The Princess' Speech

For those with nothing to do, here's a (long) 'journaling' post about Aria and her speech development that we've been dealing with for a long time.

It started around Christmas 2010. Aria was a little behind on her talking- but I didn't really care. Some kids are good at one thing, some are good at another.
My sisters were in town and my little sister (Katie) asked my older sister (Gina) if her almost-one-year-old son  (who is 4 months younger than Aria) was talking yet. Gina said No, but he was babbling and making all of the different consonant sounds- so he would start talking soon.

I had realized already that Aria didn't really babble- when she was a baby or even after she turned one. She just growled. It was hilarious. I thought "no big deal, she would rather growl than try to talk" But when Gina said her son was using all of the consonant sounds I realized that Aria was not doing the same. At the time the only noise she made were "aaah" (like the 'a' in 'talk') and "daa" and she would do a kind of growling noise that used to make people in sacrament laugh because she would just sit and growl like a little bear or something.

So, I started paying attention and realize she didn't even really try to use verbal communication. Then at a doctor's appointment (for something totally different) I mentioned it to the doctor- we stayed in the exam room for an extra half an hour so she could sit and listen to Aria. She agreed that Aria was very "behind" in her language development. She agreed with me that it was probably no big deal- but that we might as well get her checked- just to make sure.

So I was connected with AZEIP. They came to our house once and watched Aria a little, then sent someone else over to do further evaluations. The second visit involved a speech therapist and a developmental specialist (whatever that is)

As far as the developmental things went she was great; good fine motor and gross motor- and they kept saying how socially advanced she was- which was no shock to us- she's our friendly little girl.
For the speech- First they asked how many words she could say and then they asked if she had any signs- and if you know me, you know that Aria did know sign language. I was able to list over 30 signs that she knew.

Well, officially they consider a sign a word so it seemed as if she could say over 30 words according to what they put in their paperwork. Which means she was not behind but quite advanced! (she was only 18 months). They told me there was no way that she would get approved because she has over 30 words.

I was frustrated, once I began to watch her I knew it was something more than Aria being a slow talker. I mentioned that I was not concerned about a mental inability to speak, but a physical one.
So they decided to watch her eat and drink and a few other things and noticed some motor problems with her mouth and her chewing.
So we got pushed onto some more evaluations and she ended up being approved.

Aria had a couple months with a developmental specialist every week, and then they decided that since it was still showing signs of being a physical rather than a mental impairment they switched her to a speech pathologist.

Cindy, our speech pathologist, met Aria and said that her tongue is too far forward, and as is common in children with this problem she did have the right neck support either.
Nothing seriously wrong, but at least we were figuring it out. We were given homework to do with Aria to encourage to push her tongue back, support with her neck, and strengthen her lip muscles. This involved drinking through straws (and licorice) blowing whistles, etc.
We quickly saw some improvement.
Right at her 2nd birthday she was up to speaking about 10-15 words, which was still 'behind' but improving.

At 2.5 years old we had to submit another evaluation for Aria. So we had to list all of the words she can say. It was over 50. Her pronunciation was still awful--- probably worse than Parker's was at his first birthday- but it's a big step in the right direction.

Then at the beginning of summer they informed us that she would no longer qualify for the speech pathologist when she turned 3. So we would have to go through Dysart School District

We were told that since she was only speech delayed (not delayed in cognitive, social or motor development) she wouldn't qualify for full preschool because of budget cut backs- which is fine with us. So we went through the evaluation process (hauling 3 kids over to the district for four long meetings.) And then SURPRISE! they qualified her for full preschool because her articulation is so bad.

Just because I think it's funny here are some examples of how bad her articulation is:

broccoli and pocket both sound like 'ockey'
Winnie the Pooh and paper both sound like 'beepoo'
Cake, cut and cook all sound exactly the same.

Anyway- she qualified for free preschool, but I do not want my little three year old going to school. Those administrators looked at me like I had lost my mind when I asked if I could turn it down and just use speech therapy sessions. They clearly thought I was out of my mind for wanting her to be home with me.
And actually they couldn't answer me right away because they said "no one has ever asked that before" most people are on the other side, trying to convince the administrators to give them free preschool when they don't qualify and here I am trying to turn it down.

They tried to convince me several ways, including telling me that a bus service was free with the program also- WHAT?!?! I'm supposed to be excited about my three year old being stuck on a bus everyday? I don't think so!

Well, all their convincing couldn't sell me on having my children taught outside the home, especially in a government run institution.

Overall though, we have seen amazing progress with her speech. Lately she adds a new word to her vocabulary at least once a day, and her pronunciation has a long way to go, but it's definitely going in the right direction.