quick update

John had the extensive evaluation today with the developmental specialist (Stephanie) and the speech therapist (Clint). Last night, I told John that "two new friends are going to come play with you tomorrow." He was super excited all morning and quickly got over his shyness when the two new friends wanted to play and talk to him. (-: Clint and Stephanie were very kind and helpful. Their conclusions exactly matched our ideas and intuitions: that John is a very bright boy who just doesn't need to talk right now, and so he doesn't. He is quite far behind the "average" child his age in expressive language skills, but in receptive language skills--and in every other developmental area--he is right on track. They were impressed that he knows all his colors and uses the potty chair (sometimes!). Since he will be three in about four months (when he no longer qualifies for this program), they are going to come more often for speech therapy, at least initially. Clint said, "the key is to find what it is that will motivate him to use words." He used drinks of soda for his daughter. Ha ha!! So I wasn't off base to bribe John with chocolate before!!

Clint also asked me to define what it is that concerns me with John's speaking. I had to think for a moment. And then I said, "I'm concerned because he has had very little progress in his speech in the last year. More than that, I want him to be able to communicate with people outside of his family, who can't understand what he's trying to tell them. I want him to be able to talk to kids at the park (and other places) so he can play with them."

Both of the therapists took time to ask questions about John's personality, his habits, and how he responds to different scenarios. I appreciated the holistic look into John's life and agreed with their assessment that he's a great kid with plenty of brains--and no one will know when he's in first grade that he was a late talker. It's good to hear...now I need to stock up on M&Ms!

scooting around

It's amazing how quickly a baby can change from being a cute sack of potatoes (see Hava, age 1 day):...


To a sitting, rolling, crawling, snuggling, spit-bubble-blowing, laughing, playing girl (see Hava, 7.5 months old):

I love this age...she's so much fun (and work!)!

flying high

A couple days ago we took advantage of a very windy day and broke out our Christmas gift from the lovely Lewises--a kite! John flew it on his own, like he was a pro. Here's the proof:


Let's go fly a kite

video!

words & apples

Enjoy!

evaluation

[If you didn't get the update from yesterday, start below...]

The AZEIP evaluator, Christine, came this morning. John got a score of 30 in the area of speech. A "typical" 30-month old (John is 31 months) scores about 38.5. Christine was surprised at his high score, but I think it's because he is just fine on communicating (not talking) and on his receptive language scores. Even though he scored high (she expected him to score in the teens), she is still recommending that a development specialist and speech language pathologist come to our house for a two hour evaluation (today's was less than 45 minutes). Though he can understand and communicate, he only uses about 10 words/phrases, and that's more than 50 percent behind the average. She also said that based on her initial evaluation, John would qualify for the preschool. We found out that it's at the elementary school about 3 blocks from our house (yay!) and that there is a mix of developmentally delayed and developmentally average kids. I was wondering how they would teach John to talk if all the kids were mute boys and girls!

Now we're waiting for the next evaluation. Apparently the speech language pathologist gets on the floor with the kids he evaluates and plays with them for two hours! Won't John eat that right up? (-: Christine recommended that we plan for a long nap that day because he'll be exhausted from all the fun. I'm encouraged and eager to see what the next specialists have to say. Hooray for government programs that help kids succeed!

P.S. In totally unrelated news, Hava is days away from crawling. She does a scoot/lunge/face-plant move now that does the trick but soon she'll be really crawling. Oh boy!

help for John

If you've talked with us in the last few months you know a big topic around here is the fact that John isn't talking much. He has started saying some useful things like "help me" and "I do" and "all mine" (interestingly, all his new words are actually phrases)--but he still can't say ball or hi or bye. While we aren't worried per se, we are concerned about getting John some help if he needs it. This is especially important so he can communicate to others outside of his circle who want to know his name, and if he wants to play, and how old he is.

So here's the good news. Arizona Early Intervention Program (AZEIP) is a resource for kids with all kinds of delays and/or disorders that are under three years old. John has four and a half months left as an under-three so he qualifies for an evaluation and any necessary assistance, all as a service of the state (free to us). I spoke with a very kind lady this afternoon who explained the process to me...and a few hours later I scheduled an appointment for John to be evaluated tomorrow morning. Tomorrow. What a relief after all these months of waiting to feel like we're moving forward in getting John some help, if he needs it. And if he doesn't need? That would be good too. (-:

The evaluator will test John on every area of development and will give us a figure for how he is developing compared to other kids his age. If he is more than 50 percent behind in his speech (and he is), than she will present her findings to the AZEIP committee on Thursday. Only two days later--hooray! They will select two professionals that will be best suited to fit John's needs; most likely, a speech language pathologist and a developmental therapist. Then this committee, Billy, and myself will set goals for John (e.g. helping him say his name when people say "what's your name?") and these folks will come to our house to work with John and to teach Billy and me how to work with John. The woman asked me, "does that sound ok?"

"That's exactly what we were looking for...thank you." (more tomorrow after the evaluation!)


P.S. what happens when John turns three? If he still needs assistance in catching up with his peers, he may qualify for free preschool through the state--a preschool tailored for kids like him. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm just relieved to have other people (and speech professionals, at that) in on the journey now. Please pray that John will understand that we are helping him and that he will respond well to the new people coming to visit him. Fortunately, he loves visitors! (-: