L had his first real speech therapy appointment yesterday. He was evaluated earlier this year, but this was the first actual session. I had been mentioning to our pedi that I felt L was delayed from his 12 month appointment on and she just kept saying "Let's wait and see". Well, I'm not a very good wait and see person. We switched pediatricians for a few different reasons that I won't go into here before L's 18 months appointment. Dr. B was immediately concerned and recommended a speech eval. Low and behold, I was not a crazy mom (as I am sometimes), L does have a speech delay. In January at his evaluation, he was speaking at about a 9-12 month level. That being said, he was understanding speech at a 20-24 month level (he was 19 months at the time).
At his evaluation, the speech therapist (we'll call her N) gave us some "homework". We began signing more with L and repeating words to try to get him to mimic. We had used signs inconsistently since he was about 6 months old, but he is really picking up on them now. He is now able to sign most of his needs and wants which has really cut down on the frustration level for him and us.
At his appointment yesterday, he did so well. He sat down and listened to her and was attentive for the whole 45+ minutes! He mimicked a few new words and sounds which is a big step because in January, he was not mimicking at all. He is still having a hard time with puzzles, but he is beginning to scan for where the pieces should go which N said was improvement!
I really wish our old pedi had listened to my concerns a little more and had ordered speech earlier for L, because I think he would be doing so much better already if we had started a little sooner. It has been wonderful having N give me ideas of what to do with L to improve his speech. Go figure that the one delay my son has is the one thing I know only a little about. Gross motor and fine motor he does great, so all my training is not needed (or maybe he has all those things so much better because I work with him so much on them...I guess I'll never know!)
When he was born almost 4 weeks early, my medical mind was concerned about what delays he may have. I thank God every day that we have a healthy little boy and that his only delay is a mild speech delay.
Speech and language delay is really common, this is partially due to us overcompensating and wanting to give our kids what they want by mommy instinct. Another reason is that let's face it technology is all over and kids just don't "go out and play" like they used to. You are an awesome mommy for seeing this early on. Savannah was almost two when we found hers, it was due to her bitting all the time that we caught it. I can't wait to "hear" what Logan has learned when we see you next. :O)
ReplyDelete