Speech Therapy

Today was a big day for Ben. He started speech therapy. It is something that we have been struggling with for about a year now. He started talking really late. He didn't say mama or dada until after he was 1. Since that time, he has just been late at saying things. Not a real big deal. Then the more he talked, the more we had trouble understanding him. We had him tested for Early Intervention last year. He didn't qualify because his language understanding was off the charts. He has a great grasp on language it is just the articulation that is the problem.

So after that we didn't worry too much about it. Then over the last couple of months, it has become more of an issue. He is falling behind the other kids in his class in speech. It is also so sad to us when he is trying to tell us something and we just can't understand. We only understand about 50% of what he is saying. At his age it should be more around 80%. So we knew there was a problem. I don't know if it was a pride issue or what but we kind of just didn't do anything about it. It is not easy to admit your child has a problem. But as the frustration grew on all our parts we decided to get him tested again. This time we went through the local school system. He qualified for services because his articulation does have some issues. His main problems are Ds, Bs and Hs. We got him all signed up for services last week. It was sort of hard signing all the IEP papers but we know this is what is best for him.

So today he started. We are so thankful that he qualified for services through the school system. It is amazing what they offer for preschoolers for free. He will be going once a week for 30 minutes. The school that is just 4 minutes away. It is also the school he will attend when he starts kindergarten so if he still needs therapy it will just continue. So good. The therapist is awesome!! We feel so blessed.

He did great this morning. He walked in and got right to work. Mrs. Busby said he was so smart and worked so hard. She says it won't be long at all until we are seeing great results. We are excited because we so want to understand what he is saying! He has "homework" to do each week so we will be working on that hard each week.

He was excited this morning to go to the "big school." I am so proud of him and all he is going to accomplish.