Nathan Speech Update

My wonderful Nathan. Shortly after his fourth birthday, Debra tested him again on his speech. This testing experience was different than the others. While I wanted the test to be accurate so we could determine what steps to take next, and I wanted him to do well so he could get a score to reflect all his hard work, I knew what success on this test would mean. It would mean saying goodbye to Debra and the "play dates" Nathan and Debra have together.

Nathan of course had no idea that it was a test day. He just went in ready to play games and practice sounds. I watched from the sidelines. Every time he opened his mouth I was scared, but he was confident. Debra had taught him what to do, and he was playing a fun game. I heard him make a few errors, but I knew he had done well. When all was said and done, he scored above average for a four-year-old boy. He is in the high range of normal. Absolutely amazing! He went from below the normal range to the high range. He has worked so hard. I am so proud of him.

We are now phasing out of therapy by only having session twice a month. He is even more excited to see Debra now (who would have thought that was possible?) We'll keep this schedule until he starts preschool in September and then we will see how things go for possibly the next year. He still needs to master "r" but that is a five-year-old sound so we'll give him until next summer before we panic.

He's up to speed and raring to go. He has accomplished a lot for a little guy. We went from Mom guessing 98 percent of the time and using lots of context clues to understand his speech to having Primary teachers, visitors, and strangers understanding him 98 percent of the time.

Not only have his language skills improved, but he is even more positive with others when he plays; he has learned to love games and sees playing them as a reward; he really wants to please people with his efforts. I think that he also knows that if he tries hard enough he can accomplish anything. Thanks Debra for all the wonderful lessons you taught him and for that bonus of teaching him to pronounce a sound or two.

Debra gave him this game as a birthday and a therapy graduation gift. It has been one of his favorites to play during sessions. He has played it so many times in the last two months that the batteries are dead. He loves his ducks. We love our Nathan!