Speech Delay in 6 year old

[TryphenaLow]

My 6 year old has been diagnosed with speech delay & high chance of dyslexia. Not on the spectrum.

We managed to get his P1 deferred. Has anyone been in this stitch? Will they eventually bloom & catch up? Or suffer when they enter primary school?

 

[angy]

My 6 year old has been diagnosed with speech delay & high chance of dyslexia. Not on the spectrum.

We managed to get his P1 deferred. Has anyone been in this stitch? Will they eventually bloom & catch up? Or suffer when they enter primary school?

My 2c, no.

Do not wish "he will be OK when he is older"
if you suspect that he has speech delay, armed him with skills now so that he can cope when he goes to school.
Suffer - is a relative term. He can be bullied, ignored or segregated.
Children at P1 can be very vicious who they want to play with, who they ignore. They will start to form friendships from day 1. If you are worried about "suffer", arm him with social skills now.

Questions
What do you mean by speech delay and not on the spectrum.
How does he communicate with you? What is he communication style?
How is his social skills?

 

[TryphenaLow]

He's been attending EIP since 3 years old. Currently still doing Speech, Occupational & Education therapy.
He started speaking in clear full sentences at 5 yo but still has trouble pronouncing certain alphabets like L, W.

He is social i.e plays well (especially with cousins & friends in kindy but quite selective) but has a bit of trouble regulating his feelings with "new" friends. Even now when he's too overwhelmed he'll have trouble using his words. He is not autistic, but has been diagnosed with a learning disorder.

Bullying & segregating is what I'm worried about. Kids nowadays can be vicious.

 

[angy]

He's been attending EIP since 3 years old. Currently still doing Speech, Occupational & Education therapy.
He started speaking in clear full sentences at 5 yo but still has trouble pronouncing certain alphabets like L, W.

He is social i.e plays well (especially with cousins & friends in kindy but quite selective) but has a bit of trouble regulating his feelings with "new" friends. Even now when he's too overwhelmed he'll have trouble using his words. He is not autistic, but has been diagnosed with a learning disorder.

Bullying & segregating is what I'm worried about. Kids nowadays can be vicious.

Wow, I see that you have put in money to help your son, good on you.
Good to hear he is no autistic.

You say he is social, but does he understand or can he "see" unspoken social norms. That will be your next challenge when he goes to school. Moving from cousins and friends, to school environment is a big jump.

You said that he has trouble regulating feelings with "new" friends, then imo, you need to arm him with social skills. Eg - taking turns, how to calm down when others said no.<<<< those two, will easy take you six months or longer, as it is situational/event dependent. However, the faster you do it, the better. Speech, has to be the back burner.

You can accelerate his learning but showing him any videos on youtube, or both you and your partner play a game together with turns taking. The faster you armed him with that skills, the better. Like you said, kids can be vicious, but the instigator could be the kids' parents when they start to instruct/select/determine who should their child be associate/play/sit with during class and recess.

 

[joseiah88]

Sounds like he is getting the help he needs.

 

[Coffeelix]

My 6 year old has been diagnosed with speech delay & high chance of dyslexia. Not on the spectrum.

We managed to get his P1 deferred. Has anyone been in this stitch? Will they eventually bloom & catch up? Or suffer when they enter primary school?

Let me share my personal experience of helping my dyslexic son who eventually graduated from UK Uni with a master degree in engineering.

Your son needs one to one tutoring from special teacher trained in teaching dyslexic kids to learn to read and spell.

Most importantly, he needs full time parental support and involvement in his studies in order to succeed.

He needs constant and regular praises for all his efforts irregardless of the outcome / scores.

I remember he came home crying cos his classmates laughed at him when his first exam score was read. He scored only 70s but all his classmates scored in the 90s. I told him I was proud of him cos he did his best was all that count. I hugged him often and always stood ready to support him at all times.

Family support to kids with learning disabilities is crucial and is the key to their growth and success.

Hiring external help will be helpful but isn’t enough as the kid needs constant and continuous assistance in the learning journey.

 

[Coffeelix]

He's been attending EIP since 3 years old. Currently still doing Speech, Occupational & Education therapy.
He started speaking in clear full sentences at 5 yo but still has trouble pronouncing certain alphabets like L, W.

He is social i.e plays well (especially with cousins & friends in kindy but quite selective) but has a bit of trouble regulating his feelings with "new" friends. Even now when he's too overwhelmed he'll have trouble using his words. He is not autistic, but has been diagnosed with a learning disorder.

Bullying & segregating is what I'm worried about. Kids nowadays can be vicious.

I witnessed my neighbors’ kids ostracized him in the play ground.
Since then, I refused to let him out.
I spent all the time doing home projects with him or tutoring him.
Find out what he loves to do and support it by all means.
When he was in secondary school, he loved playing basketball. I would buy him more basketballs when they got worn out.

 

[TryphenaLow]

Let me share my personal experience of helping my dyslexic son who eventually graduated from UK Uni with a master degree in engineering.

Your son needs one to one tutoring from special teacher trained in teaching dyslexic kids to learn to read and spell.

Most importantly, he needs full time parental support and involvement in his studies in order to succeed.

He needs constant and regular praises for all his efforts irregardless of the outcome / scores.

I remember he came home crying cos his classmates laughed at him when his first exam score was read. He scored only 70s but all his classmates scored in the 90s. I told him I was proud of him cos he did his best was all that count. I hugged him often and always stood ready to support him at all times.

Family support to kids with learning disabilities is crucial and is the key to their growth and success.

Hiring external help will be helpful but isn’t enough as the kid needs constant and continuous assistance in the learning journey.

Wow! I salute you.

It's not easy I'm sure. And our education system is merciless for children with learning disabilities.
At what age did you engage a tutor for your son?

My son likes to build. Legos, blocks, robots. Very outdoorsy as well.

It's very tough to engage him at home as he tends to lose interest after 5 minutes.

 

[Coffeelix]

Wow! I salute you.

It's not easy I'm sure. And our education system is merciless for children with learning disabilities.
At what age did you engage a tutor for your son?

My son likes to build. Legos, blocks, robots. Very outdoorsy as well.

It's very tough to engage him at home as he tends to lose interest after 5 minutes.

Firstly, your son needs to be assessed by specialists to ascertain his type of learning disability and gets the right help.

I witnessed first hand a P5 kid with intervention from special school : dyslexia association, could read splendidly but couldn’t comprehend.

He failed in all subjects cos his parents weren’t educated though the mom diligently sent him to special school for years.

I resigned from work immediately when I found him struggling in school for one month at P1.

At the 3rd month of his P1, I managed to secure a place for him in the special school to attend after school for 3 months but there was not much improvement as it was in a group of 3.

When his special school teacher resigned, I signed her up to tutor him one to one for 3 months where he learnt to read n spell. I personally coach him in all subjects full time.

Usually learning disabilities is hereditary.
My hubby is dyslexic that wasn’t diagnosed.

The journey will not be easy but parental acceptance and full time support is vital.

Initially, I hired a kindergarten teacher to coach him one to one in reading but she gave up after a month.

I then sent him for phonics lessons in a classroom setting. I was told to withdraw him after 2 sessions as he couldn’t cope.

All these was done when he was at K2 after I too failed to coach him to read.

Each special kid is different. Get your son tested and I hope your wife or yourself could stay home full time to provide the support he needs.

The learning journey for special kid is tough. Parents should not compare his school performance with other kids.

Always praise him for his efforts made and not the scores he attained.

Special kids will thrive in loving and supportive environment especially with lots of hugs.

 

[Coffeelix]

Wow! I salute you.

It's not easy I'm sure. And our education system is merciless for children with learning disabilities.
At what age did you engage a tutor for your son?

My son likes to build. Legos, blocks, robots. Very outdoorsy as well.

It's very tough to engage him at home as he tends to lose interest after 5 minutes.

After the confirmation of your son’s diagnosis of his type of learning disability, get help for him asap.

I would recommend one to one tutoring for him for the best outcome.

Again, each special kid is different. You have to continually assess his situation and provide the necessary support accordingly at each stage of his education journey.

For instant, my opted for my son to go normal stream for his secondary school but he was posted to express stream when he top in his cohort.

I signed him up to attend ACS international school when he qualified for JC. I believed the JC curriculum might overwhelm him and kill his interests.

Lastly, I signed him up for the one year foundation course with the Southampton University branch at Iskandar and we stayed there with him to fetch him to and from uni until he was ready to attend his final year in the uk main campus.

Finally, he was ready to be on his own. He liaised with both the iskandar and uk Uni and prepared all the necessary documents for the hostel and the school etc.
I was confident he would make it since he went there with his classmates from the iskandar branch to an unfamiliar place but with familiar faces. He chose to pursue his master thereafter.

One thing I always emphasized to him.
The result didn’t matter.
What matters is he has done his best.

Learning is not about scoring high scoresheets. It is the process that counts.

Last night he shared with me that he received yet another promotion : 2 promotions in his 3 years of working in a USA mnc.

My friend’s son a late bloomer excelled well in his chosen field of work. He chose to go ITE from normal stream and top his cohort every year. He proceeded to poly and graduated first class in aeronautical science (long distance learning) and is now the cargo manager at SIA.

Don’t follow the crowd to chase the dream. Set your son his own journey in learning and he will arrive at his chosen destination eventually though it might be a little late. What counts is his effort and his ability to make it happen with parental guidance.

 

[TryphenaLow]

He was diagnosed with learning disability last year, high risk of dyslexia. And he has been attending EIP since he was 3. We intervened very early. No he speaks in full sentences but can't pronounce certain alphabets like L, S. His threshold for spelling during K2 was 3 short words. He can memorise but after that will forget.

Yes, I agree with special kids its the effort that matters. I am not expecting him to be scholar or anything like that. Just do his best in whatever he chooses.

 

[asmartng]

now more and more cases like this

 

[Shiningstar_1122]

My cousin’s son also has this issue, but he was still able to continue his education, even though his grades weren’t outstanding.