About a month ago, I wrote about our concerns over Maddie’s speech development and why, at the tender age of 2, we were sending her to a Mothers’ Day Out program two mornings a week.
You all were so kind and encouraging, and many of you had stories of your own about one of your kids having had slower verbal development. That encouragement is why I wanted to follow up on that post; we finally had Maddie’s speech evaluation this week!
Overall, the evaluation went very well. I really liked the therapist, and I felt like she listened to what I had to say, and asked good follow-up questions, too.
The evaluation took some time, and I’m so impressed that Maddie behaved and followed along for it all.
When it was all said and done, and the results of the testing were tabulated, Maddie’s comprehension skills were off the charts for a child her age (Go Baby Girl!), though her expressive scores were near the bottom of the range. The therapist said that while Maddie doesn’t technically have a “delay” in expressive based on the fact that her score ended up within range, the fact that her expressive score was so much lower than her comprehensive score indicates that she should be treated as a kid who has an expressive delay. She also has an articulation delay.
When we get back from our trip to Chicago, we are beginning twice-a-week therapy. I feel good about taking this next step and am eager in anticipation of her future progress.
Step 1 in the process was putting her in a group child care environment to help stimulate her speech, and we’ve already seen benefits from doing so. She tries to talk so much more now, whereas before she chose to stay quiet, simply follow along with what Big Sis Kate was doing or attempt to get by with hand gestures or facial expressions.
Her attempts at talking, while important and encouraging, just magnify her true need for therapy, though. If Maddie repeats something that was just said, you can pretty much make sense of her words. But if she walks up to you and tries to tell you something on her own, it’s typically unintelligible. I’ll ask her to repeat herself a couple times to try to make out what she’s trying to tell me, but all too often she’ll give up, drop her shoulders and get quiet.
So, here’s to good luck and happy talking for Maddie! Before we know it, we’ll be begging her to shut up.
I watched my nephew go through a similar situation and like you, my sister took the necessary steps, but didn’t fret about it. They did the work and today he is a jibber jabber happy 12-year old!
It takes effort, but mostly time and she’ll be well on her way in no time!
I appreciate you sharing this! Peanut is (I think) a little later in beginning to speak. She’s 19 months, and still not saying much. We are doing the two languages thing, but I’m still nervous about it. To know others have gone through this is encouraging, especially if we get to the point where we need to intervene!
Oh you are such a good Mama. You will be shushing her in no time:)
You absolutely did the right thing putting her into school. My friend’s son had speech development delays and school really made a huge difference with him too. You are absolutely doing the right thing following through with the therapy too, allowing Maddie to get to that level playing field in her development will mean so very much throughout her school years and beyond.
That need for quiet time comes fast and feel strange after working so hard to achieve the talking in the first place!
I read this the other day, but was having trouble commenting from my phone. Just wanted to say that I’m so glad you’re seeing progress and that you have a plan for moving forward. Sounds like she’s doing great!
I’m a little late on the draw here, but I just wanted to add my own words of encouragement. Diego’s speech was also very much slower developing than Nino’s and I wondered a lot about him. Fortunately, now that he is 3 he is talking quite a bit now. But I know that having him in school really did help. I’m sure the speech therapy will be very helpful too. You are such a great mom, Liz. Both your girls are so lucky to grow up in your wonderful family.
It seems only natural that a parent or parents who notice a problem want to seek out help and answers, but after reading several comments, I am surprised that so many people know parents who are in denial.
It’s great to see that Maddie is already making progress in such a short time and I look forward to reading more about her improvement!
You are such a great momma and it’s awesome you are already getting the ball rolling already. The twice a week therapy will help her out tremendously, and I can’t wait to read about her progress.
SORRY! Just catching up. So glad you guys have a plan now. So hope this is exactly what Maddie needs and you do, in fact, have to beg her to shut up. Presley asks regularly “where’s Maddie?” Hopefully, we can all get well and make it back to gymnastics soon!
It sounds like you are working with the right people. Sending lots of love and luck your way…