Sure, kids reach milestones when they reach them. Part of me tells myself that all is well. I mean, who doesn't want their child to be nearly perfect? And everyone is different, right?
Part of me worries. I've already diagnosed him with verbal apraxia although I am not a speech language pathologist, so really it isn't a diagnosis. Just a suspicion. With apraxia, they meet all other milestones and comprehend spoken word quite well. Check. Somehow their wiring makes it so they can't reproduce speech well. Check. Sometimes they will master a complex word or sentence and use it once, therefore lost forever afterward. Check. Daisy is awesome, Daisy is eating it, Sam is silly, yellow Lego come to mind, heard only once and much more complex than his rare "mom", "yes" "amo" (Elmo), Joosh (his "name"), up.
Navigating the system to see if my paranoid suspicions are correct, simply suck. Every county offers early intervention but our bankrupt county offers it from one over burdened regional center which says, when you call, that call-backs can take months. No mention of now long to even be seen. The doctor's offices are told to wait till age 3 to act on it and then you do an initial pediatrician appointment and then they refer you to a specialist which takes months and... you get the point.
So here I go, asking my son what he wants to eat. I know he understands. I try and help and suggest his favorites, hamburger, hot dogs, Chinese? I slowly annunciate and patiently wait for a response. And wait. I get ag dad badee a da ba ba Ajee. I decide on hamburger.
It's nerve wracking to watch him jibber-jabber (he is fluent in that) and get frustrated with us and himself because we cannot understand him. I wonder if I am being ridiculous or not...should I worry? So many nagging questions and doubts...
I am so there with you! We will always worry, and I hope that you can get some answers so that you have a starting point for therapies IF an SLP thinks there may be an issue.
ReplyDeleteThe sooner we start interventions with our littles, the better!
I wish you and your fam the best of luck. :-)
Push the professionals and keep pushing. You know your child better than anybody else ever will. Doctors waiting until age three with school right around the corner seems kind of silly to me.
ReplyDeleteIf it takes months to even get someone to see you, I'd make an appointment now. You're right, everyone is different, but if you suspect something, the only way you'll feel better and he gets the help he may need, is by making that appointment.
ReplyDeleteI agree; keep pushing the professionals until you get answers. I wish you the best.
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