March 31,2011

I had no title for today because it was just a few different topics that I wanted to cover:

I was so happy to hear today that Melissa who is one of Cole's new DI has seen progress with him in only a week time.  Of course it was in his sign language, interaction, and eye contact.  I will take improvement any day even if its not in speech.  I know once we get Cole to talk he will never stop because he will have so much to catch up on.  I know that Cole finds joy in all his learning toys especial when he can show me how well he does without my help.  Its only been 3 months that Early Intervention has been working with Cole but in those 3 months he has improved so much.  I don't know where we would be now with Cole had I listened to people tell me to leave him alone he will talk when he wants.

Next I wanted to ask: Does anyone feel like they can't get anything done in life that they wanted because your child brings you toys to play with.  We taught Cole that if he wants something to bring it to us. So if he wants a drink he brings his empty cup, food he will bring his snack cup and if he wants to play with a toy he brings it to me.  He has yet to understand the phase "wait a minute".  He will give me his cup and if I put it next to me he will pick it up again and hand it tome again until he gets what he wants.  I love that he does this but wonder do I have to do everything I need while he sleeps.  So I guess I need to prefect this system we have.

Last but not least I noticed I am worried and excited about this coming Monday.  Cole has his hearing/speech evaluation.  I wonder if we will have answer and this will finally come to a full circle if we will be hanging in the wind again.  I think wondering what the test will show is worse then handling the diagnoses.  At least that's what i think.  I truly would just like to know if we are doing everything we can to help him. 

Does anyone feel this way? If I have done nothing else in these past few months i have researched and filled myself with the knowledge I need to make sure we get a diagnoses for Cole.  I will continue to educate myself to help my son in any way.  With that being said I decide to end this post with a quote

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand. By Frank Herbert

Amazed

I saw the most amazing article today about a 12yr old boy who was diagnosed with autism and has a higher IQ then Albert Einstein. This boy's mom chose not to listen to the doctors who diagnosed him and worked to unlock her childs' passion. When she did that her son just blossomed into this educated boy he is now.  It made me believe that if I work hard and find Cole's passion he could go as far as that boy.  It gave me the boost I needed to try to unlock Cole's passon.  So far it seems to be gold fish crackers lol.  If I do nothing else in my life I will know that I did everything to help Cole turn in to the great man he is meant to be.

Tomorrow we start back up with EI.  He has 2 days off this week and I know tomorrow he will do just as well if he only had the 1 day off.  This week Noreen (his DI) and I plan to introduce new methods to work on his mouth muscles. 

I still have days when I am sad for Cole and the struggles he will have to deal with.  I still have days when I feel like I am the only one who is going through this.  It helps to be reminded that there are a lot of other people with the same struggles.  I also know that Cole is a determined young boy who will do whatever he needs to succed in life.  So on that note surround yourself with support of family friends or even support groups. Strength is in numbers. 

Trying so hard

Its amazing how smart Cole is and yet how hard it is for his words to come out.  Last night Cole knew what time I came home from school and was waiting at the door for me.  He also was able to shake his head NO when I tried to get him to blow on a party horn. Yet when we are trying to get him to repeat vowel sounds it was just too hard for him to get them out.  Last night when we tried to go to bed, Cole decide he wasn't ready for bed. He was running around our room in the dark.  I figured it would be a good time to practice his vowels, since he was getting the rest of his energy out.  Even though I couldn't see his mouth I could hear him trying.  He was only able to say "OOO".  We tried the a and also e which he has said before.  I heard him trying to get the vowel out but only getting a little noise. I praised Cole for trying because I want him to know I am proud that he is trying.  As frustrating as it is for me that he is not talking its more frustrating to him that these words or vowels are not coming out.  I just keep trying to tell myself that in time we will know why the speech delay is happening.  We have 6 days until he goes to the ENT and speech evaluation. 
So just remember that as frustrated as we are that our child(ren) are not speaking they are just as frustrated.  I have truly learned the meaning patience.

Progress made

Today brought progress with Cole.  He is working hard on vocalizing his vowel sounds. He seems to realize we want him to talk when we are saying things to him.  He enjoys his time with his new DI that is coming.  He is focusing more on the task at hand and seems to be getting better at trying to signing peg.  We are currently trying to use sign language as a way to communicate with him.  I currently sign milk, juice, cookie, cereal, hunger, mommy, daddy, please, and thank you.  Cole currently knows how to sign, piece and car. He is working on peg and bubbles with his DI. 
I would also like to mention a great book that could help any arent that has a late talker. The book is The Late Talker What to Do If Your Child isn't Talking Ye by Marilyn C Agin M.D, Lisa F Cheng and Malcolm J Nicholl.  I am still currently reading this book but so far its touches base on different speech delays including late talkers.  It also talkes about different help you can get as far as doctors and therapist that can come in help with speech.  It explains that if you have a child in the school system how you can work with the school to help your child and get them the best support from the school.  It goes over how to work with your insurance company to get them to help cover some of the cost if not all. My favorite part is how it goes over the fustration your child has and how to help relieve it and how you as a parent may be fustrated and how to cope wth the feelings. 
The count down begins for when Cole goes for his 3rd hearing test at the ENT and his Speech evaluation.  We have a week to go.  I am hoping to get a few answers to why Cole is not speaking but also know that this has been a process.  These appointments could lead to follow-ups before we truely get the real answers.

Welcome

First I would like to say Welcome to anyone who is following this blog.  I started this blog for parents going through the same thing or close to the same thing I am.  My son Cole is 19 months and barely speaking. He did say mama, Dada, and no no until about the age of 13months. He also developed great selective hearing. At his 15 month appointment with his doctor I spoke to her about this and she recommend seeing an audiologist and also Early Intervention.  Since then we have Early Iintervention here 4 times a week and speech therapist once a month.  He has also had 2 appointments with an audiologist who has now recommended him to an ENT doctor. My son has shown signs of a speech disorder and we are waiting for his doctors appointments to confirm or at least give us an idea what is going on. He does say some vowel sounds but that's about it. He has made a little progress with Early Intervention but the process is slow.  He tries really hard to try and repeat the sounds and is sometime successful.  I have emailed a few people who have talked about their child having this disorder but they have yet to respond back. With that being said I start a blog for parents who have children that could be a late talker, or have a speech disorder.  I understand how frustrating it is waiting for appointments and having a gut feeling something is not right.  I also know how it feels when people say "he will talk when he is ready" or "I know someone who didn't talk until the age 4". I wanted a place were parents can email someone to talk to and also a place to share information.  I plan to blog once a day on information, Cole's progress, or just any topic that is brought up to me. I plan to respond to all my emails sent to me and if this helps even one parent it will be worth all of this.
Have a wonderful day and remember your gut feeling will never steer you wrong.