Underestimated & Validation

Maggie was a late talker. When she came to us at 17 months, she only spoke about 5 words.  Her vocabulary gradually grew and greatly improved when she started going to Mother's Day Out. However, she was still behind the "normal" track.  She was putting 2 words together around 2 1/2. Over the past few months, really since she started going to preschool, her vocabulary has just blossomed.  She is quite the talker but she has been a little difficult to understand.

Up until recently, we've had no problem interpreting what she was saying, although others struggled.  However, over the past few months, she has grown increasingly more difficult to understand ~ which has just caused her to get really frustrated ~ which is understandable. 

As she gained new experiences and spent more time away from us (aka at school), we were having a harder time understanding her conversations.  We no longer had the context in front of us. It's easy when it happens in front of you and you can figure out what they're talking about.  When her teacher and her play therapist also mentioned that she was hard to understand, we knew that we needed to do something. So, we moved forward with getting Maggie evaluated by a speech pathologist to see if therapy was needed.

On Thursday, we trekked down to TCH in the Medical Center and met with the speech pathologist to get Maggie evaluated.  Ms. Anna was really wonderful to work with and she was great with Maggie.  I was amazed at how well Maggie behaved (thank you!!!!).  The evaluation took about 45 minutes and Maggie actually sat still for the entire thing. This had never been seen before!  (those of you who have been around Maggie for longer than 5 minutes can attest to that!)

They go through a series of tests to check out her actual knowledge and comprehension. I sat in the corner in absolute awe at how well Maggie was doing.  As the tests got harder, I kept thinking - oh, there is no way she's going to know that answer...and then boom...she would answer it correctly.  I was just amazed.  I honestly felt like I should apologize to Maggie for underestimating her!  I mean, I always knew she was smart...but to have someone else tell you is pretty great!  In the end, Maggie scored at a 4+ year old level :)  This was one proud Momma.

Then she moved on to articulation....and this is where it got interesting. Maggie only passed at about 20% level for her age.  She scored below a 2 year old level.  Validation that this was necessary!

The pathologist recommended that Maggie start speech therapy as soon as possible, twice a week for an hour long session.  She wanted to encourage me that even though Maggie's issues were fairly significant, it wasn't without hope (and a lot of hard work!).  The common issues that kids Maggie's age have with speech are not a problem for Maggie.  Those tend to be worked through as time/education/age goes on.  Maggie's issues would definitely need assistance. 

We have tried to do as much as we can on our own (repeating everything she says back to her, asking her to show us what she's talking about, etc) but she needs further help.  So, we have already started working on getting her scheduled in to see a speech therapist not far from the house. Thankfully they are open 8-8 weekdays AND on Saturday!  The other groups are only 8-5 M-F....I just don't see how working parents  can do it?!  We are thankful to have found her therapy group and to be able to get in with them.  There are some insurance requirements (aka more paperwork/red tape) to get her approved for the therapy, but hopefully that won't take long, and we can get her started right away.

Our lives are about to get just a little busier, but it will all be worth it in the end.