I made a phone call to our local Early Intervention office (which is now called 'Preschool Special Education' in our neck of the woods) for my Liam. The concern is speech, specifically articulation.
I'm not sure if he will end up needing any services but I asked a friend of mine who works for E.I. for her thoughts. She is on maternity leave right now and we have a weekly play date so she does see Liam regularly. She did a quick screening for me on Friday & recommended that I call.
I made the initial phone call this morning. Now I just need to wait for a call back from the service coordinator to schedule the appointment.
I don't find Liam hard to understand but I am with him all the time. I also do alot of accommodating- for example, if I don't know what he is saying, I ask him to show me or find some other way to figure it out. I have noticed lately that other people really struggle to understand what he is saying. I also started paying attention to his speech & noticed some things. He seems to substitute one letter for another quite often- some of this is age appropriate but I'm not sure that all of it is. He also trills his tongue (like rolling the /r/ sound while speaking Spanish)--I'm not sure how much that matters.
I also feel a bit concerned about Liam's hearing. His 3 year well visit is coming up in June so I am going to make sure I address that with our pediatrician--just in case anything is going on there. Liam does not complain when he has an ear infection...well, not until it is REALLY bad. He had a ruptured ear drum and we didn't know it. But I know that type of thing can cause problems with hearing. So we will cover that base as well.
Whatever the outcome of the evaluation, I just want to get him the right supports if any are needed. I'll let you know how that goes...
*Update: Our appointment is scheduled for Monday, May 24th. I am relieved that we don't have to wait too long!
4 comments:
I hope you can get in to see someone in a reasonable amount of time, the problem with services is the wait lists can be months. we signed our middle guy up for speach help about 6 months ago and still haven't been given an appointment. it's so frustrating. Keep working with him at home in the mean time!
We are fortunate to live in a good area for services and they are free! He should get evaluated within the month. I will have to get updated on how long it would be to get a speech therapist (I used to work closely with them). Hope you get hooked up with services soon!!! Yes, in the meantime, we do what we can, right?
you go, girl! i'm SOOOOO impressed with you taking your own advice... and admitting it live in front of a national audience.
so in case you haven't heard it recently...
YOU ARE SRSLY COOL!!!
Thanks MamaK! I guess I don't consider it something to feel bad about. I would rather Liam get some help with his speech now & figure out the best ways to help him. Before he gets to age an where other kids might make fun of him...I am interested to get some input from a speech therapist :)
Post a Comment