and his early interventionist
As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post or two, we have been a little concerned about Andrew’s vocabulary for a few months. Despite our best efforts to talk to, read to, and teach this child everything we possibly could, he just wasn’t close to saying 200 words like a 2-year-old is supposed to be able to do, and two-word phrases were non-existent. So, a few weeks ago, we referred him for special speech services through the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control.
This whole process has been a learning experience for us, as well as Andrew. In 1986, Congress passed legislation mandating that children ages 0-3 with special concerns get the help they need, free of charge, before they reach the school systems. This early intervention is available to any family in our country and the program names vary from state to state (in SC, it’s called BabyNet). In my opinion, the program is one of the few positive uses of working Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.
First, an intake person came out to do a 3-hour assessment of Andrew to see if he qualified for services. Once he did, we were set up with an early interventionist (EI) who further assessed him and created, together with us, the general goal of increasing Andrew’s vocabulary. The EI then put us in contact with a speech therapist (ST) who did yet another evaluation and assessment. The ST determined, as we agreed, Andrew is perfectly normal with receptive language – he gets it. He understands everything that is said. For whatever reason, though, his expressive language is moderately delayed.
Hence, our objective: increasing Andrew’s expressive vocabulary to 200 words over the next few months in order to decrease his frustration and improve his communication skills. To accomplish this, the EI comes once a week for 60 minutes, and the ST comes on a different day once a week for 60 minutes. They both direct him through speech-related play activities that he LOVES. He screams with delight when he sees each one of them at the door with their special box of toys. They work with me during the sessions, as well, and I am given “homework” to focus on with Andrew for the remainder of the week.
So far, we’ve been focusing on consciously narrating Andrew’s play in detail (i.e. “Push the truck. Put the car on top of the truck. Point to the truck’s windshield. Open the door.”), practicing repetitions of certain tricky vowel-consonant combinations (i.e. the “OW’ as in “cow”), and using sign language in conjunction with the spoken words for reinforcement of understanding. We’ve already started seeing glimpses of improvement and are really impressed with the whole program. It’s tough to admit that your child isn’t just perfect in every possible way, but we are so glad we did and have gotten him (and ourselves) some great help.
As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post or two, we have been a little concerned about Andrew’s vocabulary for a few months. Despite our best efforts to talk to, read to, and teach this child everything we possibly could, he just wasn’t close to saying 200 words like a 2-year-old is supposed to be able to do, and two-word phrases were non-existent. So, a few weeks ago, we referred him for special speech services through the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control.This whole process has been a learning experience for us, as well as Andrew. In 1986, Congress passed legislation mandating that children ages 0-3 with special concerns get the help they need, free of charge, before they reach the school systems. This early intervention is available to any family in our country and the program names vary from state to state (in SC, it’s called BabyNet). In my opinion, the program is one of the few positive uses of working Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars.
First, an intake person came out to do a 3-hour assessment of Andrew to see if he qualified for services. Once he did, we were set up with an early interventionist (EI) who further assessed him and created, together with us, the general goal of increasing Andrew’s vocabulary. The EI then put us in contact with a speech therapist (ST) who did yet another evaluation and assessment. The ST determined, as we agreed, Andrew is perfectly normal with receptive language – he gets it. He understands everything that is said. For whatever reason, though, his expressive language is moderately delayed.
Hence, our objective: increasing Andrew’s expressive vocabulary to 200 words over the next few months in order to decrease his frustration and improve his communication skills. To accomplish this, the EI comes once a week for 60 minutes, and the ST comes on a different day once a week for 60 minutes. They both direct him through speech-related play activities that he LOVES. He screams with delight when he sees each one of them at the door with their special box of toys. They work with me during the sessions, as well, and I am given “homework” to focus on with Andrew for the remainder of the week.
So far, we’ve been focusing on consciously narrating Andrew’s play in detail (i.e. “Push the truck. Put the car on top of the truck. Point to the truck’s windshield. Open the door.”), practicing repetitions of certain tricky vowel-consonant combinations (i.e. the “OW’ as in “cow”), and using sign language in conjunction with the spoken words for reinforcement of understanding. We’ve already started seeing glimpses of improvement and are really impressed with the whole program. It’s tough to admit that your child isn’t just perfect in every possible way, but we are so glad we did and have gotten him (and ourselves) some great help.
6 comments:
Good for you all for being proactive! Our neighbors had their son work with a speech therapist from ages 2-4 and they swear it helped with his reading! Also, I can attest that the words Ben learned to "sign" at daycare were some of the first words he spoke, (and he still uses the sign when he says the word) so that definitely helps!
AMEN SEESTA!!!! I too am a recipient of the "Birth to Three" program services in WV. And....for that matter, are 2 other mothers I know with similar aged children. We are teachers, pr specialists, and opthamologists....and our kids still need a little assistance!! We are simply going to be the mama's who's kids are over their struggles before kindergarten, instead of discovering those issues during school.
I COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED without the guidance I received from my PT, OT, DT during sophie's first year. With her whole medical situation, it was all I could do to stay afloat. They were truly my life line and I still consider them in this capacity!
Yay Andrew!!! and Yay Mama!!!! I'm proud of you!
OK..I had to make another comment because I was tied with Elle for your comments and I had to move up in the rank!!!! haahaha
wow, thanks for the info, i had no idea about these services. good stuff.
It's so great that Andrew loves this! I'm glad that you're happy with it too! It's good to feel as if you are doing everything you possibly can to help your child. That's what I keep telling myself as I eat broccoli every day at lunch and try not to eat cake every evening.
My son went through a similar program when he was Andrew's age and it completely worked!! Good for you for not ignoring the situation and getting the jump on it before school years!! :)
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