Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Speech pathologist (finally)

We met with the speech pathologist today. It's the same song and dance we've done the rest of the time: A plays while she asked me questions, then she played with him for a bit. She confirmed what everyone else has been saying; A has a mild to moderate developmental delay in speech.

She's the gate-keeper to all the services, though, so now we get to be on the track for services. He's wait-listed for the Communication Group, which is like the group he goes to now, only smaller and specifically for speech. He'll get a hearing test the next time the hearing test cavalcade rolls into town (once every two months). C and I will get to attend a parenting class to determine how to help A.

The one new thing today was a referral to Regional Services. The department we've been going to is a stop-gap measure to help kids who are a little behind catch up so they're prepared for preschool/kindergarten. There's another department that offers more extensive services for kids who need more help. A is borderline between the groups, mild to moderate. The criterion he's being assessed against is the 24-27 month old criterion, and he's at the beginning of the range. So the pathologist asked me if I wanted to get the paperwork rolling to get him into Regional Services or if I wanted to wait and see how he did in his groups.

I thought about it for maybe thirty seconds, then said, "Let's get the paperwork started." I know that it's a lot harder to get someone into a program than it is to take them out of it, and even if he does great, I want him to have all the resources he can.

He seems to be liking Group; there's lots of toys and books there for him to play with. He's not done at the end of class and has to be convinced that it's time to go home. The facilitators say he's doing really well, pays attention, remains on task, cleans up. I still waver (worry) about the qualities of the other parents, but he's getting playtime with other kids and attention from trained teachers, and I figure that can't hurt.


Oh, and he's got two new words: baby and bear.

2 comments:

Jack and Lexi's Mom said...

A will be fine! He has a very verbal mother.
I was going through old pictures as we get ready to move and found great ones of us. I'll make you copies.

Miss Kim said...

Woo hoo, pictures! I owe you an email; aren't you heading this way soon?

He has very verbal parents. I was wondering if he wasn't talking because he couldn't get a word in edgewise. We'll see.