When you have a child, you hope and pray at birth that everything is fine and healthy. For me, my wishlist at birth was that I would have normal, natural (but with meds) birth, that my baby would breastfeed well, and that I would not have to leave the hospital without my baby. Well, I ended up with a C-section (which wasn't the worst thing) my baby came out hungry and had no problems latching or sucking, and after some tears and fears about a small case of jaundice, Spencer and I went home together from the hospital.
She has developed pretty normally-meeting all of her milestones at the average time-except one. My daughter started talking around 12 months. Her first word was not momma or dada- but DOG! But as the months went by, she was not talking as much as I thought she should. She could identify her body parts, follow one and two step directions, listen to books and express her little opinions but she didn't do this through words.
No momma wants her kid to fall behind and the more and more I saw kids her age, the more I noticed how much she was not saying. We asked her pediatrician at 18 months, and she definitely thought there was some catching up to do but not to worry because she would probably be caught up by age 2. But after talking to a friend who is a speech pathologist, she suggested I get her tested if I was that concerned. After all, they may just say wait and see but if she could qualify to get help, I could start it ASAP so she wouldn't be further behind.
Thank goodness I went with my gut instinct to get her tested. She was tested and although her receptive vocabulary was on par with her age, her expressive vocabulary was way behind, which qualifies her for speech therapy through Babies Can't Wait-our Georgia intervention program.
Today was our second speech session. Thankfully we were assigned a female pathologist who comes to our house once a week to work with Spencer as I look on and watch so I can learn what to practice with Spencer during the week. It really looks like playtime mixed in with getting Spencer to try and say-or attempt-a word and use the sign language to communicate what she wants/needs to do. So far we are working on open, ball, ring, block, bubbles, pull, push, hit, cookie, cup, and train. Spencer is fast learner and attempts the signs well, but we are still working on her speech and especially initiating the speech.
This experience in no way worries me or disappoints me as a mother, but I am glad that I sought out help for her as soon as I knew about the program. I know one day we will be asking ourselves-when will she be quiet????? I can't wait for her to reach that point! I also can't wait for the day when my baby girl says, I love you momma!
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3 comments:
Its never wise to wait! Way to listen to your gut instinct! Just for comparison, when we had Jayce's speech tested, he had significant delays in reception and expressive, plus cognitive, social, and adaptive behaviors, too. Be glad Spencer just has one delayed area!
Thanks Jess-they evaluated her twice for other developmental delays but she can point to whatever picture they ask her to identify-even the hard ones. She can do whatever they ask her to do. It is like she knows what to say but she just doesn't talk. I can't wait until I can really see a difference in her speech.
I didn't know you had a blog until you posted a link on Facebook. Sam was the exact same way- he developed normal or ahead UNTIL I stopped nursing at 13 months. Then he got ear infections repeatedly. I noticed kids at church younger than him were understandable but he wasn't. I talked with a friend who is a speech pathologist in SC (she graduated from Clemson!) and she told me about the program and who to contact in NC. I did and Sam was ridiculously delayed on expressive but ahead of the game on everything else. We got tubes, he started therapy (all around 18 months), and now as a 3 year old he can read. There are still some words that I struggle to figure out but he is learning how to rephrase and use simpler words when he needs to. Plus, I really think my determination to read to him everything we could get our hands on has aided in having a 3 year old reader. I can't praise his speech therapists enough! It is amazing! On the days when Sam is about to drive me crazy because he won't stop talking, I just laugh because, like you, I just prayed for him to start talking and so I can't complain about God answering our prayers.
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