i wanted to write an update about Aiden's speech therapy. As you may know, Aiden had fluid in his ears when he was a baby and a little over a year ago, September 2008, he had surgery to get ear tubes & to have his tonsils & adenoids removed. Since he's had the surgery, he hasn't had any ear infections and we have really seen an improvement in his speech since then. He has really come a long way! Back in October of last year, we started taking him to a speech pathologist that was covered through our medical insurance. He was going twice a week for about 6 months. His last appointment was in April 2009, shortly after our wedding. At his final assessment, it showed that he had made tremendous improvements since he first started there. At his last appointment there, the speech pathologist recommended us looking into getting him some speech therapy through the school district, since it is free, once they are in preschool. So, after we got home from our honeymoon and started getting settled in, i started looking into it. I contacted the Rocklin Unified School District to find out where i needed to start to get some speech therapy for him. They told me that they were closed for the summer but they would have someone contact me as soon as school started back up again. In late August, i finally had someone contact me. Ms. Cindy Teakus, the speech pathologist from Parker Whitney School in Rocklin, contacted me and i told her my concerns about Aiden's speech delays and also that we wanted to make sure he was ready for kindergarten. I can't even believe i am saying that! Time flies so fast!! He is almost 4 years old already! :)
So, we made an appointment for his first speech screening on Friday, September 4th. She told us first they would do a screening, just to listen to him & see how he interacts, and if there are any reasons for concern, then they would decide to do a full assessment on him. We met with her on the 4th, and after hearing him talk and watching him play with the toys, she told us she knew that he definitely was going to need some speech therapy. She said she was concerned about his speech since alot of the words that he says are hard to understand. We further discussed our concerns & she explained to me how the speech program works and that he would definitely be qualified for the full assessment. So, we made an appointment for a full speech assessment for Friday, October 2nd.
His speech assessment went well. She brought out several different books and pictures and had Aiden tell her what the pictures were. Then she would ask him to show her where a certain thing was by saying the word and having him point to it. He did pretty well with that. He started getting a little silly and wouldn't say what some of the items were. Some of them i think he wasn't sure or hadn't seen it before. i also told her that he takes a while to warm up to people and i know that he talks alot more at home. Her concern was that he be used to talking & communicating to others in a social setting and at school because that is the only way it is going to help him. If he only talks at home and not at school or in public, that will not help him much. I could see that perspective and how that is important. According to the assessment she gave him, Aiden is still slightly below average for his age. He has shown considerable improvement since he first started going to the speech pathologist about a year ago. I remember the very 1st assessment he had, they told us he was at a 1-2 year old level and he was 3 years old. According to this assessment, the average score is 85-115, and Aiden is around 70 in expressive vocabulary and 73 in receptive vocabulary. He is just a little below average now, where before, he was extremely below average for his age. Ms. Cindy also mentioned that she had talked to Aiden's teachers at La Petite Academy, where he goes to preschool/daycare. They had told her that he has had some aggressive behavior with the kids but has been improving. I told her we had been working with him on that as well. There have just been a couple instances of that happening that we were made aware of, and we made sure to talk to him about it and let him know that he cannot hit others. I believe, and she agreed, that alot of his aggressive behavior could be linked to his speech delays. She said they can get very frustrated if they can't communicate like everyone else so they take it out on them physically.
Anthony & I have been reading books alot more to Aiden since getting married and living under the same household, so we believe that is helping him alot. We also moved him up to full-time daycare after we got married, which i believe has helped him alot too. I think it is a combination of all of these things that is helping him come along. We have noticed that he is much more verbal, is saying alot more words, and he is asking when he wants something. He is also getting much better interacting with other kids. I'm sure with getting this extra help with his speech, it will definitely get him caught up and get him prepared for kindergarten.
Ms. Cindy told us that he will be eligible for kindergarten next year, so she is recommending that he attend the preschool intervention program that she directs. It is a combination of one-on-one speech therapy as well as interaction with other kids in a class setting. I think it will be a good thing for him. :)
