Speech Therapy

This morning we had our speech therapy evaluation. It ended up being more of a discussion with a few simple tests to determine how Caden is doing and how he compares to other children his age. The first test just involved Greg and I answering a bunch of questions about whether or not Caden did or said certain things. For example, "Can he identify four body parts?" Or, "Does he vocalize to get your attention?" That type of thing. The other "test" was more the speech therapist's observations and asking us additional questions. For example, we had to show Caden a sheet of paper with four pictures on it and ask him which one was the cat or whatever. This was one of the last things we did and Caden was getting pretty antsy to leave so he didn't cooperate too well. That's when that test became more of us just answering what we knew Caden could and could not do.

From the tests, the therapist determined that he is right where he needs to be in his receptive language. He hears us, he understands us, he follows directions, he knows objects and actions when we say them to him, etc. Caden is, however, behind in his verbalization considering he doesn't say a single word. The therapist was not concerned, though, because Caden was showing all the signs of being able to talk eventually. He vocalizes everything, he just doesn't use words yet. He also does things like make eye contact when he seems to be asking a question, which is a great segway to real communication.

The therapist said it was great that we're using some sign language and that we should try to use more. So I checked out a book from the library and we can hopefully start learning some more useful things. I thought it was pointless to keep learning the words, but I guess it's not.

Overall, the speech therapist decided that Caden is doing very well right now and just needs little pushes to start talking. He gave us a bunch of handouts to look through filled with ideas to help us play and better communicate with Caden so he'll hopefully start talking back with us. As for right now the therapist is not concerned and said we don't need to come back again. If, however, he's still not talking in six to nine months then it could be a problem and we'd schedule regular sessions. So I guess in the end, this appointment was good for all of us. It helped Greg and I realize that even though Caden's lack of verbalization is frustrating, there's not anything wrong with him. He's just taking his time learning this skill while he focuses so much on other things. The therapist said that we should soon see a language explosion from Caden. Hopefully it'll happen soon!