Speech

My wife just called and it looks like Baby B is done with speech therapy. When Baby B was first tested about 6 months ago, he tested in the 11 month – 15 month range. Now, he is testing at the 27 – 30 month range.

I am beyond excited, relieved, nervous, but most of all, grateful.  I am grateful for the speech therapy program in our county that helps my son. I’m grateful for the therapists that worked with him and got him to where he is today. I’m grateful for all of the guidance and resources that they provided.

Today marks the end of speech therapy, but the beginning of learning even more.

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Repetition, Repetition and more Repetition. That was the theme from Baby B’s first session with the speech pathologist.

I was really amazed at how the speech pathologist not only interacted with Baby B, but maybe even more importantly, Baby A. And when I offered to take Baby A upstairs, she quickly said that Baby A would be one of her biggest helpers in getting his little brother to talk. So as she was working with the boys, talking with them, showing them different animials and showing them the sign language for them, she was teaching my wife and I what we needed to do to help when she is not there. And it came back to repetition.

Perfect example is that she had a box with paper animals in there. And she was knock on top of the box 3 times (again, repetition) and then she would say open. Well, Baby A, he was all over that, as it only took him seeing that 1 time to figure out what to do. Baby B, he was more observant. Studying what was going on and finally he walked over, knocked on the top of the box 3 times and she said Open and he got a toy out. Well, that just sparked it all. But it was that repetition that got it going.

This morning was a good session for him and for us. It gave us some information and tools that we needed to help out.

And tonight, as I prepare dinner and talk with the boys, I’ll be using as much repetition as possible.

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We take it all for granted, until it hits close to home.  As I have blogged about in the past, Baby B has been slow with his speech development. This past week, a Speech Pathologist did an initial evaluation on him and started working with him to encourage him to talk. But, an amazing thing also happened this week too. He started talking. Not a lot. But, he did say 2 new words, Baby and Blue. Though not huge in anyway, but he has not only said them, but he keeps saying them.  And he says them correctly when referring to either a baby or the color blue.

This past week, work has been crazy. A lot going on. I was beyond stressed off and I was getting close to the end of my patience. And then something happened. I was playing with the boys and I asked Baby B where his hair was? And he touched his hair. Then we proceeded to go through all of the body parts and for the first time, he touched each and every single one of them as I asked.  And as he sat and smiled, holding his toes, he pointed to my shirt and said “Blue”. At the end of a rough week and all that I have been wanting is for my son to say something, anything, he says “Blue”. I could have cried. And then for him to go through all of the body parts was equally as exciting.

Maybe his delayed speech development is attributed to his brother talking for him? Maybe he just did not have anything to say?  Maybe the speech pathologist helped?

Regardless the reason, he did it. He is beginning to talk. Speech is the form of communication that we know, but it was something that Baby B was not ready to do.

So, we encourage him to talk more. We are still separating them on Saturday mornings.  And we continue to ask questions and help him learn new words. We are still waiting on the report from the Speech Pathologist, but this is a good start.

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We knew it. We had talked about it, but when the Dr. mentioned the words “Delayed Speech” at the boys 2 year check up, it hit me hard.

As a parent, you never want your children to suffer any pain or have struggles in life. So, when the Dr. suggested that Baby B should see a speech pathologist for delayed speech, it was hard.  I realize that you should never compare your children, but when you have twins, it is hard not to. It is hard not to look at one boy that is saying 3 word sentences and then look at the other and they are only making sounds and wonder if there is something wrong?

I had already made up my mind that if the Dr. did not bring up the speech problem, that I would. But it was obvious from just observing the boys in the office, that the Dr. quickly picked up that Baby A was doing all the talking and Baby B, well he was making sounds of letters and pointing at the Dinosaur (which he loves) and making Dinosaur sounds, but the words, just were not there. The Dr. tried to ask him questions and encourage him to speak and he wouldn’t say a word, just sounds. And that was when the Dr. turned and said, “I am not concerned, but, I think that he needs to see a speech pathologist.”

My heart sank. My mind went racing.

And then the Dr. quick put our concerns at ease. He calmed the worst of the fears by assuring us that he isn’t Autistic. He calmed our fears by figuring out that Baby A, he talks for both of them, so why should Baby B talk? And then he gave us suggestions, like separating them a little more and spending more 1 on 1 time together. Reading more at night. Less tv, even though their tv time is really limited.

So, I did like most parents would do on the drive home, I called my mom. Now, my mom has been an elementary school teacher for 42 years, so she has experience in this. And she did as any parent should do, she put my mind at ease. And then after I hung up with her, I walked around the grocery store for an hour, just trying to process it all. But in reality, there wasn’t anything to process. It isn’t like we are dealing with something major. I mean, it is important for him to get help and to start speaking sentences, but as I have found online, this isn’t an uncommon thing for the 2nd child of twins and especially twin boys.

The speech pathologist is coming out next week for the assessment. And until then, I ask questions and hope that he will start saying words on his own.

More to come.

// Resources //

Here were a few articles that I found to be very helpful >
Kids Health – Delayed Speech or Language Development
Parenting – Guide to Speech Delays
Baby Center – What Should I do if my 2-year-old doesn’t talk yet?

Disclaimer – I am not a Doctor and nor do I give out medical advice. I have stayed in a Holiday Inn, once, but still doesn’t qualify me to give any advice. Talk with your Doctor, as they actually went to school for this stuff. They can help you a lot more than I can.

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