my son is 3 and in speech therapy, he has an iep and all that crap. at first i got really depressed because i felt like i was doing something wrong with him, and that i had let him down. Now he is doing better and we are all understanding him better. I dont like the idea of him being labeled... but hopefully by the time he gets into school he wont be! :)

It's true. Having speech problems can hinder good social/communication skills in the future if it isn't treated. With those programs to take on, he can have special attention and help, and I honestly think it's a good idea. Nothing wrong with it. He's lucky actually.

I wouldn't label a child as "disabled" just because they have an IEP, even if that is, by definition, what qualifies them as able to have that service provided for them. Children with behavioral issues, even with ADHD, may have IEPs.

And the good news: Speech is the  learning "disability" that children are most likely able to completely overcome.

Good luck to both of you :)

I love how you start by saying "my son C," then you go right ahead and state his first name later on. I think the programs will be helpful. If your son's struggling, then the sooner you can correct the problem, the better, right? Speech is especially something that becomes harder to fix as you get older, so now might be a good time.

When I was in high school, I was "classified" as "emotionally disabled." I also had an IEP,every year, and never really understood why I was labeled as such. I mean, okay, I guess I'm pretty emotional, and was going through a lot of mature, tough times in high school, but the title, I never really understood. After being classified, I was allowed to walk out of class, whenever I felt upset, or like my school work was too much, or feeling anxious, and walk to my school counceler to talk my issues out for the rest of the period. Looking back now, I think that being classified did help me get through a lot of struggles I was going through because sometimes, my home life would get in the way of my studies.  So, despite the "emotionally disabled" title I never understood, the perks were on my side and without having being classified, as we called it in my school, I would have had such a harder time getting through those 4 years.

I don't think speech problems are a very big deal at all - when I was in kindergarten or first grade, my parents were approached by my teacher who suggested I take speech lessons because I pronounced my r's like w's and my k's like t's. My parents were kinda taken aback and refused the lessons. I remember that the impediment wasn't an error of understanding on my part - I knew I pronounced those things wrong, but try as I might I just couldn't get my mouth to form those letters properly. Eventually I grew out of it, my mind developed enough or whatever and I could pronounce things fine, no special attention needed.

A fellow student of mine does have speech problems and is discriminated by some of my friends (mostly guys, by the way). Sure, sometimes it's kind of tiring to listen listen to him speak - very loudly and croaking-like - but it does not make him a "disabled person", less intelligent or whatever a lot of people conclude. Plus, speech impairment can be rectified, especially when being discovered early.

I'm identified as gifted, therefore I have an IEP. I'm not disabled. XD

Allow me to be honest with you. I will most likely go into more detail then you care about, and I am not saying that your son is like me. But as someone who went through the hell  that well meaning adults put me through, allow me to share my 2 cents

I was born 2 weeks early, because I was a baby in trouble. The average baby heart rate in the womb is up over 130. Mine was 98 at the time I was born. It was so bad at one point, that the doctors thought I had had a stroke at the moment of birth, while some doctors believed that I was born with only part of my brain. Time passed and I had obvious nuerological issues, the most obvious was I was 18months, and you could roll a ball to me, and I could not catch it with my hand, I had to use my whole arm bent at the elbow to scoop the ball towards me.

More time passed, and around age 4-5 was when I actually started talking. To this day, I have trouble pronouncing the L and the R sounds in words. When I try and say L it often comes out as an R. which makes saying the words "election"  and "hole" very interesting. (if you don't understand that, try saying those words with r's instead of l and you will understand)

I got around it as a kid, by realizing which words people had trouble hearing from me, and either replacing, or spelling those words so that I could be understood.  I do remember going to some speech thereapy classes as a kid. and let me give you a word of advice, I don't care what they say, do not let your child go to speech thereapy or any type of therapy alone. I am not saying I was abused by any of them, far from it. But a couple of them  tried a few therapy tricks, like one bribed me with popcorn, and told me it was a secret and not to tell my mom. At the time I was an honest child, and felt like I was doing something really wrong by not telling my mom I was eating popcorn. It wasn't until I was older, and the whole story spilled out, that I found out the speech therapist had asked permission from my mom to feed me the popcorn, and then turned around and told me not to tell her.  anyway, I digress.

A few things I want to tell you as a person who still has speech issues.

1. NEVER, ever under any circumstances, say anything within earshot of the child, that could in any way shape or form be taken by the child as you making fun of him. It doesn't matter if you think you are only joking, the child will not take it as such, trust me

2. I don't care what the therapist tells you, therapy must end at some point. I don't mean the sessions, I mean at home. If you constantly correct, or make the kid try and say the word correctly every time he mispronounces a word, he will learn to hate the whole thing and give up. I know I did, it took me 10+ years to go back, and by then my speech patterns were set and there was no way to change them, I was stuck with them.

3. Remind the child more than once, that he is not stupid, or damaged, and nothing that he did  is why he has speech issues. You are a parent, comfort him and remind him that life is not over.

4. Don't prevent him from doing things, if he wants to play t-ball or soft ball or boy scouts, let him. Even with my speech problems, I still did 3 years of community theatre and did one part with over 15 lines.  I also did 4-H which included one Officer position, where my sole job was to contact the various officers and  relay messages to them, as well as read newspapers articles or other correspondence in front of all 4-H kids during the monthly meeting. There is life outside of speech issues, and it is available to him

5.) don't be surprised if it dawns on you that your son is different. I don't mean the speech issues, I mean in other ways. There have been a few studies, that have shown that children who are late to talk, or have certain speech issues, are actually great in math. I am not a whiz at math, but I do it differently than others. It is just the way my mind works. for instance,  let's say you have 75 cookies, and you bake another 75 cookies. Now lets say your son wants to know how many cookies you have. Most kids would write down 75 on a peice of paper, and then under it another 75 and then add. I never did, that made no sense to me whatsoever. Instead I realized that the number 75 was made of 2 numbers 50 and 25, so I split the 75 and added the 25 to the other 75 and made 100, I then took the left over 50 and added it to the 100 and made 150. That is how I do math, I break up large numbers into as many small problems as I can and then I add them all up. Confused the hell out of my math teachers.  I also realized that 7x7 was really 7 added 7 times. So rather than memorizing the entire multiplication table, I only memorized the 1's 5's and 10's because any number you need, can be gotten from them. for instance 7 times 7. now 7 times 5 is 35, and 5 is 2 away from 7, so 35 plus 7 is 42 plus seven again is 49  so 7 x5 plus 7 plus 7 is 49 and you didn't need to memorize the whole table.

I don't mind the title disabled, I consider it like the word unique, it means I am different, and it is true, I am different. Who said disabled was a bad word? last time I checked it has more than 4 letters. What I do mind, are words like "handi capable" and "differently able"  they sound condescending to me. I am not useless, I am not stupid, I am not broken, I am not damaged goods. I am disabled, but not everyone has to remain that way, it is not what is wrong with us, that is tragic, it is remaining that way.

I have managed to go on 6 mission trips with the southern baptist church, I have preached in 3 states, in 2 languages, and have worked with children for over 8 years.  The doctors said i would never learn to walk, talk, read a book, or dress myself. Oh well, who is looking stupid now?

I had to go to speech therapy every week one day per week after school between age 3-11 because I have a disability which affects my speech.    Also I need help between age 4-7 with my handwriting.

My disability is dyspraxia.