So our second diagnosis started in the doctor's office.  Lids was 18 months old, and had not "held onto" a single word.  She would play with a sound, apply a meaning to it for a couple of days, and then either sound, meaning or both would just disappear. 

Shortly before her 18 month appointment, she experimented with calling me Mama.  For two blissful days I was "Mama!" and then...one morning she looked through me rather than at me and said, "Ma...ma...ma-ma-ma" and that was it.  I was once more "that woman who feeds me", indicated by pointing or grunting.  I cried.

That behavior, combined with the fact that she had zero words at the time of the appointment, led the pediatrician to diagnose her as "speech delayed" and refer us to early intervention.  The formal evaluation took about 2 months, and then she started in speech therapy.

Watching a toddler in speech therapy is funny.  That is to say, watching an adult practice speech therapy on a toddler is funny.  A grown adult spendin 30 minutes chattering slowly and clearly to a toddler who responds with not one word is a real kick.  Sounds kind of like a cat lady talking to her grizzled old Tom.

Lids improved at home before she improved in therapy.  She would sit there refusing to say a word to poor Erica, and then imitate sounds all the way home.  Within a month of starting, she was once again calling me "Mama" and I generously allowed her to call every other person in her life Mama as well.  Even DH submitted to being another Mama, because at least she was admitting that she knew us.

After she had identified about 10 words and their meanings, she decided to take it to class.  She chose my favorite therapist, Candice, to open up to, and Candice was suitably impressed.  After the third word, she started writing them down, and counted 19 words (my babies go from 0-60!) used in that one session.

Two weeks ago, Lids showed us that she can learn directly from therapy.  She came home from a very pointed lesson, pointed to DH and said, "Da-Da!"  Then it was his turn to cry.

Tags: Speechdelay Earlyinterventi On

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