Thowing the book away – for now

Thanks for all the kind and supportive words about Tad’s speech therapy. Surprisingly (or maybe not), the very same day I posted that blog, Tad had his second appointment of the week with Therapist #2.

At the speech clinic we’re using, each child is assigned two therapists – the idea being that the two of them, working together, will be able to present different ideas on how to work with the same kid. Up to this point, I have only worked with Therapist #1, who has been very nice and friendly, but has struck me as being very by-the-book.

After a half-hour with Tad, Therapist #2 told me to put the book away for now, because “nothing in there is going to help him talk right now.”

It was like music from heaven, hearing her say that.

Therapist #2 strikes me as being much more real-world and rational about kids, and (obviously) willing to not follow “the book” if she thinks that other issues need to be dealt with first. It was such a refreshing change that I nearly cried.

Her opinion? Tad has no desire to talk. Life is pretty good for him. He communicates non-verbally in ways that the Webmaster and I (and Grandma and Gichan, to some extent) understand well enough to get his needs met. Why bother verbalizing his wants?

The goal: to get him to want to talk.

The book? Not so helpful in that area.

Solution? Start over, go back to book later when he actually has a desire to talk.

The whole session was a complete relief to me. It was reassuring to me to have someone else see what I was seeing, and instead of going directly to techniques and training me, looking to Tad to see what the root causes of his speech delay really are.

So, I’m heading into the weekend feeling a whole lot better about… well, almost everything.

And here is a cute story to share with you all:

One of Tad’s favorite books is It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny – or as it is known in our family, P.J. Funnybunny, after the main character. P.J. decides he no longer wants to be a bunny and tries being several other animals before deciding that he is really better off being a bunny. It’s very cute.

We have read this story so often to Tad that he really does know it quite well, and I read it to him again last night. So, P.J. was leaving home. “‘I don’t want to be a bunny anymore,’ P.J. said,” I read. “‘I want to be a…'” I paused to turn the page.

“BEAR!” Tad exclaimed, loudly and clearly. And yes, he was right – P.J. tries to be a bear.

The Webmaster and I both froze, and then cheered. We knew Tad could say “bear” – but we had no idea that he knew the story that well or could put the bear in the right place in the story.

Curious, I decided to keep pausing when P.J. decides to try something else. “I don’t want to be a bear. I want to be a…” I waited.

“BEAR!” Tad cried.

It was actually a bird. But every time I paused after that, Tad always said “BEAR!”

I would point out that no, it was a beaver/pig/moose/possum/skunk… but it was really funny to hear him yell “BEAR” each time.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Children, Mommyhood.
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