Speech

When Cecilia started school last fall, we thought for sure that her speech would take off and that she would be talking our ears off by Christmas.  Christmas came and went, and while her vocabulary increased, she was not speaking as clearly as we thought she would be, nor was she connecting words together like we thought she would be.  So, then we thought, well by the end of the school year surely, she would be speaking well.  This was not the case.  In addition to her not speaking well, she also started acting out and biting other kids.  We could see her frustration mounting because she could not communicate.  Jon and I, my mom, and her teachers have all raised concerns about her speech in the last few months.  

After talking with a few other people we decided to call Child Find and start the process for getting her evaluated.  Child Find is the group that handles special needs through the school district.  If Cecilia qualifies for speech therapy, she will be eligible for free preschool in the fall.  I called in late April to make the appointment.  They start with a hearing and vision screening for every child.  The first available appointment they had was for June 6.  The screening took all of 10 minutes and she passed with no issues.  When I asked when someone would call to schedule the speech evaluation, I was told that they are 3 months behind!  Jon and I agreed that this was not acceptable to us, and that we wanted Cecilia to be evaluated sooner rather than later.  

We knew that there was a problem, and if we can get her some help now, then we should do that.  SO, I found a speech pathologist group via google and I was so happy to see that they had a research page with speech milestones listed.  I was finally able to see that we were not crazy, and that Cecilia did have some speech needs.  Naturally, I called and set an appointment to have her evaluated.  They were able to get her in with in 5 days of my call and we went on Tuesday and met with Brianna.  It was a standardized test for pronunciation and vocabulary.  Cecilia was shown several pictures an was asked what they were: house, airplane, frog, bathtub, bike, slide, etc.  

This tests generates three scores.  The first score is an overall score.  The average range is 85-115, and Cecilia scored a 78.  Not terribly low, but still below average, and definitely below the low average range.  The second score is a percentile.  She scored in the 17th percentile.  This means that out of 100 kids her same age, she would be speaking better than only 17 of them.  This number startled me.  The third number is an age equivalent.  Cecilia was scored to be speaking at a two year old - zero month level, almost a full year behind.  

I left feeling more relieved than anything.  I knew that she was not speaking at the right level for her age.  I was relieved because we finally had an answer and the quantitative proof.  While we are waiting around for the school district to get off their butts, we will be starting private speech therapy in the next few weeks.  We want to get Cecilia the help she needs sooner rather than later before it becomes a bigger issue.