Around April/May of 2013 I really started to notice that Max wasn't as verbal as his peers. Max was in Toddler 3 and most of the children in the room with him were about 4 months older. When he first started in the Toddler 3 room, I definitely noticed that the other children were very verbal. I thought, "Oh wow, that's going to be Max in just a few months." However, months passed and I couldn't help but notice that Max wasn't saying the words that the other children had at his age. I know that speech develops on a continuum and there is a large range of "normal," but I knew to trust my intuition. It has never steered me wrong when it comes to being a mom.
I scheduled a full evaluation with the CDSA, and based on those results, we had a follow-up evaluation for speech. The CDSA is a wonderful service, but let me tell you, it is so annoying to be on the other end of the red tape when it comes to receiving services. As a teacher, the process of evaluating, identifying, and providing services for a student was a long, drawn-out, paperwork-filled, tedious process. And I completely understand--there needs to be regulations for that sort of thing. Any cray cray mama can't just "demand" therapy/services on a whim. There has to be a need. Rules must be followed. However, when it was my child I was like "what?!? get your rear in gear?!? don't you know my kid is the most important kid ever on all the planets???" I never voiced my frustrations or chewed anyone out, because I know how it is on their end and I know it takes a long time, but I was super annoyed just waiting around.
Long story made longer, after sending in financial information no less than four times, we decided to move forward with private speech therapy rather than go through the CDSA. Not because of anything they did wrong on their end, but just because it makes more sense with our insurance.
Sooo...now Max goes to Miss Jessi once a week. We are working on getting him to use his words to say what he wants instead of whining, grunting, or pointing. At first I wondered what a speech therapist could do with my 20 month old that I couldn't do at home, but I think being in the controlled environment really helps. And Jessi has so many tips that I would have never thought of. For example, Max needs to work on differentiating between vowel sounds and making an "o" shape with his lips. We are working on blowing bubbles while I pinch his mouth in an "o" and blowing whistles. I never would have done that left to my own devices! I have already seen growth in Max. Just today at therapy, he said "bubble" and "ball" when he wanted them, rather than pointing. He says those words at home too, but just to name the object, not to say he wants to play with them, if that makes sense. I'm so happy to be there for his therapy and I'm so thankful for Andres who works so hard at his company, which gives him awesome insurance benefits so Max can receive speech!
Max's Vocabulary at 20 Months
balloon (ba)
boots (ba)
book (bu)
bye bye
banana (ba)
more/mas
please (sign language only)
thank you (sign language only)
hair (said once--yesterday)
vacuum (va)
tickle tickle
hello (a-yo)
woah
wow
uh-oh
se acabo (ca) means "all done" in spanish
agua
Neh (refers to all animals)
knows animal sounds "moo, woof woof, meow, quack quack" when asked
car (car car)
go
milk
papa
mama
that
yay
cup (first attempted today!)
And here is my sweet boy using language in context by waving "bye bye" to a plane.
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