Men Of Few Words Are The Best Men
Zach seems to have taken this line, from William Shakespeare’s King Henry V*, to heart.
He had his speech evaluation today. It was SUPER entertaining. I really wish I’d had a video camera, because he was freaking adorable during it. (I know, it’s not really that surprising).
Beyond his speech evaluation, they did a full on motor skills assessment. He did stuff that I had NO IDEA he was capable of doing. I mean, I’ve never put different colored cups in front of him with coordinating bears and asked him to match the bears to the cups. He did it without blinking. He matched shapes without thinking twice. He stacked itty bitty blocks precariously high. Okay, that I’ve seen him do before.
He fed a baby doll. HE USED SCISSORS. He threaded teeny tiny beads onto a shoelace. He demonstrated his ability to understand “on top of” and “under”. He pointed out all his body parts. Well, not ALL of them, but you get the point. When asked to hold her hand and stand on one foot, instead of picking one fit just a little bit off the ground, he stuck his leg out as high as he could. It was as if he was channeling Scott Hamilton or something.
He charmed the pants off of the women who came to evaluate him. THAT, I’ve also seen him do.
He said, maybe four words the entire time. Mom, cup, more and bye.
He did a lot of the usual grunting and gesturing that he does so frequently.
He laughed. A lot.
In the end, she told me he is far ahead in his motor development, which didn’t surprise me. And that he’s “way behind” in his speech development. Which, also, didn’t surprise me.
She is going to write up her full report, and present it at their next meeting. At which point the panel will decide if he qualifies for services. Apparently, as of October 1st the laws changed, so instead of a 30% deficit, he will need to show a 50% deficit in language development to qualify. Because he is 27 months old, he will have to have the speech abilities of a 13.5 month old. I have NO idea where he is on the spectrum. I suspect he’s not quite that far behind. But who knows.
I’ll find out in two weeks when they come back to give me the report.
She made me feel better about having him evaluated. He IS significantly behind. Whether or not the state thinks he’s far enough behind is another story.
*Also, I had no idea he could read Shakespeare. He is ridiculously talented!
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Andrea's Sweet Life on 01 Dec 2009 at 12:07 pm #
Well, I know he’s charmed MY pants off more than once!
Andrea’s Sweet Life´s last blog ..Recovery
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Amy in OHio on 01 Dec 2009 at 12:13 pm #
Ha Ha…who needs a bunch of yapping when you’re THAT cute? Dude, he knows how to work a room.
xxoo Hope you get the answers you need.
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heather... on 01 Dec 2009 at 12:28 pm #
He’s the strong silent type.
heather…´s last blog ..I Remember Them
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Seraphim on 01 Dec 2009 at 1:42 pm #
Just to say your two year old and my two year old were clearly twins in a past life! I don’t know if this helps but the average 2 year old is “supposed” to have 50 words apparently (That’s in Australia though, they are probably smarter in the USA
) Mine had about 10 when we went for assessment.
The speech therapy worked and still works wonders for him. On this one I know what it’s like and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you he gets the right support. If you want any details on the kinds of things we were doing let me know xx
Seraphim´s last blog ..A very special giveaway
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Debbie B. on 01 Dec 2009 at 2:06 pm #
I wouldn’t worry about Zach being behind in his speech. My nephew was also not interested in talking, and until he was four years old, he communicated very well using his own made up gibberish. His parents were also worried – but Mike is now 24 and has NEVER received anything lower than an “A” in all of his classes. And that includes graduating with Honors from UC Berkeley. He just sent off his applications for Law School, with Harvard being his first choice and very much within his reach. The quiet little guy grew up and amazed us all!
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Kellee on 01 Dec 2009 at 3:57 pm #
Well, I am charmed just in the telling of his story, so I can only imagine. I’m glad you have information to work with now!
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feefifoto on 01 Dec 2009 at 4:48 pm #
Ever hear the story about the little boy who never spoke, never spoke, never said a word? The doctor kept telling the mother not to worry but she couldn’t help it. Finally she gave up worrying and just lived with it.
A few years passed. The boy was six years old. One day his mother gave him a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. He took a bite, looked up and said “The oatmeal’s cold.”
His mother was astonished. “All these years,” she said, “you’ve said nothing. I’ve waited and hoped for you to talk and you’ve said nothing. Now you finally speak and you’re telling me the oatmeal’s cold? What’s with that?”
Her son responded: “Up til now, everything’s been fine.”
feefifoto´s last blog ..Declaration Of Independence Composed By My Fourth Grader: Interesting Homework Assignments
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Debby Pucci on 01 Dec 2009 at 6:41 pm #
He sounds like he is doing things pretty well. I like what Debbie B said. I don’t know what answer you want but I wish you the best.
Debby Pucci´s last blog .."I AM THANKFUL FOR ALL"
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Miss Grace on 01 Dec 2009 at 7:19 pm #
Of COURSE he charmed the pants off of the evaluators.
Miss Grace´s last blog ..Too Many To Count
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badassdadblog on 01 Dec 2009 at 7:50 pm #
Who cares if he can talk, as long as he can school me in getting all these women’s pants off.
Our second boy is about 10 months younger, but we see some of the same patterns developing in him, relative to his brother. Physically much more advanced, understands pretty much everything we ask him to do, but just doesn’t have many words. He’s not even 18 months, so we aren’t stressing yet, but we can’t help compare him to our much more verbal older son, now almost 4 1/2.
Last time I checked, most 13.5-month olds I know had approximately ZERO actual words, so I’m not sure how they’re gonna figure for THAT. However it works out, sounds like you’ve got an incredibly sweet, bright and charming kid who will do just fine. At his own pace.
badassdadblog´s last blog ..when to intervene?
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Allison on 01 Dec 2009 at 10:01 pm #
Although my little Bean’s delays are motor, I do can relate to how the word “delay” makes any parent worry. I saw on Sunday that you were taking Zach for an evaluation, and I got nervous just thinking about it. I HATE HAVING MY CHILD EVALUATED! I’m glad though that overall, the experience was a good one . . . That little boy IS a charmer. The new laws w/ the regional centers (we are also in CA) make getting services so hard, but here’s to hoping you qualify (total catch-22; qualifying for free services means your child is delayed enough to qualify, but not qualifying means missing out on valuable intervention). While we waited on the RC to make up its mind on services, we did pay for two private sessions with a physical therapist so that she could help us know how to work with our Bean at home. That was very valuable to us while we waited waited waited. Best of luck to you and your little man in the glasses (my Bean ALSO has glasses, and had strabismus surgery).
Allison´s last blog ..Thanks, Giggles, and Optimism
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Quart on 02 Dec 2009 at 3:25 am #
I didn’t know YOU could read Shakespeare!
Scissors?! That’s impressive. He is so awesome.
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mel on 02 Dec 2009 at 6:41 am #
His developmental skills and coordinations seem great. His words will come. Hopefully the state will help. good luck!
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AmazingGreis on 02 Dec 2009 at 10:29 am #
He charms me everyday (through pictures), and I’ve never met the kid. Now that’s impressive!!! LOL
Glad things went well!!!
XOXO
AmazingGreis´s last blog ..Blogger Football League – Week 12…
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Katherine on 03 Dec 2009 at 12:24 pm #
I’m an occasional reader who’s never commented before. Your description on your son reminds of an article written by a columnist I admire about his own son who spoke very few words until over 4 years old despite showing normal or advanced intelligence in other areas. He did research and corresponded with other parents whose children had talked very late and later turned out to have normal or gifted intelligence. It was interesting that most of these children were boys and most turned out to be very talented in analytical fields such as mathematics. So you may have a very gifted little boy. Who’s definitely adorable.
The columnist I mentioned wrote a book if you’re interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Late-Talking-Children-Thomas-Sowell/dp/0465038352
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avasmommy on 03 Dec 2009 at 4:43 pm #
I’ll be watching this closely, since, as you know, Ava’s dr is concerned she may be delayed as well for speech.
I hope he gets the help he needs to get on track, and with you as his mama, I KNOW he will.
xoxo
Thanks for the words of encouragement yesterday. I really appreciated them.
avasmommy´s last blog ..What I am Thankful For
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sabrina on 04 Dec 2009 at 9:16 pm #
ok so i totally didnt remember that our boys were so close together in age BUT Ry seriously didnt start talking til right about at 28 mo..he could say a few more words BUT the sentences, pronouns, subject-verbs didnt happen until just recently. being in the 2yr old room at preschool definitely helped too. he’ll get it i swear!
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Undomestic Diva on 07 Dec 2009 at 11:29 am #
We had the same issues come up with my third guy and when it came to evaluating him, it seemed like his only hold-up was speaking… not that he couldn’t understand. Then a friend who had been thru the whole speech therapy evaluation process told me that her social services lady had told them that usually by age 3, these kids “catch up.” The reason they worry so much before then is because after 3 years old, they no longer qualify for the services… rock and a hard spot. Good luck.
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Mariah on 07 Dec 2009 at 3:55 pm #
I have two sons with speech delays. I have three sons, ages 33 months, and twin 22 month olds. Yes, three under three. The oldest, Maverick and one of the twins, Miles have both been tested and scored very low in verbal skills. Maverick qualified for a special education placement in the public school’s preschool. He can attend in March, when he turns 3. Currently he has less than 10 words, and communicates with pointing and grunting. Miles has no words an just last month started making the sounds b and m, before that the only verbal sounds he made were “a” sounds. I’m so happy Maverick qualified for special education, sad that he has to ride the short bus, but he will continue to get services and be evaluated after the 3 year cut off date.
They say boys are slower in this area. Also mulitiples have more issues with speech delay and being exactly 11 months apart, they’re as close to triplets as you can get without actually being triplets. Everyone says they’ll catch on eventually, but in the meantime it’s frustrating and sometimes sad when you see a child their age or younger talking in sentences or complex words and here’s your child saying nothing.
My boys are all smart, no doubt about it, they just have this minor setback.
I like your humor and postivie attitude about this though!
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AMomTwoBoys » Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit on 16 Dec 2009 at 9:20 am #
[...] got the report from his speech evaluation [...]
Carla on 27 Mar 2010 at 8:22 am #
Hi Sister! I am also the mom of three fabulous boys. They are 2,5,and 8. Since the third I have not been as fun of a mom! Oh well, I digress. I am writing you because I am a speech therapist. I want to tell you how wonderful you are! If you have questions, I am happy to be the safe person to ask in the cyber world.
I love your site. I love that you are not some conservative Christian writing about how wonderful your life is and how your husband is the head of your household and that you submit is why your life is great! Ha!
Good luck to you.
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