Speech Graduate

Almost 7 months ago, Bubba, Baby and I walked into a speech evaluation, not knowing what was to come. He was barely speaking (1-2 words) and often grunted or screamed to communicate. He did not point at things and rarely made gestures. Through the course of the evaluation, we discussed his birth and language history. We talked about how he never babbled as a baby and would cry for hours. Then, Baby and I watched as Bubba tried to name colors, pictures, letters, and numbers. I felt horrible for him because I was watching him slowly drown in a sea of words. He was frustrated and anxious. Finally, he gave up and refused to pay attention any longer. At that point, the speech therapist explained what we already knew, Bubba had a speech delay.

We began speech once a week for thirty minutes, homework for the week, and group speech at school. I labeled everything in our house with a picture and a word. I began forcing Bubba to talk. When he grunted Evander and I would say "Use your words." It was horrible watching him as he refused to speak. He would scream and become aggressive, but we wouldn't budge. He had to attempt to say something or he would get nothing. Slowly but surely, words started to come and then, when we started the GFCF diet, words spilled out. The sea of words he was drowning in were inside of him all the time. Now, though, it was a waterfall of noun and verb combos, followed by complete sentences. It was amazing!

Now, let's fast forward to today. Bubba went into speech today reluctantly. I warned the therapist that it was "one of those days", so I wasn't expecting much of a report at the end of the session. What I got, however, stunned me, no matter what the day.

"It is time for Bubba's re-evaluation," the therapist said.

"I thought it was around that time," I said.

"And, Bubba has met all but 1 of his speech goals and seems to be staying on target" she continued, "so I really don't see any reason why he should continue."

"Continue what?" I questioned.

"Continue speech," she explained.

"Really...we're done? Just like that? He is appropriate for his age level?" I stammered.

"Yes, he is. He has really done fabulous and made tremendous progress in such a short amount of time," she said.

I immediately picked Bubba up and gave him a big kiss. I expected that he would graduate from speech before kindergarten, but I had no idea it would be so soon. He is, after all, speaking in sentences and responding appropriately to questions, but I am still in shock. All I have to say is...speech recovery, check!

We will still begin speech therapy through the school district when he begins PPCD. This is so that he will maintain his speech and begin to work on articulation, but overall he is at age level. One less therapy to attend!