Question: My child has an auditory processing problem along with speech issues.
What is the best way for me to get the services she needs, and help her learn more easily?
Answer: Along with you, many parents
are discovering that the home is the best
place to educate a struggling learner. The
home setting provides the nurturing our
children need, along with the ability to
tailor curriculum and teaching methods
for them. While many learning challenges,
or “glitches” as we often call them, can be
taken care of in the home teaching setting, there are times when “outsourcing” is
so helpful . . . such as when a child needs
speech therapy.
A child who has an auditory processing
problem will benefit most when we focus
on three areas:
1. Therapies
2. Academics
3. Nutritional interventions
Therapies
1. Speech Therapy
The three most common reasons that parents turn to speech therapy are: articulation issues (usually “r,w,th”); speech delay
(late talker); and speech reciprocity (social
conversation).
The first place to start, would be a referral by the child’s pediatrician to a private
speech therapist (your local or state homeschool group may have a list for you to access). Some parents use services from their
local school district, but one needs to be
alert for the potential entanglement of the
need for enrollment and other requests.
Just ask questions, and keep your options
open. Here are some alternative ideas for
speech services:
a. Private speech services. If your insur-
ance company does not help, then
there are often special needs funds
that can be applied for in many home-
schooling communities.
b. Scottish Rite facilities, Shriner’s hos-
pitals, and Easter Seals all offer speech
services on a sliding fee scale, and are
very good.
c. Home speech Services. Marisa Lap-
ish, a Speech Therapist, has a very
helpful DVD entitled, “Straight Talk.”
She goes through daily lessons with
you and your child in this DVD at
www.nathhan.org.
Ask A
Specialist!
Dianne Craft Auditory
Processing
with Speech
Issues
When a child has to
work harder to process
auditory information, it is
a great relief when we can
teach them using visual
methods.
