So, we all know those "Mom Instincts", right? The ones where you know something about your kid; when they are hungry and haven't said anything, when they need to go to the bathroom before they do the pee-pee dance, when your baby cries and you know exactly why. Those mom instincts. Well, mine are kicking in again with Logan. I think I need to send him back into speech therapy.
I brought up my minimal concern with Logan's pediatrician at his 3 year check-up. She wasn't concerned at all and said that if I'd like to, I could get him scheduled with the therapist, but she didn't think it was needed. So, I chalked it up to mommy paranoia and away we went and not scheduling an assessment.
As the months have gone by, I've paid close attention to his speech development. I know what he's saying all the time, even though I have to slide in a "Huh? What did you say?" every now and then. But, in comparison to his friends? My God, I don't know how anyone else can understand him! Some of his friends speak clear as a bell. His younger friends! Every word is understandable! Sentence structure and all. Logan is fluent in gibberish and his sentence structure is all over the place and enunciation needs a lot of work.
I've tried to work with him, correcting his speech, correcting grammatical errors (his vs hers, etc) and really working with him on enunciation, but I don't really see a difference. The more days that go by, the heavier my stomach feels and the more I think I need to have him evaluated before preschool.
So, once we get some things squared away, I'm going to get him checked out again. I hope I can do this before school starts and if not, I won't be too worried because I've already talked to his teachers about speech delays. They've had plenty of experience in that department. However, I think it would help if we knew what to work on before going to school.
Ugh. I can't believe we're back here again.
Our Roots
- Kristin
- Colorado
- I married my soul mate 10 years ago. We got married very young & we are very thankful that we did despite what other opinions may have been. It gave us a chance to grow up together & learn how to ride life's roller coaster ups & downs as a team. We had some good friends & adventures in Vegas when we started out. Then we hit a fork in the road & moved to Portland, OR so I could go to school & pursue a career in chiropractic. That's where we learned that sometimes life has plans for us other than our "perfectly mapped out" one. Bill got a promotion that moved us out to Colorado, somewhere he's always wanted to live, but a place where my thoughts of chiropractic school would die. Marriage is all about compromise, so we made the move to bigger & better things. As we continued to be successful at work, it felt like there was something missing. That's when I started to think about having a baby. As a stay at home mom to Logan, life was everything we wanted it to be. Then we were crazy enough to do it again & soon added Carter to the family. This is our adventure raising two boys in the Rocky Mountains.
Branches
5 comments:
Okay. Deep breath. Its okay, even if he needs a little speech, its okay.
You're right, as moms we just know a lot of stuff. I know that I also worry a little extra, just be safe. Especially with Myles, because I have learned that the sooner something is caught, the better.
Three year olds, I am pretty sure, are not supposed to be masters of sentence structure quite yet. Myles is pretty good, but just recently has changed his wording from 'I went potty' to 'Me went potty'. What the heck? Where did he get that? So, I've been correcting that...I understand the frustration...we don't want out kids to sound like...well, people who cannot speak properly! lol
I have noticed that kids who have older siblings tend to have better language skills.
If you want to, email me at kelblogg@gmail.com, so I have your email address. I will email you a list of what Myles was evaluated on when they did his speech evaluation, and you can look at it and see where Logan is.
One of the big things, that indicates they are doing okay with language/speech is their ability (and I am quoting now) to identify clothing items, understand spatial concepts (in/out), recognize actions in pictures and identify part/whole relationships (e.g. look at this picture. Show me the door of the car. Be able to follow two-step commands without cues (e.g. open the box and give me the bear) identify colors, name a variety of pictured objects, and express his wants and needs by combining words to produce basic four to five word sentences.
(I think that last part is a big key, even if he points at a girl and says 'I want his ball' it still counts. Learning girl/boy his/her can be hard!)
I also have the list for all the articulation errors that are NORMAL for a three year old. Like substituting w/l, d/th/, w/r, etc. If you are interested, I will type them up.
Another thing that I learned, due to having a special needs kiddo (from having OT and PT and VI services), kids don't master everything at once. Sometimes their speech is delayed, because they decided to walk and run first. Sometimes they are working on a big new physical skill (riding a bike?) and their brain is trying to master that...so it lets up on the speech for a little bit. Things kind of ebb and flow, one gets a little behind, then it catches up. Just like physical growth...or any other developmental stuff.
Anyway, just wanted to try and put some of your fears at ease. Not discounting your mother's intuition, but even if you are right, it isn't that bad...
And, if you want to email me, do, please. My aunt is a speech pathologist, so I can call an expert almost any time a day and get answers for you immediately, while you wait for a chance to do an evaluation (if that is what you are going to do). I would be happy to do it, and so would she.
Ava starts speech therapy in the fall when the school year begins. Her articulation is way off and she isn't understood by many (most) people. While I try not to compare her to others, she does have friends younger then her that speak much clearer. But she also has friends her age/little older that barely speak at all, and when they do its a jumbled mess.
I tried working with her one day to get her to say something properly and she huffed and said: "you're driving me crazy!" lol, excuse me for trying to help! Sometimes someone who is not mommy/daddy can help so much more. I guess we'll see.
Kelly, I will absolutely email you! Thanks!
I know that Natalie's therapy is more on the physical side...but without the help she needed (even though she did all the hard work herself barely breaking a sweat) she wouldn't be doing so well.
Even if Logan just needs a little help with his verbal skills just know that a little help goes a long way.
I wish you so much luck.
He's young!!! From what I've read, you're not supposed to correct their grammar at such a young age. They will learn it on their own. And every child progresses at a different rate. Pais has friends who speak so much better than her, but friends who don't. I just don't think you should worry-he'll be just fine.
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