Speech

This morning 3 ladies came over to evaluate Avery since I had concerns about her speech. I am so glad that I did because she does qualify for services. Everyone kept giving the "she'll talk soon or when she's ready" talk but I knew she should be saying more or at least trying. I'm not concerned but I'm glad to know that now we will learn how to give her a little nudge.

This is where she falls on the testing scale (I guess is how you'd describe it):
Gross motor: 16 months (I asked about this and they said her running and throwing isn't as fluid?  
                      Whatever not worried about it at all and neither were the ladies).
Fine motor: 31 months (they were impressed by how well she could hold a pen)
Cognitive: 18 months
Receptive language: 13 months (considered mildly delayed)
Expressive language: 12 months (severely delayed)
Social/Emotional: 18 months
Adaptive/Self help: 18 months

They said the good thing was that she will look you in the face and watch your mouth move when you talk and that she is expressive...just not with words that are understandable. So hopefully those will help her move along a little faster.

The program is education based and will teach David and I tricks to help her talk. I believe someone will be coming to our house once a week. She will stay in the program until she tests out or until she is at a place we are comfortable with.

I am also going to set up an appointment to make sure her brain is understanding what she is hearing. If it's not, that could explain some of the receptive language delay. I think it does...I think she just ignores me half the time :0) They tested her hearing today and it was fine. Which I figured...again, I think she has selective hearing.

All in all, I am glad I went ahead and had her evaluated. She needs a little push to get to talking and now we can help her :0)