But before I get to that, I want to share how Addi's doing in Gymnastics. She started a month ago and as of today, she has her front roll down. She also stood up and took a few steps on the balance beam. Shortly after that, she lost her balance, grabbed a friend, and created a domino effect of little girls falling off of the beam. They all started giggling, so no worries! Her instructor had the class take turns hanging from the lower of the uneven bars. Addi learned that if she wants to hang on for long, she had to keep her legs really still. She is loving taking both Gymnastics and dance class. That makes me a very happy mommy!
Now, about Speech, Addi is doing great! Ms. Susan is always amazed that Addi will sit and stay focused for the entire 45 minute session. The first concept they worked on today was prepositions. This was a big struggle for Addi and one of the larger areas of concern when her speech was evaluated. She often used the wrong preposition. This will no longer be an area of focus, because Addi has them down now.
The second concept covered today was opposites. It was the first time that Addi jumped into this area. She nailed it after she was given the second example! We'll continue to work on opposites in the days to come. Ms. Susan told me to randomly ask Addi opposites any time we are driving.
The next big concept that Addi has to get down is question words. She sometimes gets them confused. For example, she asked Stephen recently, What old are you? One of Addi's first goals when she started speech was to start asking more questions. So, it's a good thing that she's asking and trying to initiate a conversation. We just have some work to make sure that she uses the correct word.
If Addi continues to make progress like she has been, we'll be down to just a few more sessions. Ms. Susan did say we'll have to work on her letter S for a while. She tends to stick her tongue past her teeth and it'll take us a while to retrain that. Over all though, Addi is doing awesome and I couldn't be more proud of her. The journey to get to this point was on a road paved with so much worry. But now, I'm so confident that Addi's speech will be where it needs to be before she starts Kindergarten.
I'm also very thankful for Ms. Susan. She is an amazing person and works so well with Addi! When we found out that our insurance wasn't going to cover Addi's sessions, she offered to do Addi's therapy at our home at a very affordable rate. I think that speaks volumes as to what kind of person that she is.
Lastly, if you have any questions about Addi's speech therapy, please feel free to ask. We have learned so many great concepts and I'd be more than happy to share what's working for us.
I know you are all so proud of little Addi and her progress! It does sound like she has a really good speech therapist which is good for such a sweet and tenderhearted girl like Addi to help build up her confidence in speech. We are now just waiting to see if we think Brody will have any difficulties with forming his words and learning various speech concepts as his speech hopefully continues to grow. S's were always a little hard for me (and many of the sounds in my own name since those are some of the trickiest letter sounds to make...S, Sh, R). I don't think you are going to have to worry a bit about Addi's abilities in kindergarten. Although I know all children are different, I think she has the building blocks for success through what you are giving her at home!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragment Sherry! I can imagine that your name was hard to say as a little girl. Addi has trouble with S & R sounds too. Ms. Susan has told us that most kids correct those sounds on their own by the age of six. Addi was forming such bad habbits, that we'll have to work with her for a while. Brody's speech seems to be exploding her lately! I think that little guy is going to have a lot to say. =)
DeleteMy little one is a late-talker, and the doctor says she is still on track. But I can't help but worry...er, wonder if she's doing OK! At what age did you notice your Addi might need some additional assistance? Any resources you can point to? Thanks for being willing to share!
ReplyDeleteUp to the age of 3, Addi met all of her milestones. Even so, I suspected a problem. At her 3 year-old check up, she met most of her speech milestones, but there were a few that she didn't meet. That really made me concerned, although her pedi didn't think it was a problem. Addi's a tricky case. She has a delay in her expressed speech, however, her language skills are just fine. In short, there are things she understands, but can't always say. She also says a few letter sounds incorrectly. Our main concern though, was that she wasn't fully engaging in conversation. We'd only get a few exchanges at a time with her. We started seeking out help when she turned 3 1/2. At that point, I was very worried and it was starting to get the best of me. We reached out to her pedi's office. They referred us to a private speech path. For us, it was a slow process - paperwork got miss filed, insurance couldn't decide what they wanted to do...it was crazy! I would start by reaching out to your pedi's office. For me, I called in and talked to our favorite nurse. State by state, different programs are offered. In Oklahoma, there is a program called Sooner Start that helps children up to the age of 36 months. After that, children can seek help in their school district. Another route is a private speech path. That's the route that we went. Hope that helps!
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ReplyDeleteTracy -- I am just so glad to hear this. It sounds like Addi is doing really well. And yay! for amazing therapists. I thank God every day for the one who worked with Rachel, especially when I hear Rachel attempting to say words like "rutabaga" or singing herself a song.
ReplyDeleteAnd that image of Addi and the domino effect of girls falling just made me laugh. I'm so glad no one was hurt or upset though.
I'm so glad that Rachel is doing so well! What a huge blessing!!! There's been a few times when I've felt tears well up in my eyes from Addi asking or saying something to me.
DeleteI was glad that no one was upset either when Addi made everyone fall. Some parents take sports/dance/gymnastics way to serious, so I was a little worried at first. But when I saw them all giggling, I just laughed and thought, yep, that's my daughter. =)