Update on Tooter

I've had some requests for an update on how Toot's doing with his speech et al, so let me see what I can organize in my head.

He is continuing to improve. There aren't any "ah ha" moments where he goes from zero to sixty, verbally. He tends to work on words/phrases very slowly. So when he finally gets around to saying things, it doesn't have the drama that saying a new word usually does. But, he is improving. I notice that he one of his "problems" is that he doesn't want to just say one word. Instead of just saying "pathta" to get some dry pasta to munch on, he'll try to say the whole sentence of "may I have some pathta please". While he can say all these words, prompted, if he tries them one at a time, when he tries to verbalize the entire sentence at once, it will come out something like: "meh da da da da pathta peeeeeeeeeeese". And sometimes, he gets so caught up in the jibberish of the sentence, he won't say anything clearly BUT the "peeeeeeeese". Which makes us have to get him to show us what he wants. Then we go thru the process of helping him say the correct sentence.

He had a progress update with his speech therapist a few weeks ago. He tested just barely inside the accepted range for his age for receptive language, and just below the accepted range for expressive language. Claire told us that one of the things that tripped him up on the expressive language part was saying things like "eat" when he should have said "eating".

Some of his words have noticeably improved. For example "mickey mouse" used to be "hah-caaaaah" not but a few months ago. Now, we hear requests for "mickeeeey mouse" on a regular basis. He is actually responding to those kids shows on Disney and ETV where they make efforts to engage the viewer. In other words, when Mickey asks "will you help us find the colors?", Toot will now say "yeth!" out loud, instead of just looking at the t.v. So that's definitely an improvement. And, he is able to play with Poodle a lot more easily these days. There is still frustration when she gives multiple directions for some complicated game of hers and he has no idea what is supposed to come next. But she has gotten used to dealing with his lack of communication and he has gotten better with working with her. So, that's nice to see.

I have discovered that when he gets to repeating the same thing over and over again, that it helps for me to make him repeat what I'm trying to say to him, one word at a time. It helps him to hear me. Or maybe it forces him to not tune me out. Not sure. For example, when he gets upset because I won't pick him up, I'll get him to repeat the sentence "Mommy. Will. Pick. Tooter. Up. When. Tooter. Quits. Crying." (one word at a time). It doesn't always make the crying stop, but you CAN see a wave of understanding cross his face.

And finally, while he's still below where he is "supposed" to be verbally for his age range, he is singing the alphabet song, knows all of his letters and their sounds, and loves to have someone write letters and numbers for him. (This "game" can go on for what seems like an eternity sometimes!) He still doesn't sit still for stories, and mostly likes books that require interaction on his part. But, when he is asked to be still for storytime, he was worked up to being able to sit for almost a minute before he starts getting fidgety and has to get up to do something else. He pretty much knows his shapes, and is getting better with his colors.

So, we're progressing. It's slow, and it's not "what Poodle did". But, then, he's not her. And he's not supposed to be. And every once in a while, I actually manage to remember that. :-)