Good Speech Report!

Our little miss had her big speech eval today at the Center for Disability & Development. 
Ryan and I were worried.  We know Ainsley understands us, but at times she isn't very verbal.  

Ainsley's AEA speech therapist that works with her twice a month joined us for the eval today.  I was so relieved to have her join us.  She is a wonderful support to Ainsley and our family.  They asked us a LOT of questions today and Karalee jumped into provide her perspective since she has been working with Ainsley for over a year.
Ainsley was being evaluated by a graduate student in the room with us and the speech therapist was watching Ainsley from another room in a booth so she could observe her in a quiet space.  I have to admit I was stressed--we never know what the end result will be for any of these tests.  About 45 minutes into the eval, the lead speech therapist came out from the booth and sat down with us and shared that she was SO pleased with what she was seeing!  I actually started clapping!  We were relieved!
The lead speech therapist was so decisive.  She said very directly that she is not concerned about Ainsley's speech at this time!  At 2, they want kids to have at least 50 words and Ainsley has 100+ signs, words.  Ainsley is selective when talking--she only uses 10+ words at school so Karalee and her hearing teacher Kim are going to still work with her 4 times a month at school to help Ainsley with her confidence in talking in that setting.  We need to keep working on 2 word phrases.  Ainsley has a lot of single words, but we need to work on putting them together.  They want to see her again at 3 and will continue to be tracked by the AEA.
What a RELIEF!  We were so happy with this good news today!  We'll keep doing what we are doing to encourage Ainsley to talk and express herself.  The lead speech therapist did share her concern about Ainsley's gross motor skills. Ainsley is still unsteady on her feet, has a wide gait, etc.  She was going to send a message to the Physical Therapist at the CDD who we've worked with before to have her check in with us.  We always have Ainsley in comfortable, supportive tennis shoes with her inserts, but she still "wipes out" almost daily.  She'll loose her balance and fall.  She normally recovers quickly, gets up and keeps running :)!
Tonight we are thankful that we got GREAT news on Ainsley's speech.  This Friday, she has a cognitive test also at the CDD.   The folks today gave us great hope that she should pass that test too with flying colors based on what they saw today.  We are hoping for the best!  We are so thankful that God has continually provided for our sweet girl--providing caring teachers, doctors and family members!  We were at Costco last night and Ainsley kissed baby Jesus as we were leaving!  She's a keeper!

Comments

Bob Allison said…
Great news. Love the pictures. I agree she's a keeper. If she was putting two words together at this point I'm sure she would say, "Go Obama".

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