This is my little boy. He is 12 years old and as you may be able to tell, very special needs. Non verbal. I am only going to use this aspect of his disability as an example of the deterioration of services for him. In daycare he had a speech and language therapist who saw him regularly. Every two weeks. As a result of this and the co operation of his amazing daycare centre ( St.Albans in Burnaby) he learned some signs. More, please, bottle, thank you, my turn. When he started kindergarten I had to make huge waves to get a speech therapist in to see him. By grade 1 or 2 he had one seeing him once or twice a month but it was too little too late he had lost interest in the signing because it wasnt encouraged by the school board therapist and ultimately not practiced by his EA. I tried to encourage the practice at home but most of his waking hours or i should say his alert and productive hours were during the school day. Over the last 4 school years he has seen a speech language therapist once. None are available. We had great hopes in his communication skills in the beginning. But without the support of the therapist there to train and make sure things are being maintained and to make it part of his IEP he is not practicing this skill at all. I know what he wants because I know him but it is very difficult for others to understand his needs. It is so frustrating to know that this child CAN learn but no one has the time in school to teach him.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 05:48:44 +0000
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