When we took the girls for their annual check-ups back in March, their doctor put in a referral for Kaylie to see a speech therapist. The office we'd initially been referred to had a giant waiting list, so we had to jump through a few insurance hoops to get the referral changed and everything settled. We finally got her in for an evaluation last Wednesday. When she was done, Jennifer (the therapist) reaffirmed what I've been thinking right on along: Kaylie is on par as far as social development and comprehension levels, but that she just isn't verbalizing the way she should be. By this point, she should have a pretty impressive vocabulary, and she should be using a lot of simple, 2- and 3-word sentences.
Her first therapy session was Monday, her second was yesterday. Each session is only 30 minutes, and the therapy itself is all guided play. So far, Jennifer's had a hard time getting Kaylie to cooperate. She has an array of books, toys, games, and flash cards that she uses to try to engage Kaylie and get her to articulate certain words or sounds. She'll hold a toy that she knows that Kaylie wants, to try to get her to name the toy. When Kaylie does it, she gets the toy. Unfortunately for Jennifer, Kaylie has mostly just shrugged and gone after something else, so both sessions have just been Jennifer following Kaylie from one task to another, trying to engage her, and get her to play along.
One thing that does seem to be going well is that Jennifer is using sign language alongside the verbal language, and Kaylie is picking up on that very quickly. More often than not, she responds not with words or sounds, but with hand gestures. As we were leaving on Wednesday, Jennifer told us to really focus on learning and using the sign language in conjunction with the words. Apparently, children tend to learn words much faster when there is kinetic activity involved, maybe because it is stimulating more of the brain? I am not sure of the science behind it, but it does seem to be working. I've downloaded an American Sign Language app for my phone (the first one I've ever actually bought!) and she's picking them up just as fast as I can learn them! I'm excited to see where this is going, I just cannot wait to be able to really communicate with my Kaylie girl!
