We’ve all been there: it’s midnight and you just got laundry done, dishes put away and caught 10 minutes of one of last season’s episode of “Scandal” before your eyelids start shutting on their own. You go to bed, and you’re asleep about 20 minutes when your toddler walks in.
“Mom! Can I have some milk? And a story, too?”
Me: Ugggggggggh.
For me–for anyone–this is not an ideal scenario. But for the mom of a speech delayed child who has struggled for the last two years to communicate his needs and string words together, hearing him say the words “can I have some milk?”–is music to my ears.
Leo began walking the week he turned 1, and he was jabbering on like any toddler, speaking gobbledygook and jargon. I would laugh and say “those words are all going to come pouring out one day!”
I. Couldn’t. Wait.
Except I did wait, and wait and wait. And he just wasn’t speaking clearly. There was plenty of jargon, and pointing for things, and whining to get my attention. His pediatrician wasn’t worried, saying if he had 30 words by the time he was 2 that was sufficient (and I must admit, my “list” of words was a stretch).
So we waited some more. Right around his 2 and a half year birthday, I enrolled him in a Montessori school. The first week of class, my husband and I were called in for a meeting. The teachers had a long list of complaints which broke my heart and made me roll my eyes at the same time.
I couldn’t believe their intolerance for active little boys who didn’t want to sit down and play blocks for 10 minutes. But, it was more than that–they emphasized his inability to communicate.
“He’s a late talker, so what?” I said. “He talks at home (lie) and I think he’s just shy.”
But, I knew in my gut that my denial about his speech delay was not going to help my son. I had to put my own worries aside and spring into action because that is my job. First thing was first– we were not sending him back to those cold-hearted teachers at the Montessori school.
Even though that week was traumatizing for all of us–the one good thing that came from it was as soon as we left, I called my state’s Early Intervention program to get him evaluated.
At first, a caseworker came to our house to go over the program, what we could expect from the evaluation, which therapists we would potentially get assigned and what we could expect from in-home therapy. By the time he was evaluated and had his first in-home therapy session (six weeks after my initial call), he was just shy of 5 months until his 3rd birthday, which is when services stopped.
He had Developmental Therapy to help with any underlying attention and transition problems and Speech Therapy to help with language. Twice a week a therapist would come to our house and work with him. I watched in amazement every session as his developmental therapist, Andrea, sang songs with him, evoked words from him and helped him voice his preferences.
Most of all, the therapists helped my husband and me work with him, to help him make words and communicate his needs. The next five months, we heard him take baby steps in his speech, and we were grateful for every bit of jargon that resembled a word. It was slow moving, but progress nonetheless.
Every word, song sung and phrase that comes out of his mouth to this day makes our heart skip a beat. He counts, he knows his colors, he names his shapes, he repeats and says how he feels. Even Alexa understands him (sometimes). He’s in a fantastic preschool program with tons of peer modeling, and understanding and supportive instructors.
He still receives weekly speech therapy to help work out many impediments, and his therapist is amazed with how fast is he progressing. He also had ear tube surgery last year to cut back on the copious ear infections he experienced (which also helped propel his speech forward).
The future is bright for our boy, and I couldn’t be happier. I am grateful that those times of worry to the point of paralysis, wondering if he was ever going to be able to communicate clearly and uncertainty are behind us. We made a plan, executed it and are now reaping the benefits.
For more information on Early Intervention programs by state, click here.
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