I recently wrote about our realization that Little Deer needed speech therapy. After getting the referral from our pediatrician at LD’s 15-month appointment, the next step was to have her evaluated by a Speech-Language Pathologist. Fortunately, there was a great office of SLP’s just across the street from our pediatrician, so we didn’t have to go too far. Because the SLP we were assigned to only worked in that particular office two days a week, it took about a month before we were able to get an appointment. By the time we went in for her initial evaluation, Little Deer was 16 months old.

Though I usually handle all of Little Deer’s doctors appointments, we decided that it would be helpful if Mr. Deer came to this evaluation as well. That way we could all be on the same page as far as understanding what was going on with Little Deer and what the plan would be in the future. When we walked into her office we were instantly greeted with tons of fun toys, puppets, puzzles, and stuffed animals. I had never seen such a fun waiting room! Normally LD is on high-alert when we walk into a doctor’s office (or anywhere new), but she quickly busied herself playing while we filled out some paperwork.

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After waiting a few minutes, our SLP came out to greet us and showed us back to her office. She had a calm, confident, and strong demeanor, and I felt very comfortable talking with her. Once in her office, I sat down in the chair across from her while Mr. Deer and Little Deer sat on the floor together and played with some toys. I’m not sure what it is about this office, but they have the greatest toys. Shape sorters, rainsticks, noise makers… LD was happy as a clam.

The SLP first explained that this initial visit was purely an evaluation of Little Deer’s speech. Since she was so young, this meant mainly asking me questions to get a better understanding of what her speech was like. She asked me to save any narratives or stories for the end.. We then began a detailed questionnaire that had about 100 questions. While we were working through the questionnaire, I saw she was taking notes but also paying attention to what Little Deer was up to. If she babbled something to Mr. Deer or pointed to a toy, the SLP was quick to note it.

After answering all of the questions, she totaled up our scores for three different categories. She then assigned an age range to the scores so we could get a better idea of where LD was at. These were her results:

  • Auditory Response/Memory: 14-20 months (within normal limits)
  • Receptive Language: 18-20 months (within normal limits)
  • Expressive Language: 8-9 months (mild-moderate delay)

It was pretty clear to see where Little Deer needed some help. She did very well listening to us and understanding our commands and conversations, but was lacking in her ability to express herself and respond to us. Yes, she could point at things and yell “dah!” when she needed something, but she wasn’t using real words. And we could never get her to mimic us or respond to us when we would say “can you say _____?”  It did hurt a little to know she was behind, but I think we also felt relieved and validated. Lots of people we know kept saying that it wasn’t a big deal and she was just a quiet kid, so it was nice to have a professional agree with us that she was did indeed have a delay in her speech. Now we could finally start taking steps to get Little Deer talking!

Since the SLP agreed that Little Deer would benefit from Speech Therapy, we talked about the plan going forward and decided to set-up weekly appointments. Before we left, our SLP also wanted to give us three strategies to work with Little Deer on at home before our next appointment. They included:

1. Narrating her actions: In order to help Litte Deer be exposed to language more frequently, we started narrating what she was doing. The SLP said that we were to think of ourselves as being a sports announcers. For example, as Little Deer played with her necklaces, we might be saying something like: “Putting the necklace on. Another necklace on. Three necklaces on. All the necklaces off. Necklaces on the floor.” We were to keep the language as simple as possible, and repeat words. If she was stacking blocks, we might say “on” for each block she stacked. At first I thought this strategy would be taxing to carry out, but Mr. Deer and I actually found it to be quite fun. It also really forces you to stay engaged with your child which I enjoyed.

2. Copying her speech: Our SLP said that we really wanted to reward her for making any attempt at speech. So anytime she babbled or tried to speak, we were to mimic back the sound. That would help her realize that we liked when she tried to verbalize things, that we wanted to communicate with her that way. Also, if we knew what she was actually trying to say, we would first mimic back the sound, but then say what the real word was too. If she pointed at the oatmeal box on the shelf and yelled “dah!” we would say “dah… oatmeal. That’s oatmeal.”

3. Requiring verbalization: Oftentimes we just knew what Little Deer wanted us to do in certain situations. If she brought me her necklaces that were tangled, I untangled them. If she brought me her empty water cup, I filled it. Now we were to require LD to make some sort of sound or verbalization before we carried out an action that she wanted. At meal times she would point to her food to ask for a bite, and I would repeatedly ask “would you like more?” Eventually she started making a little “ma” sound, and I would respond with “ma… more. Here’s more food. Good job!”

By following these three simple strategies after our initial evaluation, we saw tremendous improvement in Little Deer’s speech. Quite frankly, we were blown away. Within about a day she was asking for food by saying “more.” It sounds more like “mooooooowe” but still, it was pretty darn close! Mr. Deer and I were over-the-moon excited. Like I mentioned earlier, we had also never been able to get her to mimic us when we tried to get her to say a word. After she learned “more” she quickly caught on that she should try and respond to us when we asked her “can you say ______?” It was so fun to hear her sweet voice begin to try and say real words! Over the next week she learned to say: more, hi, bye bye, and dada.

We are now several weeks into therapy, and it is going great. Hearing her sweet voice makes me so excited each and every day. Just this morning Little Deer and I waved at each other and said “hi” back and forth from across the room about 50 times. I definitely teared-up a bit. I’m sure one day when she’s running around speaking in full sentences the charm will begin to wear, but for now, it’s awesome. I’m excited to watch her speech continue to grow in the coming weeks and months, and I look forward to sharing this journey and the strategies we learn along the way with you all.

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Whether a baby or a toddler, how was it to finally hear your child say their first word?