Gavin's speech therapy is still going great and he's making lots of progress. He loves therapy because he gets tons of attention and gets to play with new toys every session. This afternoon during therapy, he completely shocked me by suddenly saying, "I got to go pee-pee!" I was so excited because not only did he say a whole sentence, but this was the first time during potty-training that he's communicated the need to go to the bathroom. I took him to the bathroom and he was so proud of himself when he went. His therapist and I were very proud of him, too!
About 2 weeks ago, Gavin had a bridge therapy 2 hour session with an early education interventionist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist, and 2 speech pathologists. This bridge therapy was an opportunity for us to get some help while we are on the waiting list for home-based therapy. I really felt special when I realized that all those specialists were there just for Gavin. At first, Gavin was a little shy and wasn't sure why all these strangers were trying to talk and play with him. It only took about 2 minutes before he had completely warmed up and was playing with all of them like they were old friends! I really enjoyed the bridge therapy and left with lots of helpful tips and suggestions. The most interesting thing that happened was they recognized that Gavin would be a really good match for a different type of speech therapy. We ended up taking him off the waiting list for the home-based therapy and instead enrolled him in a community playgroup class led by speech pathologists. Not only will that help with Gavin's speech, but he'll also get more attention and help with some other issues that he's having at daycare such as aggressive behavior (hitting/biting/pushing). They will also work on playing with others nicely, sharing, and using words to express needs. I thought that sounded like a great idea. Although he's gotten much better in recent months, Gavin occasionally has bad days where he is overly aggressive at daycare. It always happens when he's tired, hungry, or sick. Unfortunately because of his speech difficulties, he's still unable to communicate his basic needs so he gets really upset and frustrated and he starts hurting his friends. It's really frustrating for us as parents because we don't know how to help him. They have a routine schedule at daycare so they always eat at the same time everyday and they always have nap at a certain time. There's not much flexibility to their schedule so I don't know how to improve the situation. I am really hoping that this playgroup will help.
Last Wednesday, I took the kids to the dentist for a cleaning/check-up. This was Alexa's 3rd visit to the dentist, so she's a pro! She was a perfect angel in the chair and she listened intently and followed all their directions. Gavin sat on my lap and watched with lots of interest. When Alexa was done, she climbed off the chair and Gavin hopped right up! I was so surprised. He actually wanted a turn! Although he didn't follow directions as perfectly as Alexa, they were able to clean all of his teeth. He did not throw one fit or even try to get away! I was so shocked. I had been so worried about how Gavin would react in the dentist chair because most times we struggle to brush his teeth. He usually puts up a fight and sometimes even seems to be in pain although we aren't brushing hard at all. I mentioned this to the dentist and he took a good look in Gavin's mouth. He noticed the lingual frenum (under tongue) appeared restricted. My first question was, "Could that affect his speech?" I got a definite "Yes!" for an answer. I shared this information with Gavin's speech therapist today. She seems to think it makes total sense. She's been a little puzzled as to why Gavin's speech intelligibility is so poor. He has so many words, we just can't understand the majority of them. Her first theory was that he had a hearing deficit, but Gavin has passed all hearing tests. If Gavin has a restricted tongue (sometimes called tongue-tied), he will struggle to say words because his tongue cannot touch the correct places inside his mouth. I will be calling our ENT tomorrow to see if Gavin can be seen after Tysen's appointment next week. If Gavin does have this condition, it will require a minor surgery to snip the tissue under his tongue so that he can have more movement, followed by more speech therapy. I finally feel like we are getting closer to getting some answers as to why Gavin is not talking yet.
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