Speech Decisions

During the summer we took J to an ear doctor and then he referred us to a center which specializes in speech help. Both the doctor and the center told us when school started to get a different speech teacher. I assured them that we would. It didn't happen. The teacher we wanted had gotten another job in W town and we were "stuck" with the teacher we have had since J was in pre-school.

So we made a decision since his speech problems are basically the same we decided we would end school intervention the end of December.

I know that the speech teacher is against this as is probably J's teachers. We didn't come to this decision in a quick way. We had been advised to do this for over 6 months. We know that J is still in error when he talks. So who's fault is it why he talks the way he does? Is it the speech teacher's methods? Does he need a new approach? Does he need a second opinion? Has he improved since she has had him for seven years? How many parents would put up with it this long if the speech teacher isn't making any improvements?

The speech teacher was incredulous when I informed her of our decision. Don't you just hate to deal with people like that? She kept saying "well do they think I am stupid?" No, " but they don't think that your methods are doing him any good."

I sent the information that they gave me and some different approaches for his speech problems. She did methods (from the sheet) that I didn't think would help him. In fact, it hasn't helped him at all.

Now we have to find someone else to help J. That's the problem currently. There is no one in this town to help. We could go to W town and ask the center to help him, but at what cost and what time of day? I wish there was a place that would help him on the weekends. I've been reading ways in which I can help him. I am praying that once his braces are off that he will get better at speech. I won't be able to secure a new person until at least the spring, I figure. But staying with this current teacher is not an option. Enough is enough. We need to move on and try a different approach.

Does anyone know of speech teacher/center to recommend to us? Would you stay with a teacher who hasn't made much progress in seven years? We did what we had to do, right or wrong.