Gabbie’s speech therapy
sharing another part of our journey, Gabbie’s speech therapy. We started around april, before she turned 3. I know her speech is delayed, tanggap ko yun (or maybe thats what I thought, will tell the story about it on another post na lang hehe) she loves the letter Y & I haha! she uses it alot. Her therapist explained that she’s compensating for sounds she can’t produce. 3 months of 2-3 times a week of therapy and I can say that I am really happy with her improvement. Her therapist does the PROMPT technique which not all therapist are certified to do (There are different levels of PROMPT i had an impression na if mas mataas, mas expert ang therapist). When doing the prompt, the therapist touches the tongue or jaw etc. Like when I want gabbie to produce the sound of N, i can touch her nose. I also tried sa G, she used to produce the sound of letter C, i tried touching her throat, ayun naproduce nya ang sound ng G. Of course therapy doesnt end sa center. Hindi pwede. We should always practice at home and be firm that she needs to say what she wants (or atleast try to say something) kahit hindi pa clear - just dont forget to correct it after they pronounces it wrong. Before when she wants something, she would to drag me or her kuyas or point at something or cry, we would guess what she wants till she say yes. When we started therapy, we stopped doing that, she has to say something talaga. We also used Talkie app sa ipad, its interactive kaya naeenganyo sya ulitin ang words. Yun nga lang you have to pay for it to get the whole alphabet, i think sukit naman sya. Just remember to limit their screen time. Talking in front of the mirror is also one of our tasks at home. Sometimes I incorporate it after brushing her teeth, yung aliw pa sya. Flash cards helped us also. My advice for moms is to start early, if you cant come sa center (NCF/PBM) you can and SHOULD start at home. Diba, learning starts at home talaga?:) Sa mga naging patient ng NCF & PBM, your cleft journey doesn’t end after you child’s surgeries, their dental check ups. Please have them evaluated para sa therapy, its hard work magastos sa pamasahe pero having a free speech therapy ay napakalaking tipid napo, let’s make use all the help that is being offered to us. Kasi sayang po. Maoperahan man po sila kung may speech delay mahirapan parin po sila sa school which is yun ang iniiwasan natin.
