"Da... ah!"

The other day, Isaiah came in here, handed me what he calls his magic fire truck shirt, and said "da...ah!" (that on).

January 9th, 2010, at age 3.5yo, Isaiah said his first unprompted 2-word sentence. ::happytears::

I haven't posted about his speech progress lately, because honestly there hasn't been a whole lot to report. Due to various reason, he's only had three 45m ST sessions in the past 2.5 months, so hopefully once we start having it regularly, that will help. At home, we've been doing lots of scripting (recently explained by Jen here: http://jenkrause.com/blog/2010/01/posting-an-old-post/ ). On his own, he just uses one word sentences. His vocabulary is increasing, but pronunciation is still poor for the most part- tends to use largely vowels and 1 syllable most of the time.

But I'm still SOOOO over the moon happy for "da... ah!". And while it might take a while to become regular, having said it once breaks that barrier and it'll be that much easier for future sentences to come through. I'm so proud of Isaiah. <3

Isaiah's Speech Update + list of words

Here is where Isaiah's at right now (a couple weeks shy of age 3), speech-wise.

* At his last evaluation (at 30m), his receptive skills were at the 28m level, and expressive skills at 12-15m.

* When he first started EI at 17m, he was evaluated to have a receptive skills at the 15m level, and the expressive skills at the 6m level, so we've definitely made some progress!

* He currently has 50-60 word approximations, although he only uses a handful of them on a regular basis.

* About 15 of those words are actually animal sounds or sound effects. To this day, he has never said "cat" or "dog" or "car", but always uses the appropriate sound effect instead.

* The majority of his words are pretty vague. I would say strangers would understand him less than 25% of the time. He uses mostly vowel sounds, even though he can say a large variety of consonant sounds on their own. Also, some inconsistencies in how he pronounces them from one time to another. (See list below)

* No 2 word sentences or phrases.

* He can be very vocal, especially in high-energy situations (such as when him and Abbie are running in circles around the kitchen table, bathtime) lots of non-specific yelling/sounds. Not always, but usually.

* During lower-energy situations (mealtimes, car rides, playing with trains), he is on the quieter side, using one-word sentences to request something he needs/wants, or maybe point out something (like a cat walking by the window). Not a lot of extraneous babble or chatter.

* Every few days, he'll get in a "no talking at ALL" mood, which lasts a few minutes to a few hours, where he doesn't make any sounds, and won't even respond to me, just very withdrawn. (I hate these)

* He NEVER imitated on command ("This is a X, can you say X?") up until a couple months ago. Even now, he *rarely* does it, and when he does, it's a very, very vague attempt (again, mostly vowels).

* He does request, although due to his limited vocabulary (and my limited comprehension of what he's saying), we still have LOTS of frustration, LOTS of tears, LOTS of meltdowns because he's not able to fully communicate his wants and needs.

A few weeks ago, out of curiosity, I wrote down every single word that he said that whole day, including how he said it (and if he said it multiple ways). This is what I came up with:

mama : mama
juice : ee-uu
butterfly : aw-aw
two : toooo / ooh
bacon : eh / deh
yellow : eh-woh
meow (word for cat) : meow
pee-pee : tee-tee
teeth : eeee
bubble (word for soap) : bu-bu
cartoons : tooos
Oswald : aw-aw
splash (?) : ta--sch
booboo : boo-boo
more : ma
ham : hey
hat : hai
strong : aww
eww : eww
eat : ee-um
cereal : ah-aw
light : iii
bye : bye
dada : dada
fish : eee
baby : bebe / meme / dede
wet : eh
off : aww
cheese : dee / nee
turtle : toe
shirt : ee-ur
brush : da
blanket : nee
broken : bu-bu
straw : taw

(It looks like a long list, but when you keep in mind that other than a handful of them, most were only said once. Spread it over a whole day, and he's still very quiet the majority of the time.)

His speech therapist has recently mentioned apraxia, which looking at the symptoms, it does seem to be a possibility. Unfortunately, this past week was our last session, so we'll be ST-less until next fall. Which sucks, because I felt like we may have been on to something. If anyone has any experience with apraxia, does the ^^ seem to resonant with what you know? I'd love to chat with others who are dealing with apraxia, especially in younger children.

Isaiah's transition meeting: the conclusion

Remember me posting about his initial "transition from Early Intervention to school-provided services" meeting way back in February? Well, in April we met again to discuss a plan. (Yes, I know that was a month ago, I just kept forgetting to blog about it *blush*).

On his official speech/language evaluation (taken at 32 months), for receptive communication, Isaiah performed solidly to the 32 month level, and for expressive communication, he's at the 18 month level.

So, he does qualify for home-based speech therapy, currently set at once a week. It will probably start some time in September, which is kinda stinky. He turns 3 the first week of July, so that's a couple months without any ST.

If I get the chance, I'll post more details about his speech progress and where he's at right now. I feel like we're at a plateau, and it'll be interesting to see if perhaps you guys have any suggestions.

Isaiah's re-evaluation

On Thursday, we had Isaiah's re-evaluation for EI (early intervention) since it had been a year since he started the program. He had so much fun, playing with all the toys and games our coordinater had brought, as did Abbie.

He is doing AWESOME in almost all areas of development, even with quite a few skills above age level. (For example, she was floored at how well he is doing with using the potty, as well as his fine motor skills). He's 28 months old, and at the 12-15m level for communicative speech and 21-24m for receptive. And he's at the 20m level for adaptive skills, but only because he still puts everything into his mouth, as he does great with washing hands, getting undressed, etc.

He's going to continue receiving speech therapy 2x a month, and his behavioral "quirks" were also noted on his report (his need for having things a certain way, becoming overly-anxious if they aren't, etc).

We went over his goals from last year, and he's met almost all of them! *yay!* He makes 10+ exclamations/sound effects, he's making 10+ consonant/vowel combinations, he has 30+ word/word approximations, he's using single words to request things, he's labeling familiar objects in a book. That's amazing progress, considering this time last year, he wasn't using ANY words, and only made vowel sounds (oooh, aaah).

Our new goals include repeating non-familiar words, using more multi-syllable words, using 2 word phrases, using more using different sounds in multi-syllable words (all of his current multi-syllable words are the same sound, repeated), and a couple other smaller ones that I don't remember offhand. The main long-term goal is saying and using 50 words, with at least 75% of them understandable to a stranger. (He has close to 50 words now, but the majority of them are sooo vague, that I doubt anyone else could understand them... heck, I have trouble a lot of the time!)

We didn't make any official goals for the behavioral stuff, but I'm hoping that with the OT suggestions (which I'll write about next), and some changes around the house, we can curb some of those. I'm really excited and am very hopeful. She's going to send me a copy of the evaluation report, so if I left anything out, I'll update this, but I think that's about everything.

Look Who's Talking!

So, in my last update, Isaiah was saying "buh" for ball. Well, he is now using "buh/"buh-buh" for book, bubble, boom-boom (fireworks), baby, blanket, pillow, broken, poo-poo, and boo-boo. In addition to mama, dada, more, and "zz-zz" for music. As he has been in speech therapy for six months now, we had a re-evaluation at our last meeting. At 17 months old, he was evaluated at a 6 month level in expressive skills. And now at 22 months old, he's at a 12 month level, but with many milestones on the 15 month level. That's a lot of progress! From barely babbling to over a dozen words/word approximations! Last night, he was getting all comfy cozy in bed, when he said "buh-buh" in a very sad voice. I saw that he had his pillow and blanket. Ah, his baby had fallen on the floor. Once they were reunited, he rolled over and fell asleep. A few months ago, the same scenario would have just brought tears, and lots of them (with the occassional scream), as I took random shots in the dark to figure out what was wrong. This is COMMUNICATION, folks!!!! YAY!

Buh!

Yesterday, I was sitting at the computer when Isaiah walked in the room. He was saying "buh, buh, buh". Just as I turned to look at him, a BALL went sailing past my head.

A NEW WORD!!! And he totally initiated it on his own (not just him repeating something). *happy dance*

We're still working on signing, since he doesn't request things, other than with crying and a lot of vague pointing. So far, the only new sign he's picked up on is "car". (When watching the Baby Signing Time video, he goes nuts doing the sign for "milk", but then I realized that he's confusing it with the universal sign for "bye-bye". He thinks all the babies on the video are waving at him, and he's just returning the gesture!)

It's hard, because I must admit there is a lack of consistency. After a long day, and I'm desperately trying to get dinner on the table with two little ones underfoot, and everyone's crying and whining... no, sometimes I won't bother with signing "eat" myself, much less making him sign it.

Or, he'll take me by the hand and pull me to the kitchen. Then, he'll point to the cabinet where we keep the cups, followed by pointing to the fridge. (All this is usually accompanied by a lot grunting, whining and crying). He's trying to communicate, and I feel bad for withholding a drink, when it's very obvious that's what he wants. But then again, he needs to talk eventually. And we know he can talk. It's just getting him to do it.

Isaiah's Speech Evaluation

We had Isaiah's EI evaluation today. He's doing excellent in most areas, scoring at or above his age level. They just couldn't get over how bright he was. Of course, then there's the speech area where he's only at a 6mo level. So, yeah... definitely needs some help in that area. We're having a speech therapist come out to the house once a week to work with him. We met with her today, and she's absolutely wonderful. We made our goals for the next year. Our long-term goal is 50 understandable, consistant words. (Seeing as how he has ZERO now, this is very exciting!). I'm really looking foward to this. She kept saying how it's great that I called so early. And rarely does she see kids this young, but with his delay, he definitely needs it. Expecially since he's not making any consonant sounds, it'll be hard for him to progress until he learns those. (DH was being a negative ninny this morning... but hasn't said anything since. Hopefully he sees that is a very beneficial thing, if not neccessary, at this point.) Oh, I do need to make an appt. to get his hearing checked. She said she prefers it in all speech cases. We missed having the newborn screening done, since he was born at home... and we never got around to making a separate appointment. (Yeah, talk about mucho guilt when she asked about this. He doesn't *seem* to have a hearing problem... expecially since his receptive skills are spot-on for the most part.) I really hope this will help him communicate his needs better. He still cries SO much during the day. Not only fustrating to him, I'm sure, but to me as well. Makes me feel like a horrible momma, when he seems so miserable and unhappy. So, keep your fingers crossed!

A Boy of Little Words...

Today, a couple ladies from Early Intervention came up to the house. We're seeing if Isaiah (almost 17m) qualifies for any services since he still isn't talking at all. I've really been back and forth on this decision. I've had people tell me "Yes, call immediately! The earlier they catch problems, the better" and others say "No, he's perfectly fine. My kid didn't talk until X years old." But, after putting it off for a couple months and seeing very little progress, I decided to call. Both of them were REALLY nice. The main one who is in charge of everything was super-friendly. She's a SpEd teacher, so she was all on the floor, playing with Isaiah. He took right to her, and hugged her right away. Lots of paperwork. Felt like I was signing over my soul, not requesting an evaluation. LOL. She said that while he's VERY bright and does have great receptive skills, she does feel like he has a delay, expecially since he's not using any consonant sounds. She's going to talk to the speech therapist and we're going to have an official evaluation here at the house next Tuesday. And if need be, set up an IEP for future services. After today's meeting, I'm feeling a lot more confident in my decision. It seems they focus on teaching the parent how to work with the child through their daily routine. Which is what I'm all about. It's NOT going to be him going to a strange place with a strange person, sitting down at a little desk, doing flashcards. Actually, how she was describing it, it was really meshing with my thoughts on unschooling, so that was reassuring. I'll keep post an update after the evaluation, as well as progress!