Hi all. We just had a re-evaluation through the schools today...I think I feel worse now than I did when we had the initial eval done a year ago. Let's see...a quick comparison on what a year of speech has done for us...Originally they said Arden's expressive language was less than a typical 2 year old...in the last year, that has improved to a typical 2 year, 1 month old. A year ago they said he was in the 2nd percentile...wow, now we've moved up into the 5th percentile. Really...4 days a week for the last year, plus a program where we went 5 days per week for 5 weeks in the summer, and these are the results we are getting??? I'm so upset right now and so discouraged. Talk about feeling like a complete failure. Our life is one constant speech session, all the time, everyday at home and this is the kind of improvement we are getting? Any ideas on what else we can do would be greatly appreciated. Right now I am at a complete loss.

Rhonda

Hey Rhonda, I know how easy it is to feel discouraged. I am to the point now I no longer listen to the evauls because I dont always agree with them. I dont know if you ever started that journal idea we talked about last year, where you write down all the words and phrases Arden is using, I have been doing it with jack for over a year now. It is wonderful for me to go back and read what he was doing then compared to now. I forget what I was struggling with. Jack was the same, 2nd percentile with expressive vocab equal to a nine month old at 2 years old. I know that on paper he had not made a whole lot of progress since then, but as his mother I can tell you how much he has grown and learned. Not only is he putting 2 and sometimes 3 words together, he is also attempting so much more, it is amazing to watch. Of course I am the only one who can understand him most of the time.

As far as ideas on new things to try, to start make a journal if you havent already of all the words/phrases arden makes, what you are working on, what therapy he likes/dislikes, and how you are coping with everything. I update mine about once a week. I have also realized how much jack enjoys more hands on learning, we go to the park, aquarium, even my back yard and work speech into playing. When he doesnt think pressure is on to perform he really opens up. I also stopped giving him fish oil and I believe he has improved since then. It happened by mistake because we ran out and I couldn't believe what a difference it made. Could be a coincidence, who knows.

Is Arden in school? Jack goes 4 days a week with other kids with speech delay. He has made incredible progress around peers like him in a speech based enviornment. Maybe Arden needs a new specch therapist/program/ teacher to spice things up a little bit.
OK well I am out of time. Sara

I know there are days when I wonder if Jake will ever be truly caught up.  He has made so much progress since turning 3, but he still has a ways to go, just not sure how much he is behind.  We never got to finish his re-eval because insurance dropped all speech clients and the SLP felt it wasn't necessary to continue with the eval.  Nice huh?

We have been on our own since Dec without S/T and I think we have done much better!  Jake was beginning to be resistant and non-compliant (hence why we didn't get through the eval). He can be stubborn when it doesn't interest him.  Since then, he is combining nouns/adjectives/verbs etc.  He is almost conversational!  He is so close... he knows all the colors, I think he can recognize almost all of the alphabet (upper and lower case) and can count to 15. He asks/answers a handfull of questions and can tell you how old he is and his name (well, his variation of it, "Kid"!  sometimes Kai {Jake}) All of this on my own without and SLP! If he wasn't  improving DAILY, I would be seeking more services, but frankly, I think we do better on our own!

I use a child led, natural approach, a lot of modeling and some recasting.. oh, yea, and the DHA!  Without it, I see little progress.. when I start up the doses again, explosion!

How is Arden's receptive language?? Following simple commands (asking while gesturing or pointing to the item doesn't count). Does he answer questions? If his receptive isn't on target, his expressive won't happen. How can he talk without understanding what the words mean?  Some SLP make the mistake of not focusing on receptive language, and just try to get the words to come out.  This is one of the mistakes my SLP was making!

This DVD is an amazing help:  Teach Me To Listen and Obey Vol. 2.  It not only shows you how to work on the receptive language with your child, it also exposes him to more word combos and commands. It is one of the best ones I have seen to date!  I have tried the techniques in the video, and OMG! Immediate response!

Keep us posted on how things progress.. I know you can do it! Don't give up, just take a new approach!