Progress With Speech Therapy

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, Jack is getting speech therapy.  He works with Chris Garretson at IVCH one day a week and after just 3 sessions we are seeing some definite growth.  When I take him to his therapy, I make sure that I have someone to watch Teagan so I am able to participate in the activities that Chris is having him do and I am able to focus all of my attention on him.  He is always excited and happy to go play with Chris, she makes it very entertaining and fun for him.  I REALLY like her.  

Jack's expressive skills have really taken off.  I am not sure if it is a coincidence or timing, but Jack has really come out of his shell.  He is always telling us what he wants and is commenting and talking more in the car about anything that might catch his attention.  He is also more outgoing and social with random people that we see when we are out and about.  The other day when we were leaving Target he made it his mission to talk to every single employee that he saw while we were checking out and leaving the store.  He definitely would not have done that a month ago.

Jack has also made gains with his receptive skills, but that is definitely his area of weakness.  He is doing better at following two step directions and understanding what exactly we mean when we tell him something is on, under, in, out, etc..... But it is rather apparent when Jack isn't quite sure what you want him to do.  He will try to avoid the task by doing a couple of things.  He will either start laughing, running around and making silly noises, or just try to walk away and start playing with something else.  So he isn't exactly thrilled when we make him do the task.  Between his weekly therapy sessions and our continued work at home, I definitely think we will see more improvements with this also.  But so far I am very pleased with how quickly Jack is picking up on everything, he is definitely a little sponge. 

When Jack turns 3 at the end of September, he will no longer be able to receive speech therapy through early intervention.  At that point the school district is responsible for providing the service.  So that means he will have to get assessed once again.  I am waiting to hear from Ladd School to see when this assessment is going to take place.  Ladd is going to have preschool this year, so if I decide to send Jack to preschool he will be able to attend either at Ladd or at Oglesby because I work there.  Ladd also mentioned that if we didn't feel that Jack needed a full blown preschool program that he could just go to the school for his therapy and not be enrolled in the preschool program.  I mentioned this to my superintendent and he said that maybe they would be able to figure something out like that at Oglesby, even though that is not something that they have offered prior to this.  And he could also continue his therapy at IVCH, but unfortunately our insurance does not cover it and let's just say that it is VERY expensive.  

The more people I talk to, I really do not feel like Jack needs a full blown preschool program at this time.  If he started after his birthday, he would have 3 full years of preschool, and that really isn't necessary.  So we are leaning towards him receiving just the speech therapy through one of the schools.  But no matter what we decide, I will have to rely on our family to get him to and from his sessions.  This is when it really stinks to be a working mom.  I absolutely hate having to rely on other people to run my kids to and from different things.  Thank goodness we both have very supportive families that are always willing to help out.   

For now I am enjoying the growth that I am seeing with Jack and I am anxious to see the growth that is yet to come.