Yesterday was my meeting with the speech therapist to discuss the results of Bella's evaluation back in January.
I learned that Bella has a severe language disorder, and will not be going to speech therapy twice a week.
She scored well in the Expressive Communication subtest, meaning she can answer with one word answers or short sentences. Bella can label simple objects she saw, she showed understanding of plurals and she could tell the therapist what actions people were doing in pictures.
Bella had difficulty making three to four word sentences in the evaluation. She was unable to answer 'what' and 'where' questions. She had difficulty answering logic questions such as "What would you do if you were hungry?" She was unable to volunteer any extra information such as talking about family, pets, etc. She also exhibited difficulty with quantity concepts and possessives.
The therapist also noted that Bella has a very short attention span. She was easily distracted during the testing and had problems following directions. Bella wanted to do what she wanted to during the testing session and had to be redirected back to task often. These behavioral issues may have effected the results during the testing session.
Overall, Bella's language scores are below average for her age. So, it was recommended that Bella receive speech therapy to address language skills.
The therapist had a list of goals she wanted to meet in therapy, such as working on language development, increasing attention span and learning basic rules for participating successfully in a preschool setting. Their hopes are to put her in a PICS program next fall, a 1/2 day preschool that would continue to work on Bella's language goals.
I am excited for Bella to start this therapy...she has a hard time expressing herself sometimes, which causes frustration for her and for me. It's hard to hear the word "disorder or disability" when talking about your child...I remember the first paper she handed me had a label of "...for Parents of Children with Disabilities...." and I almost started to cry! One of the many things you don't want you child to feel in their life is stupid or held back in any way.
I feel as if I could have prevented this in many ways...I feel that her pediatrician could have played a bigger part...rather than obsessing so much on her "obesity" as he called it and making comments such as "she could stand to miss a few meals", maybe he could have pointed me in a direction a YEAR ago to correct her speech problem. I have turned alot of the blame inward, and I was very thankful for a comment my mother-in-law made a few weeks back. I was telling her about the speech evaluation and I expressed how much I wish I had worked with Bella more...but then she says to me "How are you supposed to know what to do or where to begin? Just because you are a mother, it doesn't mean you have the cure or the answers to everything that goes wrong with your child." I guess that never occured to me before, I just figured that b/c she is mine I should know what to do.
So, I am very thankful for a new pediatrician on her 3rd Birthday, who noticed a problem and put me on the right direction. She even remembered Bella at Aubree's 15 month appointment, enough to ask "Have you had any success finding help for her speech?" And yes we have, and we are on the right track now...a year too late, but at least we are there.
I wanted to make something for the teacher to say thank you...she has always been so pleasant and caring towards Bella. This gift actually goes back to last year...which is when I found the idea but never got around to making it until last night to give it to her this morning, lol. Procrastination seems to be my middle name lately. But it turned out cute...I lied and told Ms Lester that Bella helped me glue it. When in truth, I did want her to help me, but I left it till the last minute, whoops. Oh well, she did write the MS and her name, tho...hehe...no forging, I promise.
