Speech Therapy

This week Noah started speech therapy.  Ever since we found out about Noah's stroke, and more specifically the location of his stroke, we were told it wasn't a matter of if but when he would start speech therapy.  He had an evaluation by a speech therapist back in the Fall and me made the decision to wait a little before starting therapy. He had his annual Early Intervention assessment in March and it was then they decided we should add speech into the weekly routine of therapies.  I don't necessarily think that he is very behind in terms of speech for his age but I think it is better to get him started in case problems should arise.  When we saw his neurologist at the stroke clinic in April he was adamant about starting so I'm glad things have finally gotten rolling.

Noah knows a number of words and communicates well with them and some baby signing.  I have to say I was skeptical on the baby signs but they really have come in handy.  He primarily signs for more, all done, and "my turn".  I'm also very proud of myself because we've been working on the sign for "please" this week and it has really caught on.  In terms of words Noah knows ball, yeah, bubbles, baby, sky, me, bye, and to our delight just learned Momma and Dadda.  He finally uses Momma and Dadda correctly and Brad and I get so excited every time he calls out our name.  I think Noah gets even more excited and it's very fun to watch. Bye is definitely his favorite word and there is nothing cuter than putting him down for bed in his crib and having him turn to you and say "bye." Noah also of course knows how to say Elmo as I'm beginning to learn many kids his age do.  Whoever designed that red furry muppet really knew what they were doing.  Noah loves him and I currently have to listen to Elmo's greatest hits at least twice a day (he went through a faze where he wouldn't eat sitting in his highchair unless it was playing) and I'm proud to say I know every song by heart.  He also used to call Elmo "Dadda" but we don't like to talk about that (at least Brad doesn't).  In addition to starting to say new words Noah has also started to mimic animal sounds.  This I find to be absolutely hilarious.  We'll be driving in the car and all of a sudden I'll hear him saying "ruff" and I'll look out the window to see a dog walking by.  He also knows that a duck says quack although he says "cack cack" and a cow says moo.  He really is at such a fun age and it's things like this that remind me he in a lot of ways is just a typical toddler.

From the note from the speech therapist it seems that things went well today.  I'm glad to have someone monitoring him speech wise and hope it helps him continue to progress.  Looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend with my family!