Speech Path. Appointment
We had E’s speech pathology appointment today. The pathologist was very nice, very thorough in her “interview” and test (the test was geared to us) and great with her interaction with E.
As we expected, she scored quite low on her expressive language. But we were surprised to learn that she was also testing well below her age for receptive languague. She is testing at 10 months for her expressive language skills and 13 months for her receptive language skills (11 & 8 months behind her chronological age). The pathologist’s biggest “red flag” was that E still uses one word (partial-word, actually) to mean several things. “da” can mean dad, help, head, hat, thank you & bye-bye. She has a couple words she does this. After initial testing, they are labeling her as pre-Apraxiac. Early Intervention really wants a 12-month delay before they’ll get involved but labeling her as pre-Apraxiac (something they suspect now but can’t officially declare until about 24 months old), that should get her into EI sooner.
She gave us the information on EI and I will call them on Monday.
Sounds like it might work out to get her in there! Hope so.
Good luck with it all!
This blog entry comes at an interesting time for us. I just posted to our parenting e-mail groups about Lucas’s 15-month checkup, and the doctor encouraged us to make speech therapy/audiology appointments for him. Just to make sure that he’s doing OK [he's only saying "Mama" and "Dada" at this point and babbling up a storm]. Holding good thoughts for E.
Wow, I am glad you got her tested… and now she can get the help she needs. I hope you start seeing her making progress by leaps and bounds!!!
Hi Tricia! Catching up…thanks for the comments on my blog.
Sorry to hear about E’s speech delays, but I am so impressed by how on the ball with it you are staying. It’s not easy when your child has a “problem” that needs to be addressed…I speak to that end from experience. Just try to keep up a positive attitude and talk to lots of other moms, including us here, hehe.
E will be fine, you are a great mom and are doing the best thing for her, by getting her some help. Eventually, this will all be a faded memory, and she’ll be talking your ears off.
Early Intervention is great! In most places, you will have to get help through the public school system once your child turns 3, so the more help you can get before that point, the better (school services are often inferior to EI and private services). I have two children who have been through speech therapy, so I know!