I have more pictures and stories from our Thanksgiving trip, but am unable to load those pictures onto the blog. It seems there's only so long you can use a blog server for free before you use up all your photo storage space. So no pictures for a while, until I switch blog platforms... stay tuned.
In the meantime - an update on Charlie's speech therapy. He was tested a couple weeks ago, and fortunately it was a day that he was feeling cooperative. The results? He is now in the "normal" range for kids his age, as far as vocabulary and sounds.
Good news, I know! I am happy. But yet... I have to constantly remind myself how far he has come, because I can hear that he has a long way to go before a stranger can understand a lot of what he says. A speech pathologist would tell me that's not the goal right now - that there are a lot of two and a half year olds who people can't understand!
So to remind myself and you... Back in July, Charlie's vocabulary was approximately 30 words, many of them partial words/sounds. One of the goals we set in his original plan was to have him be able to verbally respond "yes" when asked questions! Now we can't even keep track of his words, since new ones appear daily. As do sentences and songs. He is a constant echo - repeating whatever he hears, especially things his brother says. He is always counting things and makes his way through about half of the alphabet. Big changes.
So, what we've opted to do going forward is reduce the frequency of Charlie's sessions with the therapist. I haven't seen it doing much good the last couple months anyway; he has truly lost interest in playing the game. I have learned a lot by participating in the sessions, so we will continue to work with Charlie as much as we can without frustrating him. The therapist will come once a month, so I can ask questions, to check in, and make sure the progress is continuing.
I've been both amused and horrified by the amount of paperwork involved in special education; the state sure isn't making efforts to save any trees. So when I had to sign my name over and over again to approve the new Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP), I was happy to find two sentences that were actually meaningful - a summary of Charlie's progress and obstacles:
"Charlie has an age appropriate vocabulary and uses it correctly to request, comment, and label. He tends to have difficulty with speech sounds in the final position of words and general speech intelligibility at the phrase and sentence level."
There you have it. Onward we go!
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