Nervous of starting speech therapy after 6 years of hiatus?

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Strong

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It's been 6 years since I last had speech therapy sessions. Now thank God I got a job so I'll be able to fund for private speech therapy (I'm above 18 so I'm no longer eligible for "free" speech therapy).

I'm very nervous like God, I am doubting if speech therapy will be a success for me. Of course I am very motivated to work really hard otherwise I would not be getting speech therapy sessions with my own money.

I've had very bad experiences as well as low self-esteem and self-confidence due to my speech patterns. Actually over the past two years, I've had a brief chat with three speech-language pathologists and all of them said my speech was actually good. Of course I find that hard to believe.

Any tips? Thanks.
 
It's all about learning. Go through it and learn some stuff, you'll be stronger once you are done.

Hang in there. You'll be fine.
 
VacationGuy234 said:
It's all about learning. Go through it and learn some stuff, you'll be stronger once you are done.

Hang in there. You'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your encouragement. I'm really anxious but spending $300+ reminds me that I got to do it.
 
Strong said:
It's been 6 years since I last had speech therapy sessions. Now thank God I got a job so I'll be able to fund for private speech therapy (I'm above 18 so I'm no longer eligible for "free" speech therapy).

I'm very nervous like God, I am doubting if speech therapy will be a success for me. Of course I am very motivated to work really hard otherwise I would not be getting speech therapy sessions with my own money.

I've had very bad experiences as well as low self-esteem and self-confidence due to my speech patterns. Actually over the past two years, I've had a brief chat with three speech-language pathologists and all of them said my speech was actually good. Of course I find that hard to believe.

Any tips? Thanks.
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That is too bad you do not believe the three speech-language pathologists that your speech is OK , it would had saved you $300. I do not like the fact that someone is having you pay that much money knowing three speech-language pathologists told you your speech is "actually good ".
All 3 people can't be wrong. I feel that person is taking advantage of you having low self esteem . You would had been better off seeing someone to help you have better self esteem then you would had also felt better about your speech. You need to be more like your username.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
That is too bad you do not believe the three speech-language pathologists that your speech is OK , it would had saved you $300. I do not like the fact that someone is having you pay that much money knowing three speech-language pathologists told you your speech is "actually good ".
All 3 people can't be wrong. I feel that person is taking advantage of you having low self esteem . You would had been better off seeing someone to help you have better self esteem then you would had also felt better about your speech. You need to be more like your username.
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You're right, if a speech language pathologist commented on my speech that it's good, I shouldn't worry about it.

However, what I've noticed is that recently when I'm talking to people, they have a bit hard time understanding me. These SLPs mentioned that they did not understand some words but overall my speech is pretty good. So I may not need an intensive speech therapy; perhaps a few sessions and I'll be good? I really don't know, so I'll have an assessment first and continue with SLP if necessary.
 
Strong said:
You're right, if a speech language pathologist commented on my speech that it's good, I shouldn't worry about it.

However, what I've noticed is that recently when I'm talking to people, they have a bit hard time understanding me. These SLPs mentioned that they did not understand some words but overall my speech is pretty good. So I may not need an intensive speech therapy; perhaps a few sessions and I'll be good? I really don't know, so I'll have an assessment first and continue with SLP if necessary.
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I find that most people do not take the time to listen , have you had your hearing checked recently , you may need to have your HA adjusted . There are some sounds I will never be able say clearly and I had learn to live with it. And if someone can't understand me I will just repeat myself or try to use another other word I can say OK. At my age I do not worry what other people think of my speech , I did people looking at me all the time.
I went to pay for gas and told the guy I was at pump # three but I said
'tree' instead and the guy laughed at me and said 'Pump tree?"
And I said "Yeah pump TREE" The guy was a jerk and not worth my time worrying about. If someone does not want to take the time to understand you they're are NOT worth your time. If this was me I would save my $300 and just repeat myself.
 
I understand your concern because I'm exactly the same way! I'm over 18 now and I've been considering going back to speech therapy for a while because I felt that my speech was incoherent and I found myself forgetting how to pronounce some words. Some people have a hard time understanding me just like I have a hard time understanding them. So when that happens, just repeat yourself or write something out. The key is to just be confident and be patient.

I've found this video about a woman who is deaf herself and she talks about her experience in the hearing world. She inspired me and made me realize that I'm not alone.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKKpjvPd6Xo]Navigating deafness in a hearing world: Rachel Kolb at TEDxStanford - YouTube[/ame]
 
blackhawksgirl said:
I understand your concern because I'm exactly the same way! I'm over 18 now and I've been considering going back to speech therapy for a while because I felt that my speech was incoherent and I found myself forgetting how to pronounce some words. Some people have a hard time understanding me just like I have a hard time understanding them. So when that happens, just repeat yourself or write something out. The key is to just be confident and be patient.

I've found this video about a woman who is deaf herself and she talks about her experience in the hearing world. She inspired me and made me realize that I'm not alone.

Navigating deafness in a hearing world: Rachel Kolb at TEDxStanford - YouTube
Click to expand...

If I am having trouble saying a word I will ask the person I am talking how to say . There are some words I will just never be to say correctly. I will just laugh if I say a word and it sound funny, no harm was done.
 
My thought is there are words that each of us have difficulty with. It's not the same for any two deaf people. Some letters (usually consonants) are harder for some than others. Strong, see if you can identify which words have most difficulty with. I wonder if you might not start with family and friends to help coach you on those words. When I have difficulty getting a word out, I ask my husband to walk me through it. (And then of course I forget next time. It just takes practice. And I do that with family.)
 
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