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!