Jack's Speech Wrap-Up

When Jack was 21 months old, we had him evaluated for speech therapy through the Orange County Regional Center. He was delayed by 31% and therefore qualified for speech therapy one day a week for an hour each session. He started just before he turned 2 years old (February 2008). He won over all the therapists and soon became one of the favorite kids at the therapy center. When he started, our hope was for him to get caught up by the time he was 3 years old, which is when the Orange County Regional Center stopped their services.

But at age 3, he was still delayed. So we went through the process of getting him evaluated through the school district. We were apprehensive about doing this -- he was slightly delayed and we wanted him to have every advantage and not fall behind... but we also didn't want him label (later in life) as speech delayed. He was approved through the school district but summer was just about to start, we held off until September 2009. Although speech therapy through the Regional Center helped, we really saw marked improvements through the school district. We had homework (flashcards) to help him with this pronunciation. We practiced with him and he went to speech therapy 2x a week for 30 minutes each session.

And now, after 8 months, he is officially all caught up with his speech. He is no longer delayed and any problems with his speech are typical for a 4 year old boy (getting tenses wrong, sentence structure, not able to pronounce "th", etc.). WOW!! I actually have mixed emotions about this. We've had him in speech for a combined 21 months (time off for summer and when we traveled to Kazakhstan for Brooke). Almost half his life was spent in speech therapy. It has been such a part of his life and now, we're done -- he's done.

We had our last meeting with the speech therapist and Jack said good-bye to her. She was so sad to see Jack leave because, as she said, he was just a joy to have around. She went over all the tests they have him and he literally ranks right in the middle of where a 4 year old should be with his speech.

I'm so unbelievably proud of him. He never once complained about going to speech. He practiced his speech flash cards without any problems -- he'd even ask to "lets do my speech words". He won over all his speech therapists (through the Orange County Regional Center and at the school districts); he was a favorite kid to everyone and they were all sad to see him go. And for me, my little baby boy is continuing to grow up right before my eyes.

He graduated and is all done with speech therapy!

Thank you to Ms. Denise - she did amazing work with him!!