I wanna TALK, Mama!!
Last Friday Mr. Charm was evaluated by the speech therapist.
He qualified.
She evaluated him on four things: expressive, receptive, articulation, and (physical) oral difficulties. Of course, we were really only concerned about his expressive abilities, and sure enough, that is what he qualified for help with.
She has to write her report, send it to Early Intervention, then they must approve it and send it back, and then we will be called to schedule his sessions. The therapist recommended two sessions per week.
I think Mr. Charm is going to love speech therapy. He pitched the BIGGEST hissy fit when we had to leave – the entire evaluation was done via play, and I think he had more fun in that two hours than he had the entire week prior! The therapist sat on the floor with him, asking him to do things, and he just loved showing off for her. He constantly asked for more toys and amazed her with his motor skill prowess. It confirmed for me something we’ve known for a long time: Mr. Charm has AMAZING motor skills!
They even have an entire room filled with trains. It’s like Mr. Charm’s fantasy come to life!
I warned her to never, EVER let him have therapy in that room, because he would be so engrossed in trains the therapist may as well try training a pig to dance the flamenco. She laughed, but she made a note of my warning.
The one drawback is that the rooms are not visible to the parents; I’m not entirely sure I’m comfortable with leaving Mr. Charm alone with a stranger. I know, I know, they’re therapist there to help him. And I’m not overly paranoid in general – we don’t teach ‘stranger danger’ the way most people do. Back when I was a waddling pregnant woman, I even encouraged strangers in stores to grab Mr. Charm when he was running away from me!
But a (mostly) non-verbal child can’t tell me if things are “not kosher” with his therapist, and there are…unsavory…people in all professions.
If I can swing it, I’m going to request the therapist who performed the evaluation. She was very professional, very sweet, and I got incredibly good vibes off of her. I would be okay with her. I don’t know the other therapists, yet, so for now, I’m going to try and make it happen this way.
Besides, Mr. Charm really liked her, too. I think he would respond well to her for therapy.
Still, on the plus side, since I can’t be IN the therapy sessions with him, I can possibly have two hours FREE every week!! As long as I bring safe snacks for him, and train his therapist in the use of his dipenhydramine and Epi-pen (they use snacks – all of which are unsafe for Mr. Charm – in some of their therapy) in case he accidentally gets an unsafe snack, I can take Mr. Happy and run some quick errands, or wander the bookstore, or browse the craft store, or just window shop at the mall! (I can’t afford to buy anything in any of those places, but just being able to focus on something out in public other than Mr. Charm’s antics will be such a breather for me!)
So I’m looking forward to this.
Although, as much as Mr. Charm likes to interact with us, and as much as he’s attempting conversation (now that he’s off the fructose), I have a feeling in 6 months when he’s talking non-stop we’ll wonder if we made the right decision!
Like Lauren Bacall said in “The Mirror Has Two Faces” when her daughter told her off: “I should never have encouraged you to speak.” (I love that line!)
Nah. I make jokes, but honestly I can’t WAIT to hear what Mr. Charm wants to say. He’s so bright and creative, I’m sure he’ll keep us in stitches for years to come.
Not to mention the heart-melting things he’ll say. He just learned a new word: help. So he asks for help directly, now, and also, comes up to us begging to help US with things! Just melts my little heart with his sweetness.
Yep. I’m looking forward to this.
How do you feel about leaving your non-verbal child alone with a stranger, even a therapist? Am I just having a hard time breaking the umbilical?
