Our first taste of unschooling
Ren Allen
" My best friend told me that
her little sister didn't utter a word until she was 3 years old."
That would be my Jalen, now four. He said "na-na" (for nursing) and
made this "Ttttsssssss" sound while pointing at anything of
interest. I bet most of the folks here that attended the 2003 Live
and Learn conference and met Jalen, will remember his "Ttttsssss"
sound.
That was about all he did until close to three years old. Then he
started saying a few words, within a few months he was into full
sentences.
He's still not as verbal as some four year olds. Big deal. He knows
how to communicate and that's what matters.
I am not a big fan of speech therapy. I think it's a way for people
to make money, instill fear into parents and the children would
figure it out on their own anyway.
I don't think there are very many people who actually need
intervention for their speech...and certainly NOT at two years old.
Ren
her little sister didn't utter a word until she was 3 years old."
That would be my Jalen, now four. He said "na-na" (for nursing) and
made this "Ttttsssssss" sound while pointing at anything of
interest. I bet most of the folks here that attended the 2003 Live
and Learn conference and met Jalen, will remember his "Ttttsssss"
sound.
That was about all he did until close to three years old. Then he
started saying a few words, within a few months he was into full
sentences.
He's still not as verbal as some four year olds. Big deal. He knows
how to communicate and that's what matters.
I am not a big fan of speech therapy. I think it's a way for people
to make money, instill fear into parents and the children would
figure it out on their own anyway.
I don't think there are very many people who actually need
intervention for their speech...and certainly NOT at two years old.
Ren
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/20/2005 11:22:37 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
starsuncloud@... writes:
I don't think there are very many people who actually need
intervention for their speech...and certainly NOT at two years old.
I agree completely with this....and I'm a speech pathologist. My private
practice has really suffered these past two years since we have become
unschoolers...>g<
Usually I get a call from a parent worried about their child not meeting the
"norms" according to some testing they did at a public school or they may
have a relative who has commented on their minimal expressive speech. With
younger kids, I usually arrange to meet with the parents (usually just the mom
will come) and with really young kids I give the parent some suggestions of
natural language modeling that they can do with their kids.
Language and speech modeling is something most parent do without even
thinking about it.
However, for some parents it helps them to have some examples of how to talk
to their kids and expand or even parallel their language. An example of an
expansion would be if your child says "mo" and points to his cup. The parent
would say, "You want more milk? I'll pour you some." I strongly discourage
speech therapy at this point and talk to the parent about
every child needing their own timetable for walking and talking. As a
result, all the children I work with are 10 or older.
With older kids, I will only work with them if they are the ones wanting to
do something about their speech patterns or reading. Right now, I have a few
kids that are 10-13 who are frustrated with not being able to read the
things they want to read and a couple who are not happy with their speech because
of articulation problems. It is their choice rather than their parents to
come to speech and I help them with the things they want help with.
I spend a lot of time talking with the parents of the children and recently
lent The Teenage Liberation Handbook to the mom of a 13 year old girl I'm
helping with reading. This girl really wants to read teen magazines. She has
fetal alcohol syndrome and truly struggles with reading. Her goal is to be
able to read articles in some of her favorite magazines and to be able to
understand them. It is her goal. Not her mom's or mine.
Another girl I see has a very rare neurological disorder and was expecting
to only be using sign language by now. She can read very simple sentences and
words and every time I see her will tell me how she just wants to read. She
has the most amazingly beautiful heart and soul and is a gifted ballet
dancer. She will be 14 soon but may not live past 20. She wants so much to read.
My goal is to help her read because that is what she wants.
I started out just wanting to say that usually children don't need speech
therapy at 2 or 5 or 7. Give them all the time they need as they speak and
talk and grow and be the beautiful person they are. Celebrate who they are
rather than worrying about another person's idea of what milestones they should
have accomplished. Be a good language and speech model for your child and
realize that may mean "you" learning how to do this rather than taking your child
a speech therapist to be fixed. Your child may just need more time or maybe
you may need to learn how to provide more language stimulation at home to
help them.
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
starsuncloud@... writes:
I don't think there are very many people who actually need
intervention for their speech...and certainly NOT at two years old.
I agree completely with this....and I'm a speech pathologist. My private
practice has really suffered these past two years since we have become
unschoolers...>g<
Usually I get a call from a parent worried about their child not meeting the
"norms" according to some testing they did at a public school or they may
have a relative who has commented on their minimal expressive speech. With
younger kids, I usually arrange to meet with the parents (usually just the mom
will come) and with really young kids I give the parent some suggestions of
natural language modeling that they can do with their kids.
Language and speech modeling is something most parent do without even
thinking about it.
However, for some parents it helps them to have some examples of how to talk
to their kids and expand or even parallel their language. An example of an
expansion would be if your child says "mo" and points to his cup. The parent
would say, "You want more milk? I'll pour you some." I strongly discourage
speech therapy at this point and talk to the parent about
every child needing their own timetable for walking and talking. As a
result, all the children I work with are 10 or older.
With older kids, I will only work with them if they are the ones wanting to
do something about their speech patterns or reading. Right now, I have a few
kids that are 10-13 who are frustrated with not being able to read the
things they want to read and a couple who are not happy with their speech because
of articulation problems. It is their choice rather than their parents to
come to speech and I help them with the things they want help with.
I spend a lot of time talking with the parents of the children and recently
lent The Teenage Liberation Handbook to the mom of a 13 year old girl I'm
helping with reading. This girl really wants to read teen magazines. She has
fetal alcohol syndrome and truly struggles with reading. Her goal is to be
able to read articles in some of her favorite magazines and to be able to
understand them. It is her goal. Not her mom's or mine.
Another girl I see has a very rare neurological disorder and was expecting
to only be using sign language by now. She can read very simple sentences and
words and every time I see her will tell me how she just wants to read. She
has the most amazingly beautiful heart and soul and is a gifted ballet
dancer. She will be 14 soon but may not live past 20. She wants so much to read.
My goal is to help her read because that is what she wants.
I started out just wanting to say that usually children don't need speech
therapy at 2 or 5 or 7. Give them all the time they need as they speak and
talk and grow and be the beautiful person they are. Celebrate who they are
rather than worrying about another person's idea of what milestones they should
have accomplished. Be a good language and speech model for your child and
realize that may mean "you" learning how to do this rather than taking your child
a speech therapist to be fixed. Your child may just need more time or maybe
you may need to learn how to provide more language stimulation at home to
help them.
Gail
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]