Drama King had another speech evaluation last week and his first real speech therapy session earlier this week. It appears he makes certain sounds with his throat and nose, sounds that you shouldn’t make with your throat or nose. The first sound he’ll be working on is S. He makes the S sound through his nose which we assume he taught himself as he learned to talk with an Apraxic big brother.
I don’t think any speech therapy lesson is ever complete without bubble time. Bubbles are a glorious tool and if you haven’t blown bubbles with your kids lately, I insist you set aside time and just blow bubbles. Bubbles help Drama King understand when he’s making mouth verses nose air so he can learn to self correct if he makes a mouth sound with his nose and vice versa.
When his speech therapist had him try switching between the T and S sound, he occasionally got the S sound correct so we’re confident he can make the sound but has learned to compensate with his nose.
Drama King walked around the entire afternoon after his appointment repeating his speech therapists name because it has an S sound and he didn’t want to forget her name. I hope he remembers it next week when we see her again. For the moment, he’ll be going once a week and we’ll evaluate to see if he needs more in a few weeks.
On the Little T speech front, our decision to pull him out was commended by Drama King’s speech therapist. She said that most kids feel overkill after many years of speech therapy and simply need to take a break from it. Little T came along for the evaluation and couldn’t stay in the waiting room for more than 10 minutes before he’d start shaking from anxiety. We even prepped him and he knew that he didn’t have to do anything because this was all for Drama King. It didn’t matter and even his PSP couldn’t curb his anxiety. Drama King’s speech therapist recommended bring Little T in once in a while and when he can sit in the waiting room without feeling anxious, we can see if he’s ready to resume speech therapy.
