We were on the fence about whether or not he needed to be evaluated. In our minds he is still a baby, mainly because we are in denial as to how stinking fast the last three years have gone. But, indeed, Aaron is three, Benjamin will be one soon (eek!!) and in a few short months Nathaniel will be finished with Kindergarten.
*sigh*
We realized that there were issues with Aaron's speech when more often than not we were looking to Nathaniel and saying, "Can you translate please?" when Aaron would say a sentence. So, at his three year well check up I asked the pediatrician what she thought and, after listening to Aaron speak, she wrote me a referral to get him evaluated.
I always wondered how I would react if one of my kids needed some extra help. I wondered if I would be on the side of over reacting and trying to get help for my kid who actually didn't need help, or if I would be a parent in denial, refusing to see anything out of the ordinary with my child and living out of a fear of labels.
Imagine my mixed relief sitting in the therapist's office today watching her write down notes while asking Aaron to name pictures and point out different things. Why yes, Aaron, those are in fact two dog. (No s on the end)
And the monkey IS eating a mannananana (or something like that, it all runs together).
Turns out what I thought was a lazy tongue (the kid drools A LOT for being three) is actually mild speech Apraxia. Not a big deal, but easier dealt with at the age of 3 rather than waiting until he is in elementary school.
While we could go through the school district, we've opted for a private therapy place because our insurance is great right now, and it would be a pain in my butt to go through the school district since we are usually about 5 miles away from our school district on any given day. I'm hoping that by summer it will be a thing of the past and I will finally be able to understand exactly what it is that he wants without saying, "What?" a billion times.
And hopefully he will be able to confidently speak what he's thinking and know that he will get what he needs/wants.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing this whole "mom" thing right. After all, I yell at my kids when I'm tired and my patience is low and they are Just. Not. Listening. I let them play in the backyard unsupervised (it's all enclosed), and when they are fighting and punches are thrown I tell them to work it out.
I've also been known to use sarcasm at times. (I know, shocker).
But, in the past two weeks three separate people who are not in my inner circle have told me that I'm a good mom. These are people who see me in the rushed morning dropping kids off at school, when I'm at my most stressed out from a morning of playing, "For the love of everything that is holy just get your stinking shoes on! I don't care if he stole your blanket, it's not coming with us anyways just Get. Your. Shoes. On!!!"
It's been a good ego boost.
That, and seeing the smiles that are reserved for me from my boys and hearing their secrets at night. I'm cherishing it because I know in the blink of an eye they will be teenagers. :)
1 comment:
As a kid who had (futile, in my opinion) speech therapy, I have some points:
1) Good for looking into private. It may have been FD, but their speech therapy didn't do much for me. Maybe it was too late, so a pat on the back to you (and Dr) for doing something about it now.
2) Since I believe a mix of a talkative older sister and a reserved personality was a piece of my problem, I would suggest to try to limit the big brother effect as much as possible (in addition to therapy). As easy as it may be, don't ask Nathaniel to translate- force Aaron to work through it himself. Don't answer for Aaron (or allow N to) but teach him that he has to do it himself. If other people are always talking for you, why bother taking the trouble to speak clearer?
I'm glad that I'm not the only mother ready to tear her hair out just trying to get everyone out the door on time.
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