Speech Therapy

My son has always had a huge vocabulary. HUGE for his age. At the one year appointment, when the pediatrician asks "how many words does he have" I was nearly dumbstruck... I knew it was coming, but was unprepared. "Ummmm... Lots" I stammered. Pediatrician gives me a quizzical look as my son sits quietly playing... and not talking. At that point, he had too many words to count... problem was, I was the only one that knew what he was saying (I mean, would you know that fahp wajj was his way of telling you he was about to throw something out? somewhere in his mind, fahp wajj was synonymous with garbage).

At the grocery store, he had a cashier girlfriend. Each time we visited, she'd try to strike up a conversation, and he'd enthusiastically reply to each of her questions... Then I'd translate. He was never one to simply reply "fine" when you ask "how are you?"

We considered speech therapy, but I knew kids with bigger speech issues, and he was obviously hearing us most of the time. He was able to duplicate even difficult sounds, as long as we told him how to make them with his mouth.... But do you really expect a 4 year old with a vocabulary that rivals most adults to slow down for his pronounciation? When his school offered informal speech therapy, we gladly accepted. Can't hurt right?

I've worked in the public school system. I've worked with speech therapists. As with anything, there's the good and the bad. And there's the variable of one therapist assigned to every child in the elementary school. In our case, our speech therapist also works with Carmen. I know this because Carmen shows up on our report card. Because our speech therapist wrote a little paragraph to explain how Carmen was progressing, and then copy and pasted it into Wyatt's report... without changing her name in one place.

She tells us how "his little tongue comes poking out" when really, he's closer to being tongue tied and keeps that thing in his mouth almost always. She tells us how he can't get the inital sound and medial sound, but he has those ending sounds down, when we see him start his words out clearly, and then drift off at the end. She tells us of all the great progress he's made, when, who's fooling who, he is for the first time in his life around a group of children that speak more clearly than he does. Of course he's made progress, he has a model, he has the motivation of needing to be heard by other kids and his teacher... do we really think 5 minute speed sessions a few times a week is due credit for Wyatt's hard work?

Report cards have come out again. I'm reminded to work on his homework that "will be coming home weekly." I recieved homework for the first time since November along with that report card. It was the 4th time this school year we've received it. Each time, it's a work sheet with pictures that tie into a certain letter sound. They've moved on to /r/ at this point. Really? His speech is as bad as you'd have me beleive, so you're going to work on one of the notoriously hardest sounds, in the winter/spring when allergies are at their worst? You're going to do the sound that pediatricians have determined many kids don't hear until they are 6-8 years old? You're going to ask me to practice this sound with my child, but not give instruction to me about the proper way to use your mouth and lips and vocal cords to do so? You're going to work on this sound in the initial position of the word, rather than as part of a consonant blend where it's known to be easier? Because success isn't something we look for in speech class?

I try not to be "that" parent, in so many ways, but my child doesn't need to miss out on class time in this way. It's offensive. Time to schedule the parent teacher conference!

Up Do

Every day, my favorite 3 1/2 year old girl has a decision to make... What "kind" of hair shall we do today?

Most days, maybe 9 out of 10, the choice is Tinkerbell hair. Tinkerbell hair is simple really, it means one ponytail centered somewhere on her head.  There's also Fawn hair (a braid), Silvermist hair (add a little hair goo, maybe blow dry it), Rosetta Hair (pulled back on the sides somehow) or "Nossing!" at which point I convince her (or attempt to) that a headband would be better... at least it LOOKS like we tried when we get to the grocery store, library, park, or daycare.

This morning, as in most mornings, it was "Tinkerbell please!"
"All your hair?"
"No, just some of it"
So I set her up with a classic pebbles topknot and we go on about our usual day.  Only I forgot to turn on the radio, and for a change, she doesn't shout from the backseat "Turn it up please!!!!!"  About halfway to daycare, I hear what sounds like a 3 year old humming/singing to herself.  You know the sound... can't quite be sure what the words are, you just hope it doesn't involve profanity (she does have a soft spot for White Zombie)  I adjust the rearview mirror.  She's swinging her head in dizzying circles, singing one of her new favorite songs: Whip my Hair


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymKLymvwD2U

I always said my kids wouldn't have stupid pet tricks, but how can I help showing this off?

-Helena

Young Love

Have you ever sat and listened to 3, 4 or 5 year olds talking about love?  If only it was so simple.

I found out the other day that the little boy in my life is growing up.  Only in Kindergarten, and it's starting!  You may have gone through this already.  You go to a birthday party for a random child you hardly know from daycare or school.  Strike up an awkard conversation with parents you don't know at all, or hardly know if you're lucky.  "Which one's yours?" they ask and you point him out, hoping they don't have a negative association.  Maybe you get a reaction like "Oh, he's a real sweetie!" or not so nice "Oh, he's so active, isn't he!" or maybe, it happens...

"Oh, my OTHER child, my daughter is in his class...
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He was the first boy she kissed!"
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I need to sit down.

-Helena