Look Who's Talking!

Reed had his three-month speech re-evaluation yesterday. Sarah, the same speech therapist that evaluated him in October, returned to our home to observe Reed and evaluate his current language level.

In the end, I was told that Reed is really smart. :) Really, I was. He scores above his age level on many of the categories. In a few other categories, he's just exactly where he should be for 23 months.

However, I was also told he is still in the 35-40% range of delay for his expressive speech.

In the last three months, Reed's vocabulary has increased. At his initial eval, he was saying about five words; maybe three of those he was using consistently. Now he'll say any number of words...yeah, yes, yay, no, go, uh-oh, whoa, wow, ow, bob, papa, pop, up, cheese and please (which both sound like "ease"), Elmo (which is "Melmo"), quack, moo, and of course Mama, Daddy, and Bubba (for Drew).

So while that is a definite improvement, he still does not use these words conversationally, or to name an object. He'll call Mama, Daddy and Elmo all by name, but that's it. He can repeat many words (like "Drew" and "Reed" and others) but he does not then repeat them on his own.

At 2 years, he should be using about 50 words consistently.

{Oh, Reed began using his very first two word phrase just over a month ago. Is it "Yes, Mama"? Nope. "Love you"? Nope. While tapping his chest, he says "NO MINE!" Oh yeah. It's awesome.}

Sarah also said that it appears as though Reed might have low muscle tone in his tongue, cheeks, and/or jaw, which could be affecting his physical ability to form words. Reed has a tendency to let his tongue stick out of his mouth when he's concentrating on something (puzzle, books, or when he's just really into a toy) and that tends to be a sign of such muscle weakness. We've noticed this before and Sarah observed it while she was here.

The jist is that he's a smart kid. He just can't talk yet.

So...weekly speech therapy it is!

Our service coordinator has made arrangements for a therapist to come to our home on Thursdays from 12:30-1:30. It's a very play-oriented kind of therapy, which will include building of his vocabulary, object recognition, and exercises to strengthen those lips. :)

It won't be long, folks, and this kid will be talking a blue-streak!