"Can You Hear Me Now?"

Owen is almost 2 1/2 and although his weight and height are above the average kid his age, his speech is a little bit behind. At his 2 year appointment, and knowing full well that his speech was behind, I expressed some concern and the pediatrician recommended him for the Early Intervention Program through the State.

After his cognitive and social evaluation, which came back awesome, his speech evaluation was done. This didn't come back so great. In fact, he is about 25-50% behind in his speech for his age. To rule out any ear problems (which I knew there would be none), he even had a hearing test done, which was fine as well. Even though Owen wasn't speaking really well, he was understanding EVERYTHING! The therapist told me that sometimes a child won't mimic or say a word because they aren't sure if it is going to come out correctly. So, instead of saying anything, they say nothing. This has been the case with Owen.

For approximately the last 2 months he has been doing "ongoing play-based therapy". The therapist comes to the house once a week and works with one-on-one with Owen. Couple this with the preschool class that he has been in for the last 8 weeks and Owen has learned 12 new words!!!!

Now, I realize that the words he has learned are "simple" words, but he hasn't said them before or even attempted them. They are words like "on," "no," (Owen would shake his head) "hop," "up," "park," "yes," "two," "duck," so on and so forth. He is doing so well. I must admit I thought that he had some developmental issues when he was not talking. But, those fears have been assuaged over and over and I have been reassured there is nothing wrong with Owen.

In any event, my Onie B is catching up with his speech and the therapist has said by the time Owen is 5, I will look at him and wonder whether or not he even had a speech delay. I certainly hope so!