In the waiting room, it seemed that everyone there knew everyone else. (except for me, of course!) One woman I met had been going there for 2 years. Her daughter was autistic and receives a variety of therapies 3 times a week. Another woman I met has been going there for 8 months. Her son receives speech therapy and occupational therapy for his sensory processing disorder. They seemed glad enough to welcome another mother into their circle. We'll be seeing each other every week, since we have the same therapy starting time.
The therapist walked into the waiting room and approached me and Kevin. She introduced herself and then explained that it's usually better if the parents wait in the waiting room instead of going back with the child. I said that would be okay, so she and Kevin headed off to the back.
25 minutes into the session, she brought me into the room where she and Kevin had been. There were probably 100 small, plastic animals scattered all over the floor.
She told me that Kevin was a sweet boy and that he'd been very cooperative. She talked with me for a few minutes, just to verify what she'd discovered about his speech. (the amount of sounds he makes, etc.) She mentioned that they'd worked on animal sounds today and that Kevin was trying to imitate some of them. Our homework this week (or until Thursday, that is), is to encourage Kevin to make animal sounds by using books, toys, or puzzles. She told us that soon we'll be working on some vowel sounds.
I asked her if she thought Kevin will learn to speak normally one day. She said yes! She quickly added, though, that it is going to take a while. That's okay. At least we're on the way now. We have to start somewhere. And if saying, "Moo! Baa! Quack, quack!" is what we need to do, then we're quickly starting to sound like a barnyard around here!
Playing with caterpillars
At an assembly this weekend
Hooray! Very happy for you guys! Glad his first session was a happy and fun experience for him and for you.
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