I hear from a lot of parents who have children with Sensory issues that their children have speech delays. Communication is such a big thing for anyone living an independent life and reduces frustration being able to express what we think, what we want and what we need.
I always find babies babbling a crazy thing as my son never really did this he was pretty quiet apart from when he was crying he didn’t make the baby noises. He was always behind with speech and we decided to learn Makaton to help with the process.
Makaton is a language programme using signs and symbols to help people to communicate. It is designed to support spoken language and the signs and symbols are used with speech, in spoken word order.
Its lovely hearing about Makaton Groups now in our local area Wirral, Hands Up with the lovely Steph, we were so lucky when my son was small that a group called Sundowns let us join in even though it is for children with Down’s Syndrome and we will always be grateful for the help they gave us at that time.
We have had a few group sessions of speech therapy over our time but funding for speech therapy as most know is a postcode lottery. Over the years his speech has got better and better but he is still very conscious about it and has had bullying in the past because of it. Kids can be cruel.
Since Home Educating I asked what would he really like to learn his answer……. ‘Learn how to speak properly so I don’t sound stupid’……. Heartbroken hearing those words I went on a momma mission (like those who know me happens quite a bit) I began researching we did the sounds test and worked out the 2 sounds we wanted to work on over this year.
Since October wow have we come on! We do blow football, we make fires that need lots of blowing to ignite them more(and of course has little boys interested) we do tongue exercises in the mirror, we use bendy straws lots, we use chews(a lot for sensory issues also) Confidence is building and we can fit it in far more than schools ever could.
Straws are a big thing in our house and the silly straws makes it all a bit fun. I think the key is to have fun with it. If my son thought he was doing speech therapy each day he probably wouldn’t do it as really it sounds boring and has been for him in the past but being silly with momma around the house with musical instruments singing lalalalala, babababa, thththth, mmmmm. So I think what I want you to realise from this blog is there is so much you can do at home whilst waiting for appointments, whilst making memories and having fun as a family.
