Speech

This is Jacob with Julie, his speech therapist.

We have loved Julie, aside from the fact that she has really helped Jacob's speech progress in the past year, she was sweet and delightful to have here every week, and it was fun for me to chat with her too.

These are the other pictures we took, before we could get the one above!

Now that Jacob is three, he is too old for Early Intervention. We had him evaluated, and he doesn't qualify for any ongoing services. His only issue is articulation, and he's in the 57th percentile for that - too high for help. He is actually advanced in his vocabulary, and his receptive language skills. He scored really well on his cognitive and psych evaluations (he has the cognitive ability of a 4 year, 10 month old.)

This is exactly what I wanted to have happen - that he wouldn't need anything more than early intervention, but now that we're here, I'm not sure how I feel. He still needs help with his articulation, and I want him to reach his potential, so I worry. We're going to check with our insurance to see if we can get any services through them, and keep working with him at home. He is WAY better at mimicking the sounds we make now - so I am hopeful. If, in January, we feel that he hasn't progressed any further, we'll re-visit it and maybe have him re-tested.

In other "talking" news, Jane is chattering away constantly. Hearing her prattle on, alleviates my fears that she will also require speech therapy. Her favorite word is "No" (she adorably says "nooo"), and we hear that about a million times a day (mostly directed at Jacob.) She also says our names (Mama, Dada, Bepa, Eny, and 'Ob.) She says ball, bird, dog, cat, nurse, please, more, apple, me, yes, Oscar (she says "sca"), owie and a bunch more I can't think of right now.

Her little voice is so sweet, and it's cute to hear her copying us. She gets really excited to see pumpkins, and calls them all "apple" - even when we slowly say p-u-m-p-k-i-n, she slowly repeats back a-p-p-l-e (I think it might be the "p" sound she can't get past.) Looking at her I realize that I have a baby/toddler, who will soon lose the last vestiges of babydom. It's exciting to see her grow, but she's so sweet I'm really, truly in no rush.