Saturday, January 26, 2008

Speaking Of Speech...

I have had this post written (and several others) but just haven't really gotten a chance to post them. Today I will try to catch up...

Braeden (The Boy) (I am giving up trying to be anonymous. Cause I keep forgetting) was supposed to have his therapy session again on Wednesday. His therapist called and had to reschedule as her daughter was sick. No problem, I have kids, I understand. But, I did get to have a good conversation with her about B's speech issues and his progress and future plans. It was a conversation that I really needed to have with her. She feels that B is saying many more words than I think he is saying. His pronunciation is just so bad that I am not understanding. Also, with my hearing problems, I may not be hearing what he is saying all of the time. She definitely feels that he does need the therapy. For pronunciation as well as to push him to use words more often. I am not sure how him making sounds that are not understandable is different from just babbling. Speech, to me, is words that are consistent and understandable. If he is saying Peas when he means carrots.... do I praise that? Or do I correct it? (Not that he says either of these 2 words, mind you... I am lucky to get a vroom-vroom when he wants to play cars...) I guess I am worried that he won't get as much help as I feel that he needs. But she did say that she will be concentrating on getting him to verbalize and praising attempts at words. So, I guess that is OK. I am just confused as to what she will be doing that I am not already doing! She is going to bring me some informational packets about speech development at different ages and how to encourage speech. This will give me something concrete to work with.

She also told me that I am too hard on myself. That I am a wonderful mother and work much harder with my children than many of her other parents do. That made me feel good. Although I still feel like I should be doing more. When my son says "peeese" for "thank you" ... well.... what do I do there? I just say thank you, that's right, Braeden, Thank you. And I try to make sure he is looking at me when I speak... maybe one day he will just pop out with thank you instead of this sound that bears no resemblance to thank you at all. It sounds like please but not in the correct context. arrrggghhhh... it's so hard to figure out how to handle things and what to say and do. Kids are such a challenge.

He also seems to be having more issues with jealousy of the baby lately. Wanting to be on me when I am nursing, weanting to hurt his brother, lots of roughhousing. I am not sure if this is something i should just ignore or not. I try to spend one on one time with each of my kids. Maybe it will settle down once the baby is completely weaned from the breast.....

3 comments:

InTheFastLane said...

It is good you were able to talk with the therapist. But, I can understand your frustration. As long as you know that you are doing everything you can, then time is just what you need.

Anonymous said...

I know you are a wonderful mother, I have seen you in action. And, you are to hard on yourself. You do realize he has a problem and are trying very hard to help him. You could be one of those parents who chooses to ignore the fact and do nothing! So, don't give up. One of thers days all the hard work will kick in and he will really show signs of "getting it".

JessicaB said...

I think you are doing a great job.
My neighbor's son has a speach problem, thing is though, they did nothing for him until he started school. Now he is having problems, his teachers can't understand him. It seems like they didn't want to have to deal with it so they waited and let school deal with it.

You are doing what any good mother would do. I bet things start feeling better after it going full swing.

Lil' Bum has times of jealousy. She tries to sit on me constantly. She is still good to her brother but she is very rough. I try to correct her but it doesn't always seem to do any good. I kind of feel sorry for her because the day is coming that he is going to let her have it.