Talkin' about....Henry

Today at Toddler Lab, we had Henry's six month evaluation. Ken and I were both frustrated and were trying to communicate our concerns. Our Head coordinator interrupted us, "But Laurie, stop and look at how far he has come in the last six months!"

Pause....

I guess it's time to write this down just so that I can gain perspective and celebrate how much progress Henry really has made in the last six months.

It was shortly after Henry had turned 2, I contacted our Primary President in our ward, who also works for Health and Welfare. I was at a breaking point. I had a 2 year old who was out of control. I couldn't do anything with him. He would throw himself into tantrums that would damage everyone and everything that was in his way. He was unable to calm himself down. I finally resorted to putting him in the laundry room until his cry changed from rage to something more workable. He was not sleeping at night so I was exhausted, he would not eat, and he did not talk. I had read a book on sensory disorder and decided that he had some issues that were beyond my "mom expertise". Our Primary President set us up immediately with a case worker and we began Henry's early intervention.

It was determined that his development was delayed, about 12 months, his speech was at a nine month old, comprehension was at 12 months, and he definitely had sensory issues. The first recommendation was to have his tonsils removed, so in April we had that surgery done. That was a miracle cure. Since then he sleeps soundly, his behavior has improved and he is a whole new kid. He still has break downs but nothing like before. Only about one a day compared to ALL DAY LONG. I'll take it....for now.

It was also recommended that he begin therapy for speech, comprehension, development, sensory and behavior. I opted to begin with speech, development, and sensory. (Why not all of them? um, to begin with, I have five other kids and I'm in school full time, I can't be in therapy all the time.)

We started with a speech therapist that I did not like. After 2 months, I switched to our current therapist. LOVE HER! We also started with sensory at a provider, but after 4 months, I intervened and we are now at the same facility for both sensory and speech. His speech is 2 days a week for a half hour each time and his sensory is 45 minutes once a week.

Development has been in our home for 45 minutes every other week. We have loved the therapist that Henry has worked with.

When we started down this road six months ago, Henry would not go to any therapy. He would scream the entire time. It was painful for everyone. Then one day something just clicked. He has not had a problem since. He goes to everything without any protest. We even caught him actually enjoying himself on several occasions.

So, a couple weeks ago, the Health Department called us to let us know that Henry had been accepted into their toddler lab and that is was time to promote him from individual developmental therapy to group therapy. This is a transition time because once he turns three he moves out of the Child Development Program and into the public school preschool program.

Fast Forward to today: Henry LOVES preschool and he really enjoys his therapy sessions. He plays with tons of new toys, eats fun foods, feels like a big kid, and NEVER says a word. Not even a voiced sound. Just nods and points.

Our frustration is: Why isn't he talking?

His hearing has been checked and re-checked. Perfect hearing!
He has a voice because he jabbers all the time....at home, not at therapy or school.
He makes no hard sounds, only vowel type sounds and has a small vocabulary.
He says ma, da, tay-tu(thank-you), no, go, whoa,...you get the idea.
When we started this he had just turned 2 and tested a nine month old in speech.
He is now 4 month from turning 3 and he has improved to 13 months old.

We are now preparing to have him seen by a pediatric behavior/neurologist (or something like that) because no one has any answers or explanations.

We are told that he is controlling his voice. Meaning, when someone wants him to speak, he whispers or refuses to make a sound. But when he wants to talk, he is very loud.

I say, Okay...but, why then when he does choose to speak do no words ever come out?????

I know kids that are shy or quiet or just don't like to talk. And when they do talk it surprises everyone because they talk in big huge sentences.

I know, he'll do it when he's ready.....

Until then, I'm frustrated because my days are filled with preschool and therapy and therapy and preschool and therapy with no progress being made and no answers to help me feel like it's okay.

The End!