Monday, March 15, 2010

yell


yell
Originally uploaded by presleysyndrome
Presley’s speech is starting to grow more and more. Some of you may remember that she recently started to actually speak. She started school August 2009 and her speech “jumped” off around December 2009. I accredited much of that to school, as well as the intensive speech therapy she had from age 1 until she started school.

Generally children start to talk around age 1. They know at least one or two words. Presley had none. She screamed, a lot. Speech wasn’t even on my list of “concerns” with Presley. I was more worried about her lack of motor skills and screaming, more than anything. When we had her early intervention evaluation the subject of speech came up. They asked me general questions about her language abilities, and then it hit me: she had none!

According to Parenting.com common reasons for speech delays, include, but are not limited to: boys often develop speech later than girls, preemies have hard time hitting those “normal” milestones on time, multiples (twins) are usually premature or have low birth rates-so they have the milestone problems, children with chronic ear infections: most likely have poor hearing-so a delay in speech and kids who are focused on other skills.

Presley had none of those common problems. She did have a lower than average birth weight, but not anything for concern and she was not technically premature (I had her the day I turned 38 weeks pregnant).

Parenting.com believes the best time to get professional help is when your child is around 2 ½, the age that late bloomers usually catch up. I disagree; you should get professional help as soon as possible. The earlier the better, your child has the best chance to succeed.

With that being said, Presley is now starting to say three to four word sentences. One of her favorites is: “I can’t reach it.” Though her speech is not where it should be, we are very happy and proud of the progress she has made.

I think I’ll end this entry with a small list of famous late bloomers in the field of speech: Gary Becker, Nobel prize-winning economist, Albert Einstein, Julia Robinson (the first women president of the American mathematical society!) and Edward Teller, physicist and nuclear power pioneer.

The editors of Parenting magazine (2010) Parenting Magazine Retrieved March 15, 2010 from: http://www.parenting.com/article/Baby/Development/Speech-Delays