Logoped??Help??

There is no need for a diagnosis to be referred to a speech therapist/ logoped. Our son was referred ti ligoped by BVC if I remember right. No psychologist involved at all. 

The first thing the logoped checked was if our son had physical difficulties, such as the tongue not being able to move as required. Then they checked what kind of sounds he could and could not make. We got some advice on how to encourage speech, things to practice etc. We went there every second week to follow up. 

Check with BVC again. 21 months is not a lot, it might be a little early to be concerned about speech, some children are just late. I hope it will turn out alright. 

You can get a logoped without other diagnosis, but probably not as early as your child.
Everything starts with talking to BVC. 

It's true, a real flaw in the system. But yes, you can ask to be reffered to logopedmottagningen either via BVC or by yourself, a so called Egen vårdbegäran via 1177.

But there is a lot you can do by yourselves in the meantime! In Västerås parents are offered an online course called Kom igång online that you could do. Ask BVC to get you enrolled. 

We also recommend a website called Tidig intervention (by Uppsala habilitering), with lots of good information, film clips and play material for parents. 

But I think the best site is one called "Help is in your hands". It's a free online course in english in 4 modules. Start with module 1 and 2 and you will have lots of tips on what you can do in your everyday life! :)

Our son didn't talk at 21 months either. He's three now and speaks a lot. Can he understand words? If he can I wouldn't be too worried about it. Some children don't start talking until after they are two. It's also common for children to be shy at that age. I think you need to calm down.

Thank you all for suggestions. 

Yes, we did talk to BVC and they said that only older kids would get referred to logoped. Most only when starting school. That to me sounds too late. 

Yes, I have studied Uppsala website for early interventions. I do all the things they suggested there. 

Yes, I am enrolled in speech courses for parents called KomiTid in Västerås. 

I use all these tools. 

Those who got referred to logoped, do you remember how old you child was? Did it help? 

It is so weird that in Sweden help comes so late. In Latvia they start working with kids through logoped, audio logoped, ABA therapy, Early Intervention face to face with kids as early as 1,5 year old. Can?t understand how Sweden could be so far behind with this. I understand that some kids just start talking later, but I have seen some children 5 years old in Sweden and still not saying any words and only now got logoped assigned to them. I assume it would be lot easier if a child could have received help lot earlier than 5 years old when their brains ar not as developed yet...

Does any of you know how old a child must be to get a logoped assigned in Sweden? 

 

 

My child was referred when she was 3 (no autism or other diagnos is). When she started school at 6, they took over (at that time she spoke fine, except for the R-sound). This semester they?re satisfied with the development.

Her cousin was examined for autism at 2-2.5

I?m sorry that you are facing this. It is unfortunately the case in Sweden. It is very long cueing to help, and interventions are given very late. There is a general attitude if letting things solve itself as much as possible. Our son, who is bilingual, didn?t speak either at that age. When he was 18 months he only made sounds, at 24 a handful of words, at 2,5 years very linited and grave pronounciation problems in both languages. I talked to a friend who is logoped, and she told us not to worry until he?s 3 yo. At 3 our BVC send a referral to logoped. She said that they won?t do anything until he?s 4 yo, but she knew that the waiting time was about a year, so she send the referral in advance. At 4 he got called to logoped, who concluded that his linguistic development was normal as he could understand most words, but he had extensive problems with pronounciation. We went to 2 or 3 sessions, to a speech therapist who had no ability of catching the attention of young children and especially not my active son, so ahe concluded he was not mature enough and put him on hold until he would turn 5. I got furious, and demanded another speech therapist, which I got. She managed to catch his attention much better, but to be honest, the help we got from the municipal logoped (logopedimottagningen) was far from impressive. We got one session per month, the rest of the time we were supposed to work with our child at home, with very borring exercises on paper that my son had no interest in doing and the practise just made him feel bad. Instead I searched for own information to find, buy or produce different games to help him. I sid everything on my own and he got better and better. Today he?s 8 and still has some problems in Swedish. His teacher called me for a meeting and to share her concern for his pronounciation and recommend me logoped, and I just laughed. Like you, we went to his other home country, Russia, and asked for help there, but Covid broke out and when the borders opened again, it was just a few months before he started school and we couldn?t stay abroad more. I have applied for a leave from Swedish school so we can spend 1-2 months in post-Soviet Central Asia (as we can?t travel to Russia now) and have logopeds work intensely with him and have him in school there which would also strengthen his second mother tongue, but the request was denied, so there is nothing we can do. I have considered online therapy from Russia or Central Asia, but I haven?t done it yet. 

Maybe you can take him to Latvia on regular basis to give him therapy there? And in between work with him on your own? Or you can try to push bvc for referral or make an own request, but they probably won?t take his until he?s 4 and, as I mentioned, the help we got from healthcare was ansolutely useless. 

Thank you for sharing your experience and Im sorry that it hasn?t been a good one. I am in shock how chill swedes are about this. But I guess you can?t really be upset if you have not seen how much better other countries work with this. In speech courses I talked to parents who have kids in school already and not saying any words, but parents were quite chill about it, saying "he will talk when he is ready".. like what? child needs serious help. They as well received logoped at around age 4 and no improvements.  

I also assumed that logoped here probably is not that good since I studied all materials they have on habilitiering section + courses and all of them were veeery basic. 

In our home country they really work very seriously with kids. Just like you mentioned some kids need special approach to get their attention and such. 

Yes, my son is in our home country at the moment receiving help from  audio logoped. Then we will have an early intervention course face to face with multiple speech therapist for 4 months in there as well. I don?t know what we will do after that, since as you mentioned we can?t stay there forever as well but seems like some sort of back and forth between two countries would be needed. 

So sad, I really hoped that I have understood  the Swedish system wrong but looks like I haven?t. 

Anyway, thank you for taking your time and sharing your story. 

At the age of 3 you will get remiss to logoped at bvc if the child doesnt say enough words.
at 4 they do another check up and you can get remiss then as well if they cant manage to pronounce a lot of the letters, or if they have trouble understanding.

A lot of children who don?t talk that much at 2 1/2 start talking by 3, so you don?t need to be so stressed.

we got a remiss when our son was 4 and the first visit at the logoped was 6 months after that.So quite fast.