Speech Therapy

Several of you have asked, so I thought I would post a little update on Raelyn’s speech progress.

She’s been receiving speech therapy for almost 4 months now. Miss Julie, her SLP, comes to our home once a week for 45 minutes. Raelyn thinks Julie is here for some play time. She brings in a big bag of toys and they play. Julie often asks her to say something before they can move on to the next activity or pull out a new toy.

The notes from her first session are something like, “Raelyn attempts only a few sounds: d, b, m.” “Raelyn will imitate a few signs.”

Fast forward to her notes from yesterday’s session, “Raelyn is demonstrating great progress. Her imitation skills are more accurate and she is attempting new words frequently. Today we worked on animal names and sounds as well as using words to request.”

When we began Raelyn would speak about 5-10 words in addition to animal sounds, like “baa” and “moo”. She would sign “more” and “all done” on her own and “please”, “thank you”, and “I love you” if asked. Other than that she basically grunted or whined if she wanted something or our attention.

Today she uses words, signs, or a combination of words and signs to communicate with us. She still grunts or whines on occasion but mostly if she doesn’t know what word to use or if she is frustrated or tired. She readily tries new sounds or words. We are happy if she gets 1/2 of the word. She has quite a way to go, but we are pleased with her progress!

She has recently started putting two word phrases together. Like: “Eeea dada” (eat daddy) And sometimes she creates a two word phrase by speaking one word and signing the other. Like: Sign for cracker + “peas” (cracker please)

Words she easily says/attempts to say:

• mama
• dada
• baby
• dog
• me
• no
• yeah (yes)
• menen (amen)
• moo moo (milk)
• eeeea (eat)
• peas (please)
• uh-oh!
• buh buh (Sheba)
• buhd (bird)
• Mah (Max) – but she generally calls him “baby” or “b”
• bu bye
• puple (apple)
• mohr (more)
• doodoo (cereal)
• nana (banana)
• bobos (bubbles)
• ball
• dee dee (tv)

Animal sounds:

• baa baa
• moo
• snorts w/nose for pig
• tee tee (tweet)
• meow
• odu doo (cock a doodle doo)
• neigh neigh
• woo (woof)

Words she signs:

• more
• eat
• milk
• cracker
• cereal
• banana
• baby
• water
• dog
• horse
• cow
• cat
• bird
• frog
• fish
• apple
• please
• thank you
• I love you
• all done
• Mom
• Dad

(I’ve probably left off several in each section.)

The goal with First Steps is that she’ll be caught up with her peers (in speech) by age 3.

Raelyn we are so very proud of you! You started off unsure if you wanted to even try and now you are attempting new sounds and words like a pro. We love you so much and only want the very best for you in every aspect of your development. You may have had a slow start to speech but you could probably out run an Olympian (both in speed & distance)! :) We love you!