Speech

After a couple of initial speech visits with Anna from our cleft team at the University of Minnesota last summer we were referred to look into the speech services the school district provides. This was a nice option that would be closer to home. A small team from Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) came to our house to evaluate Wyatt. He does need help with his speech but would have automatically qualified anyway because of his cleft. His teacher comes to our house once a week. It took Wyatt a while to warm up but now he is happy to see Virginia and the toys and books she brings with her.

Normally Mike is home for these visits but with Mike off on a field trip with Bella I was able to be home for speech. It was fun to watch him take his seat on the floor with his feet tucked under him waiting patiently for play time with his teacher. They play with different books, puzzles and toys while practicing making sounds and saying words. It is amazing to me how his teacher is able to help him correct his pronunciation through this play and hand gestures. He has his 6 month review tomorrow to check his progress.

Update:

Wyatt had his 6 month speech review last week. He is making  progress but his teacher said it took him a while to warm up and in the beginning he was really still working on building his vocabulary.

What they are working on now is his pronunciation. There are certain sounds he makes during speech with help but not on his own naturally. His teacher said he doesn't struggle as much as other cleft affected kids with making certain sounds. She also said she doesn't think he needs private speech at this time. That is the same thing Anna was saying so it was good to hear that confirmed.

For now they will focus on pronunciation and air flow. Wyatt pushes the air laterally out his cheeks rather than through the front. This can be a hard habit to break. They will continue to work on this by focusing on placement. This is where he puts his tongue and how the air comes out. He needs to bring his tongue up to the teeth to pronounce his t and d's better.

When he is 3 years old he will be able to better understand these instructions. He will continue to work with the teachers through home visits until he turns 3. He will be evaluated again in the summer to determine if he will still need/qualify for speech services through the district. If he doesn't qualify through the district but we think he still needs help with his speech we can look into private therapy. Next year, if he qualifies through the district he would start one of two programs offered through the district. These would not be in our home. They would be in a more organized setting at the local elementary school or the district center.

Considering where we started I think everything is going really well. We can understand a lot of what he is trying to say but there are times it is hard to understand. We will stay on top of this and make sure he gets whatever help he needs.