes, I would highly recommend speech therapy with someone good. </p>
<p>I should have said -private school so no speech therapist.
I think I will call some speech therapists and talk to them. It is a mild problem for the most part - I wasn’t sure if it was enough to warrant treatment.
Thanks </p>
<p>Even in a private school, the public school therapist in the town in which the school is located can be contacted. OR you can contact the therapist in your town of residence.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I strongly recommend getting an evaluation from a private speech therapist rather than one based at the school. School based therapists deal with a limited range of issues and will not pick up on fluency disorders like cluttering (which is sounds like it might be). Honestly, some private speech therapists don’t have experience with cluttering so may want to ask. Here’s a link to a description of cluttering to see if it fits your daughter: <a href=“Cluttering | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter”>http://www.stutteringhelp.org/cluttering</a></p>
<p>Sudsie, that is a bit of an over generalization. There are plenty of private therapists with limited experience with fluency and cluttering issues, and plenty of school based therapists with experience, and vice versa.</p>
<p>The OP should discuss the concerns with the therapist. </p>
<p>Is speech a problem or is it speaking that’s the problem? Different things. One being more physical and the other being strategies to speak clearly and with more confidence in public, in groups, etc.</p>
<p>Agree Lergmom. Sometimes the two are intertwined. A speech pathologist should be able to help the student tease this out.</p>
<p>@thumper1, your school therapists must be much better than the ones we encountered! 
</p>
<p>My S had a rough time speaking as a child, not very fluent. I had him assessed in school, during early elementary, and the assessment was always the same, developmental disfluency which he would grow out of. Finally, at a friend’s suggestion, I took him to our local university center where development is studied. He was diagnosed with oral motor incoordination, and with their recommendation, he got therapy. </p>
<p>So…if there is a university with such a center, that is a good way to go, as they see more wide ranging pathology than the average therapist. </p>
<p>Our relative had free speech therapy in preschool through the elks club. He “graduated” from that and was independently re-referred at public school, where he had it weekly for a few years until again he was told he no longer needed services. At new public school, he was again referred for speech therapy but disliked being pulled out from class and felt it wasn’t helpful, so we had him get FREE evaluation at our local public University’s speech therapy program. </p>
<p>They were delighted to evaluate him and worked with him for free up to twice a week for about 3 semesters. It was the best treatment he received and the speech therapy students were thrilled because both he and they could see his rapid and remarkable improvement and self correction. He was able to leave grade school with no trace of any speech problem, thanks mainly to the last 3 semesters of therapy. </p>
<p>I’d strongly encourage you to see about whether the local U has a speech therapy program and would offer free evaluation and therapy. It would have been $50 or more per session if we were paying. Good luck! I also agree that drama lessons–private or in a group can be a great boon, as can toastmasters (inexpensive org with branches around the US that helps folks with public speaking). </p>
<p>Thanks all. We do have a medical university close by -so I may give them a call. </p>
<p>A university clinic is a fine choice. Just remember that you will be working with masters students in their programs, and the personnel will change each term. Inquire about costs, as some do charge on a sliding scale. </p>
<p>You can go on the American Speech Language Hearing Association website. There is a section for the public. You can look for therapists in your area, and most list their areas of expertise. Their contact info is probably there as well (if they choose to list it). </p>
<p>Speech pathologists in EVERY setting have varying levels of expertise in the multiple issues served in the scope of practice for a speech pathologist.</p>
<p>Actors, singers, public speakers, routinely seek speech coaching, why not a teenager? But I think cell phones make kids talk funny. They talk really fast, with pauses, just like they’re on a cell phone - when they’re not. She probably sounds like all of her friends.</p>
<p>Yes, the quality of speech therapists does vary greatly–whether they are master’s students or pros and done with school. The students did have some supervision and reported progress to supervisor. For our relative, he was fine with whichever grad student he was assigned and made consistent progress with each of them. All of the speech therapists were very nice and earnest. Am not sure why so much more progress was made late in grade school–whether it was the kid’s greater age, different techniques, or perhaps a combo that made things suddenly click into place. In any case, am so glad things worked out. </p>
<p>The clinic where he was evaluated and got help was at the regular U, NOT the med school. The U has a speech therapy master’s program. Med schools as far as I know don’t have these types of programs. </p>
<p>My son had a soft “r.” He also has Asperger’s, so he qualified for speech therapy through the school. By about 7th grade we gave up because it wasn’t helping at all. When he was 16, we went to a private therapist. After less than a year, problem solved. (Note that it was our $$, out of pocket.)</p>
<p>Find someone who specializes in adults. The lady we hired worked a lot with foreign profs at a local university - folks who had been told by the U that they couldn’t advance until their English was better.</p>
<p>Missy, even in the schools, students sometimes see the importance of their speech work when they reach high school. They understand that this is a must do. I’ve had students who really were reluctant at the middle school level (often a sound like the R is the last of a list of miss articulated sounds…and the kids are not into being seen at the MS level either). But these same kids will sometimes request services when they are older. </p>
<p>This OP needs to find someone who can tease out what the issue actually is. If it’s NOT cluttering, and the treatment is FOR cluttering, it won’t do much good. </p>
<p>I agree that the SLP should be one who works with this age group.</p>