Austin is almost 20 months old. At his 18 month check up, we discussed our concern with Austin's lack of communication skills. His pediatrician felt that he was showing signs of a speech delay and referred him for further evaluation.
Today a speech therapist, developmental therapist, and a parent service coordinator came to our house to perform his evaluation. I was nervous for Austin. He had no idea that strange people were coming over to meet him and check out his "skills". Thankfully the therapists have tons of neat "new" toys to play with. Austin immediately made two new best friends. The evaluation consisted of plenty of questions for Adam and I to answer regarding Austin's behaviors and daily life. The therapists pulled "tests" out of their Mary Poppins bags and observed Austin.
After an hour of evaluating, the therapists gave us their findings. According to the developmental therapist Austin is way ahead of where he should be. He averaged between 24 and 36 months on all of his gross and fine motor skills tests. According the the speech therapist, Austin is exhibiting an expressive speech delay of 32%. Which means he is speaking and communicating as a 13 month old would, rather than a 20 month old.
In a couple weeks, Austin will start meeting with his speech therapist to work on his communication delay. She is certain he will grasp the concepts and skills of communicating quickly. I can't wait to hear him express himself using words rather than screams and grunts. We have noticed over the past few months Austin has grown extremely frustrated. I am sure once he figures out how to communicate his needs and wants, he will not be so frustrated with us anymore.
I am sure once he discovers the words no, mine, and why, I will wonder why I wanted him to talk.
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