A little update on us!

[The Lucky One]

So it's been a month since ds, 18 months (almost 19), was diagnosed with a phonological dealy. We've been going to speech therapy once a week, with today being our third session.

Ds can be bashful around strangers and at our first session it took 35 minutes for him to even make a peep. But our speech therapist is so sweet and patient with him. These last two sessions he jumped in feet first and was eager to play with her.

He is making progress. I don't really think anything she has done has helped, because everything she does are the exact same things I have been doing with him for the last 18 months, but it is comforting to know he is being monitored.

When we went for the initial eval, he could say 'boo' for boom, 'na-na' for banana and 'uh-huh' for yes. He could also repeat 'ma-ma', 'da-da' and 'ba-ba', but couldn't use them specifically.

Since that time, he can now use 'ma-ma', 'da-da' and 'ba-ba' in reference to me, dh and his bottle. He also now says, 'baaa' for ball. He can say, 'pppp' for up. Also, he is very into learning his alphabet. He has learned several uppercase letters and can say about 5 of them.

The speech therapist is very impressed with his intelligence. As a matter of fact, today, when we got there she had some age appropriate toys layed out for him, but ended up getting out more complex ones because he figured out the other ones so easily and was bored. He did a very complex shape puzzle in a matter of seconds and even amazed me!

So, all in all, I am pleased and feel that we made the right decision in getting him evaled. He still isn't able to imitate sounds very well at all, but I'm hoping that will improve too.

That's about all for now.

lisa

[khrisday]

It's nice to hear that things are going well, Lisa.

[wemberly]

Lisa,

It sounds like things are going really well. If it seems that the SLP isn't doing anything you aren't doing already, she could still be working to gain his trust. When I did early intervention, I often pushed very little in the early stages. It's so important to establish a positive relationship before you ask kids to trust you enough to try new and scary things. Once a little one looked forward to my visit (or at least to seeing what was in my bag of toys!), or looked less to mama before reacting, I knew that we had established a solid relationship, and I could ask a little more. Don't be afraid to question the SLP, and push for suggestions for a home program.

And here's my fun therapy tip for the day. Buy two small windup toys. Get one out when ds is in a calm mood, maybe after a meal, while he's still seated. Ask for his attention-- "Watch ds" and set the active wind-up toy on the table. When it stops, clap and cheer, and tell him "I want more." If ds hasn't already verbalized, ask him if he wants more (or again). Ask him to tell you more, and start the toy as soon as he verbalizes a request (any verbalization will do). Do this for a little while, but not long enough for him to get bored. You can up the ante (requiring greater precision) as you go along, requesting that he say more, more duck, two (when you decide to bring them both out) you can ask him to choose (which one, bunny or duck?) The toys are mama's toys--you control when they come out, until of course, one day, when he requests them! Really, this is a favorite trick of mine--the novelty of the little toy is usually sufficient to encourage all sorts of wonderful language.

paige, adoptive mama to Elliott, the master chef

[Piglet68]

nak

thanks for posting, lisa. it's good to hear the positive tone in your post. wemberly has a good point about starting out slowly to gain trust...makes sense to me. its also very coolhow, while ds is receiving treatment for a "delay", he's showing how advanced he is in other skills (the puzzle). there's something to be learned in that, i think. kids each have their gifts! good luck!!

[The Lucky One]

Thanks, everyone!!!

Wemberly, that's a great idea about the wind up toys. I don't think ds has any of those yet.

We are and have been doing something similar in the bath-tub. Ds LOVES for me to drizzle the cold water out of the faucet and then he opens his mouth like a baby bird underneath and gets a drink. It's so cute and he is really into it. He'll point to the faucet and I know what he wants. I'll say, 'What do you say?' and he'll verbalize something (can't say 'drink' yet) and then I'll turn it on. I'll do it as many times as he wants, as long as he verbalizes. It's became a fun little game for him.

He's really trying to verbalize more. It's amazing. My mom and I counted all the words he can say and we came up with TEN words. Of course they aren't spoken totally properly, but pretty close. Ten words! That's pretty darned good! I'm proud of my little guy.

Oh, and he has this little box of small books. Each book is about 2.5inx2.5in and has a different theme. He loves these books! We were looking at the 'household objects' book yesterday, as we have a jillion times, and he opened the book to the page with scissors on it and he said, 'zzzhzzers'. I said, 'WHAT?' and he said it again and again and again. I went and got a pair of real scissors and he said the same thing. Then we went on a mission to find and name every pair of 'zzzhzzers' in the house. He's said it everytime since. I was dumbfounded!!! (and still am!)

His biggest challenge it seems, is the trouble he experiences when he tries to imitate sounds. For example, I'll say, 'Ds, look at my mouth--BEEEEEEE.' He'll look and study so intently and then something totally weird and off the wall will come out. I think he realizes even that he's way off, because sometimes he will giggle at himself. I feel sorry for him and don't know how to help. I'm hoping it will come with time.

Wemberly, any thoughts on this?

Thank you everyone again. What a great group of mamas!

lisa

[wemberly]

Oh Lisa,

Your post made me cry. It's so exciting to know that your ds has made the connection between language and the printed page. Scissors!!! What a brilliant guy.

I'd skip trying to get him to repeat sounds correctly. Developmentally, it's really beyond him to copy the movements you're making with your mouth. A similar activity though would be to use a mirror, so he can see your face as he sees his own, and then make matching silly faces (match his first, and then encourage him to copy you) and then you can do other cool things like watch yourselves lick yogurt off your upper lips, put lipstick on your own nose, wag your tongues from side to side, whatever seems fun and focuses on mouth awareness. Singing in the mirror, mimicking "la, la, la" etc. You reach the same goals, but it's more achievable for ds.

And hey, no more exciting happy news about ds--Scissors---so cool!

paige, adoptive mama to Elliott