Speech therapy underway
Rebecca had her first speech therapy session last week, after having been evaluated two weeks ago, which confirmed that she was delayed. I was a little disappointed in the therapy session...it involved a whole lot of observing and not much coaching. I was glad that the speech pathologist said that she didn't have speech apraxia, although I'm still keeping it as a possibility in the back of my mind.
The abnormal symptoms that concern me are that Rebecca never attempts to imitate sounds we make; she said five or six words around 12 months that she only used a few times, and hasn't said them again in six months; and the five words she does say now, as well as the sounds she babbles, have limited scope of consonants (b, p, d, l). It is also frustrating to me that she points and grunts a lot, and many times I don't know what she wants.
I am thankful that her hearing is normal, and that she understands what we say. She is also eager to use signs to communicate what she wants or sees or hears (more, milk, dog, and airplane are her most frequent), and would use them more if I had the time and energy to learn more signs and use them myself.
The speech therapist did say that it is very likely that Rebecca has sensory integration disorder, which will make it harder for her to learn to talk. This is a very common condition (5% of kids have it), and the speech therapist didn't seem to think it was a huge deal, but of course, it seems like a bigger deal to me. I have read only a little about it, but enough to agree that she most likely has it. I just ordered a book on it, and will post again when I have learned more.
Some people have suggested that we are overly worried about her speech delay, and that one day she will just start talking a lot; but we would rather err on the side of caution, since if she does have a disorder of some kind, it will be easier to treat the earlier we start therapy. If we start to see progress, she will have therapy less often, and if there is no progress, she will have it more often. For now, it is just twice a month. Sometimes I worry that is not enough; but since she is too young for any sort of official disorder to be diagnosed, I don't feel like there's a whole lot more I can do at this point. Please pray that God will make it clear whether I have justifiable concerns that should prompt getting a second opinion, or whether I just need to relax and be glad that she's not talking my ear off yet.
The abnormal symptoms that concern me are that Rebecca never attempts to imitate sounds we make; she said five or six words around 12 months that she only used a few times, and hasn't said them again in six months; and the five words she does say now, as well as the sounds she babbles, have limited scope of consonants (b, p, d, l). It is also frustrating to me that she points and grunts a lot, and many times I don't know what she wants.
I am thankful that her hearing is normal, and that she understands what we say. She is also eager to use signs to communicate what she wants or sees or hears (more, milk, dog, and airplane are her most frequent), and would use them more if I had the time and energy to learn more signs and use them myself.
The speech therapist did say that it is very likely that Rebecca has sensory integration disorder, which will make it harder for her to learn to talk. This is a very common condition (5% of kids have it), and the speech therapist didn't seem to think it was a huge deal, but of course, it seems like a bigger deal to me. I have read only a little about it, but enough to agree that she most likely has it. I just ordered a book on it, and will post again when I have learned more.
Some people have suggested that we are overly worried about her speech delay, and that one day she will just start talking a lot; but we would rather err on the side of caution, since if she does have a disorder of some kind, it will be easier to treat the earlier we start therapy. If we start to see progress, she will have therapy less often, and if there is no progress, she will have it more often. For now, it is just twice a month. Sometimes I worry that is not enough; but since she is too young for any sort of official disorder to be diagnosed, I don't feel like there's a whole lot more I can do at this point. Please pray that God will make it clear whether I have justifiable concerns that should prompt getting a second opinion, or whether I just need to relax and be glad that she's not talking my ear off yet.
posted by Elisabeth | 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
Elisabeth, I'm not sure if you knew this or not, but our son Zachary, Daniel Christie, and Peter Daniels all have speech delays. Zach and Daniel are both being treated, but I don't think that Dan & Vicky had much success with a French speech therapist. They were told that Peter is likely delayed simply because he is hearing two languages. Daniel and Zach both got provisional diagnoses of speech apraxia. Both are doing well with therapy, although Zach is still very hard to understand. I do know that as a parent it is really hard to think about long term speech concerns with your child! I'm confident that Rebecca will develop in her own time, and that you will be amazed at what she can say in a year or so. In the meantime, you are doing exactly the right thing by getting her treated. It can only help!
Blessings on you and Steve. Happy New Year!
~ Denise Barwell
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