Ane Speaks – Tad doesn’t
On our way to church on Sunday morning, Ane saw a large dog standing in the flatbed of a pickup truck waiting in the lane next to us at a red light.
Ane: Mommy, look at the doggie! (Dog’s head is turned toward our minivan.)
Me: Oh, yes, there he is!
Ane: He’s thinking, mmm, you look tasty!
*****
If you are a frequent reader of the blog, you hear about Ane talking. A lot. Frankly, we can’t shut her up. But that is just her personality, and she says the funniest things, so other than learning how to not interrupt or yell, we generally don’t curb her talking.
Tad, on the other hand, does not talk much at all. He has a core handful of words, with the occasional phrase of two or three words strung together, and he babbles constantly. He is two years old now and I would really like to be able to hold a conversation with him.
I am taking Tad in for a speech assessment this week.
At his yearly check-up, I discussed his speech delay with his pediatrician. While he was of the opinion that Tad was probably on the slower end of normal due to external factors (being a boy, being second born, having a sister that sucks the air out of any room she walks into due to her extroverted and drama-queen personality), he agreed that sending Tad for a formal speech assessment would be a good idea at this time. His pediatrician struck down the idea that Tad may be autistic immediately, pointing out his very good social skills and role-playing-with-toys ability (Tad grabbed my fold-up hairbrush out of my purse during the check-up and starting using it as if it was a cell phone, which amused his doctor), but was willing to refer us to a local speech and hearing clinic for a formal, professional assessment.
So, we will see where this leads us. It might lead us to some speech therapy, or it might not. Either way, we will know where Tad is at, and if there is anything extra that we can do to help him along the path of communication.
Although this might be all his father’s fault. We visited my in-laws yesterday and my mother-in-law pulled out the Webmaster’s baby book (his quite complete baby book – a consequence of being an only child), and pointed out that he really didn’t start speaking in complete sentences until he was three. At Tad’s age, he had a handful of words and a couple of phrases, and that was it. So, maybe this is genetic? 🙂
I’ll keep you all posted once we know what’s going on. In the meantime, Ane starts preschool in six days, and we have Parent Open House at the preschool tonight! Wish us luck!
Subscribe to my feed