Thursday, February 19, 2009

Speech Evaluation

Britton had his first evaluation with the speech pathologist today at our Early Intervention provider, and it went very well. We had been wanting an eval for him now that he is one.

Despite not napping all morning (a rarity lately), he was a little angel at the appt. I was waiting for a meltdown, but the little extrovert in him came out. She pulled out a box of toys and he crawled right over to her, and played and smiled and flirted with her for nearly an hour. Mom, who?? She introduced him to bubbles, which he thought were the most enthralling things in the world.

She asked us a ton of questions, and he a "scored" with just a minor delay ... enough to qualify for therapy, which we are happy about. So, we will see her twice a month, and will work on adding to his one-word vocabulary. She gave us some marching orders to encourage his sounds, introduce sign language and phase out the pacifier.

She also said that autism spectrum disorder is not even on her radar for him, thanks to his stellar social skills (he does not get it from me)! We knew that, but it is always great to hear it from an expert.

We are looking forward to having a new friend around! Have I mentioned how much we love EI?!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your post brings tears to my eyes as an EI therapist.... If only all of my clients were as sweet as the Giffens! SO glad you are excited to learn little "extras" you can do to foster B's language. It is so funny... we work so hard to get these little guys to talk and then we wish there was an "off" button. Atleast I do with my talkative 3.5 year old. However, ask Danny if her mommy is the quiet, meek and mild type? Do you all receive your EI in home or center based? Also, what is the eligibility criteria where you are?
Take care and enjoy learning signs!

By God's Design said...

Thanks for the sweet comment! I think a child has to demonstrate a 30% delay to qualify here, though we got in when Britton was just 8 weeks old. We just had our one-year eval, and he scored in between a 0 and 30% delay on the various areas, so they went with the high-end so that we could still technically qualify. His birth was so traumatic that they have said in the past they wouldn't "graduate" him until Danny & I are ready. I hope not, because we really love the guidance they give us. We mostly do in-home therapy, which is awesome. We see the OT once every 3 months, the PT once a month, and will now see Speech twice a month (once at home, once in center). All of our therapists have said they have no concerns about his current and future abilities. They are so awesome and reassuring. Britton is fun for them to work with, I think, as they rarely see a baby do so well. They mostly have CP & Downs babies. Anyway, we are looking forward to working with the Speech therapist. Thanks again for commenting!

Amanda said...

I'm with you -- I'd love to have a child development specialist (not to mention a whole team!) come to my house once a month or so and give me suggestions on helping my kid. . . man, that'd be great!