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From: esdream4@optonline.net
Date: 10/9/03
Time: 2:58:01 PM
Remote Name: 24.184.85.211
I am having trouble keeping speech services for my son with the school district. There is a history of stuttering in the family, so we know its not a growth stage. My husband and daughter are both also stutterers as well as some of my husbands cousins.
My son has improved allot over the years with therapy, but now the school is trying to stop and I don't feel he is ready. The speech therapist at school recently "evaluated" him. I don't feel it was an adequate evaluation. She asked my son what he did over the summer, in the middle of a math assignment the class was doing together and that was it. She called me to tell me he should continue services on his own but he does not qualify for their program. I don't understand how she can say he does not qualify in one breath and then say he needs to continue services privately. At least 2 or 3 1/2 hour sessions weekly.
As well as the stuttering, there is something else going on with his behavior that I do not understand but I feel may be related. He has a great deal of difficulty making eye-contact when someone is speaking to him. But when he is speaking to you, he has to be very close - like nose to nose. He cannot control himself from touching everything he sees. He understands right from wrong and when I ask him why did you touch that if you know you weren't supposed to, he looks so confused and says I don't know Mommy. I know that he just could not stop himself from touching whatever it was. He has been like this for as long as I can remember. Its not a new behavior. It has always been pushed to the side because the focus was the speech.
Upon meeting his new teacher for the year, she said to me, I just want to let you know I'm going to have the speech therapist evalute your son. I asked her if she knew he was a stutterer and she did not, but she picked up on it right away. Now she sent home a note about how my son is touching the other students hair and invading their personal space. I have been going over this with him for years. He knows that arms length is my space and you don't touch anybody unless they say its OK. He doesn't mean any harm. I know he just likes to touch things that are soft and he can't stop himself. I know that when he is speaking to you, he gets very close to you and touches your arm or face. But I can't seem to make him stop. everyday at the busstop, I have to remind him, don't touch, back-up. And he shakes his head like he's fighting himself and I know I know.
He is very bright. No problem understanding. He catches on to anything quick as a whip and remembers it forever. He has no problem with his school work. Since I have an older child, I can see how much more he can do than she did at his age and she's an A student.
I think there is something more than the stuttering going on and I would like to know if you have any advise on what it may be and how I can help him.
The ADD or ADHD came up last year, in kindergarten. But he doesn't always have the symptoms and they said well he sleeps through the night etc so they push that to the side. I don't want a "label" on my son, but I'd rather have a label and get him the help than just leave it and hope it goes away. I would really like to help him before the other children start to notice that something is different.
The school speech therapist says I'm over concerned. I told her that I understood her education and her dealings with all different speech disorders regularly. But when I asked her if she ever had to live with a grown man that struggles everyday how would she feel, she had no answer. I watch my husband order chicken for dinner because he has difficulty saying steak or burger. I watch him cringe when the kids want him to read them a story. He hates the telephone. He would pay a bill that is incorrect rather than call to correct it. I don't want to see my son have these struggles. I am going to do all I can to help him.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have. Erin S