Monday, September 01, 2008

a little preview

Saturday night we had birthday dinner at my Paw's house. Aunt Patty fixed a feast for us in honor of Jessica, Mike and Mom. Jessica's family came. Her and Jon and the kids; Manuel, Bradly and Gabby. Bradly turned four in May and has exhibited a delay in many areas of his development. While living in New Mexico, he was seeing a speech therapist and has gone from 20 unintelligible words to speaking in 2 and 3 word phrases.
Well, the Speech therapist in me (who likes to play) couldn't miss an opportunity to play and use the skills that have been packed away this summer. I sat down to play with this cute little man and started asking questions. He answered!!! or if he didn't know I would answer and he would repeat it to me! This guy has come such a long way. And then they brought out the play dough and the real "speech" if you will, began.
Brad would give me the container and say "stuck, it's stuck", "what do you want me to do?" I'd asked. and he'd tell me it's stuck again. I would say "open it please" and brad would say"open it please" and i would open the lid a little so he could take it off! this went on for 2 or 3 interactions each time he switched colors. Each time he would tell me its stuck, I would ask him what he wanted me to do, then I would model "open it please" and he would repeat it. The 4th time, he handed the play dough container to me and said "it's stuck" I asked what I needed to do, and without a prompt he told me to "open it please". YES!!! The next time Bradly switched colors, he handed it to me and said "open it please"!!!!!! In the little time that he played, his phrases went from 2 word phrases to 4 and a few 5!
This guy has surely made a lot of success. and as i dread starting my week seeing kids this next week, he has reminded me how much I love my job and rewarding it is to celebrate the little successes that my guys celebrate each week!

I am officially ready for speech to begin!!! Thanks Bradly:)

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