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I was fine with that.  She had achieved all of her goals working on specific age-appropriate sound targets.  We finally got the \/k\/ and \/g\/ sounds even at the conversational level and the only sounds she makes errors with at the word level aren't eligible for therapy until she's much older.  Besides, we were beginning homeschooling, and as a SLP myself, I'd rather do therapy here at home from here on out.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nI've taken a more laid back approach with Ava at home.  Once she started making progress and her intelligibility was no longer an issue, I decided to let structured therapy happen with her therapists and let her time at home with Mama just be Mama time.  And it has been fine.  She's doing so well.  Most people can understand her most of the time.  You would no longer pick her out from a crowd of her peers and notice her speech.  All of these things are wonderful and amazing and facts I wish I could have known about two or three years ago.  It would have saved me so much worry.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nHowever...  She's 4.  She has so much to say.  Her language skills are perfectly normal and so her sentence length and grammatical complexity are shooting up.  She want to tell stories and participate in active conversations and is competing with an extremely verbal older brother.  And we're starting to have trouble understanding her again.  It certainly isn't all the time, but several times a week she'll say something and we won't have any idea what a couple of key words are.  We'll ask her to repeat herself, and that doesn't help.  I'm finding myself asking questions like, \"Can you tell me something else about it?\", or \"What does it do?\" in order to try to figure out what she's trying to tell me.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nSome of that is specific sound errors.  She has a consistent \/v\/ for voiced \/th\/ and \/f\/ for voiceless \/th\/ substitution.  \/w\/ and \/r\/ are weak.  But some of it is the mild apraxia rearing it's head as utterance length and complexity increases.  Soon it will be time to incorporate some structured speech therapy into our homeschooling routine.  If it weren't affecting her intelligibility, I would wait.  But it is.  So, soon...\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2334455957644960123\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/08\/language-explosion-speech.html#comment-form","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/2334455957644960123"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/2334455957644960123"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/08\/language-explosion-speech.html","title":"Language Explosion = Speech Intelligibility Issues"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522593221428423055.post-8416985878615199460"},"published":{"$t":"2013-08-07T05:00:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-08-07T05:00:01.370-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Apraxia"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ava"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Silence"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lRYYJWn2haI\/Uf0ELv85TEI\/AAAAAAAAEew\/Clk19aZvqUY\/s1600\/Ava+4+months.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lRYYJWn2haI\/Uf0ELv85TEI\/AAAAAAAAEew\/Clk19aZvqUY\/s400\/Ava+4+months.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nWe found some old home videos tucked away in a folder we had lost track of.  Ava was about 4-5 months old when the videos were taken. What struck me as I watched was how smiley she was.  I remember very few smiles, and yet while watching these videos, she responded with a huge toothless grin every time I smiled at her.  Her eyes would light up and there was this huge smile.  And yet she was wrapped in a huge bubble of silence.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nI listen to babies coo and babble all the time.  I play with those sounds in waiting rooms, babbling back and forth with any infant who will play the game with me.  Ava was silent.  It's a little creepy - all the talking around her and this completely silent little baby.  She didn't seem unhappy, she was just silent.  She was silent in the bouncer, on the playmat, and in the arms of loved ones.  We have some videos of me trying to make her laugh - tossing her gently in the air or creeping tickle fingers up her leg towards her neck.  The vast majority of the time I was unsuccessful.  The once or twice she managed to giggle, it looked and sounded effortful.  And yet, somehow, even as a speech pathologist I managed to miss how exactly abnormal it all was.  I was a sleep-deprived mother of a 4 and 19 month old.  My professional experience was with preschoolers and school-aged children.  At the time, I wasn't getting out much and didn't realize how much noise babies should be making.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003CBr\u003E\n\nThere was a video where...  well, I have no idea exactly what I was trying to capture in the video, but Ava was laying on her back on the floor.  She couldn't roll over yet and looked a lot like a turtle stuck on her back.  She was obviously frustrated.  She was lifting her head and shoulders and waving her arms and staring straight at me.  And there were no sounds.  None at all.  No grunting, no fussing, no crying even.  Just silence in the presence of frustration and physical effort.  And why exactly did it take me 18 more months to start assessment?\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nHas anyone had similar experiences with their apraxic children?  If you go back and watch videos when they were babies are they silent?  I know that \"abnormal history of babbling\" is a red flag for apraxia, but this complete silence...  Anyone? "},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8416985878615199460\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/08\/silence.html#comment-form","title":"5 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/8416985878615199460"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/8416985878615199460"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/08\/silence.html","title":"Silence"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lRYYJWn2haI\/Uf0ELv85TEI\/AAAAAAAAEew\/Clk19aZvqUY\/s72-c\/Ava+4+months.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"5"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522593221428423055.post-2087918353953564452"},"published":{"$t":"2013-03-03T05:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-03-03T05:00:00.760-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ava"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"daily life"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"And then she was 4"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-dY2k-tiO3zQ\/US_lULGP8gI\/AAAAAAAAEWY\/3MHADPxur38\/s1600\/Ava+4th+B.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-dY2k-tiO3zQ\/US_lULGP8gI\/AAAAAAAAEWY\/3MHADPxur38\/s400\/Ava+4th+B.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAva is now four years old.  She is such an independent spirit.  She prefers to do things for herself and to make her own choices.  Ava likes to choose her own clothes and I let her (assuming they are clean and seasonally appropriate).  If she chooses to wear the same favorite dress to school every day of the week - so be it.  If the dress, leggings, socks, and shoes are all different colors and patterns- so be it.  Making your own choices is awesome and she shouldn't miss out just because she's little and her fashion sense is still developing.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd yet, for all her independence, somehow that doesn't stop her from wanting to be close to people at the same time.  Ava is not a loner.  She wants to be near her loved ones and engaged in conversation.  She doesn't hear the siren call of the computer or a game on a phone the way the rest of the family does.  Ava would just as soon walk away from the electronics and engage someone in conversation, a snuggle, a tickle, or a game of chase.  If I'm sitting in my rocking chair reading a book, she will snuggle in at my side just for company.  If her Daddy is cooking in the kitchen she will drag a chair over to the counter and ask to help.  I love that about her even while the introvert in me often wishes for a pry bar and 5 minutes of space upon occasion.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\nAva and her brother are best friends.  She spends time happily away from him, but when school is over or when he wakes up later than she does (always!) she is glad to see him.  They play together seamlessly and effortlessly.  When she is offered a treat, she asks if she can have one for Michael as well.  When she's told she can have a special privilege (some extra tv or a special snack, for example) she'll call to him to make sure he doesn't miss it.  If he is upset she tries to comfort him.  If she cannot help him, she'll get upset too.  Their play together has its own dynamic.  Michael often leads the imaginary play and Ava happily follows along.  She's the mouthpiece of the duo.  If they want something (a real snack for their pretend picnic), Michael will send her to ask.  Ava will appear at the head of the stairs bellowing a question.  After being answered we hear her footsteps heading for her brother as she reports our answer.\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-VrYmYd84FbI\/US_oD-YvcBI\/AAAAAAAAEWk\/lxSKsBvZ_R8\/s1600\/Siblings.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-VrYmYd84FbI\/US_oD-YvcBI\/AAAAAAAAEWk\/lxSKsBvZ_R8\/s320\/Siblings.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAva's favorite colors are pink and purple although I am beginning to see signs of her branching out a little.  She loves art and is particularly content when coloring a picture with an adult happily giving instructions about which color should be used on which section next.  She still loves kittens although the kittens don't have to be Hello Kitty any more.  Any adorable kitten will do.  She prefers to wear dresses rather than shirts and refuses to wear any pants other than leggings. She likes to turn her bed into a tent by covering the sides (she's still in a toddler bed converted from her crib) with blankets.  She sleeps with stars on the ceiling and a glowing fairy on the wall and does not at all like to sleep in the dark.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAva's showing signs of liking to perform.  She'll want to show off tricks from gymnastics or the way she can use her dance streamer to make a spiral.  She will definitely watch to make sure you are watching during her mini performances.\n\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAva is a little girl.  It has been so much fun to be with her as she changes from the toddler she once was to an active, healthy, communicative preschooler.  Happy fourth birthday to my big girl!\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2087918353953564452\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/03\/and-then-she-was-4.html#comment-form","title":"4 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/2087918353953564452"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/2087918353953564452"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/03\/and-then-she-was-4.html","title":"And then she was 4"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-dY2k-tiO3zQ\/US_lULGP8gI\/AAAAAAAAEWY\/3MHADPxur38\/s72-c\/Ava+4th+B.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"4"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522593221428423055.post-665784083849418756"},"published":{"$t":"2013-01-15T05:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-01-16T07:01:14.319-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Apraxia"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ava"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"IEP"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Ava Speech Update - Winter 2013"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Birthdays, holidays, trips, surgeries, and reduced childcare have been conspiring to decimate my previously immaculate record of regular posting.  Bear with me please, I'm working on it.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nWe just had Ava's second IEP meeting.  She's come such a long way.  \u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\n\u003Ci\u003E(Brief review for those who aren't caught up.  \n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EWe began almost exactly two years ago with her \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2011\/01\/this-cant-be-happening-to-her.html\"\u003Eearly intervention evaluation\u003C\/a\u003E.  At that time she was barely talking at all even though she was almost two years old.  Even more concerning was that she only had a few speech sounds she could make and she couldn't imitate.  She was also giving up - beginning to turn to rudimentary gestures instead of even trying to talk.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOver the next several months we started using \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/apraxia-therapy-communication-boards.html\"\u003Ecommunication boards\u003C\/a\u003E and sign language which gave her some tools to communicate and made her much happier. She began receiving services and working with me intensively at home.  We all worked hard, and we saw a great deal of progress.  She learned new sounds and started using words along with her signs.  She made the jump to two-word utterances.  Steadily we saw progress.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ESix months after her initial IFSP meeting the second one was held and the team identified an additional area of need.  Ava had sensory issues that were affecting basic life skills like dressing, bathing, feeding, and socializing.  She began to receive occupational therapy in addition to her speech therapy.  She continued to make progress in both areas.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAnother six months crept by as she approached the age of three where children transition from early intervention to services provided by the schools.  We needed to have her reevaluated to see if she would continue to qualify for services.  Fortunately, she did and so her first IEP meeting was held.  On her third birthday she joined a speech group using the cycles approach.  It has served her well and over the next year we have seen so much progress.)\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nAt this point Ava is speaking in full sentences using age-appropriate vocabulary and morphology.  She is not at all hesitant to communicate and is usually intelligible.  She continues to exhibit many speech errors but the only ones that are age-inappropriate at this point are \/k\/ and \/g\/.  If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that we've been working on \/k\/ and \/g\/ for something like 18 months.  I am happy to report that they are finally starting to come in.  She can produce velar sounds now.  She can do it almost all the time when imitating words in medial and final position and at least 85-90% of the time when imitating initial position.  I even hear it pop in occasionally in spontaneous speech.  (Okay, very occasionally, but that is huge!)  So, finally we are on our way with the velars.  Now it is just a matter of time.\n\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAt her IEP meeting we decided that the speech group using the cycles approach was no longer the most appropriate setting for her given that she's only working on velars.  We are reducing her minutes to 30 minutes a week and she will receive those services via a traditional pull-out method.  Her therapist will pull her out of her preschool room for 15 minutes twice a week to work with her on her velars.\n\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EI know there is more to work on than the velars, but I am so much more relaxed about it.  The other sounds come in later anyway (\/th\/, \/r\/, etc.).  She's mostly intelligible.  I'm going to start homeschooling in the summer, and I think I'll sneak speech work into pre-reading phonics lessons rather than addressing it completely separately during \"speech time\".  She's really have a phonemic awareness explosion enjoying playing with syllables, beginning and ending sounds, rhyming, and alliteration and so working on the speech covertly through a related area of strength makes more sense to me.  \n\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\nIn summary, things are good.  Progress over the past two years has been phenomenal and I anticipate that she will continue to improve.  As I look back and remember how devastated and worried I was two years ago I wish I could travel back in time and provide a glimpse of the future.  We are fine.  Ava is fine.  It has been a lot of work, and a huge commitment.  However, even the work has often been fun.  Ava enjoys her speech therapy and the friends she makes there.   She’s been doing it so long, it is just a part of her life – no different than preschool or gymnastics.  It is just an activity for her.   I’d say the turning point is when the speech improves just enough that you can understand her most of the time.  When everyone is frustrated and in tears because you just can’t understand what they are trying to say on a daily or hourly basis, things are awful.  After that, it is so much easier.  "},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/665784083849418756\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/ava-speech-update-winter-2013.html#comment-form","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/665784083849418756"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/665784083849418756"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/ava-speech-update-winter-2013.html","title":"Ava Speech Update - Winter 2013"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"3"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522593221428423055.post-7033162080188165215"},"published":{"$t":"2012-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2012-11-29T05:00:06.218-06:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ava"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"daily life"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Non-Hallmark Milestones Pt. 2"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Speaking of \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/11\/not-all-milestones-are-hallmark-moments.html\"\u003Enon-hallmark milestones\u003C\/a\u003E, we had another one.  Doesn't everyone look forward to the first time their young child almost gets run over by a minivan?\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nWe were leaving speech.  I've taught the children to wait until I open the minivan doors (via a button on my key fob) and then walk on the line to their door.  This keeps them safe because I don't open their doors until I'm sure the way is clear.  Walking the line keeps them close to the car just in case.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nAva completely abandoned both of my safety checks.  The children were racing along the sidewalk to see who could get to the van first.  The cars were parked perpendicular to the sidewalk.  Ava just ran right into the empty parking spot on her side of the van.  She didn't walk the line.  She didn't wait for me to open the door.  And, \u003Cu\u003Eof\u003C\/u\u003E \u003Cu\u003Ecourse\u003C\/u\u003E, there was a minivan pulling in to that empty (except for the body of my small child) parking spot.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nI screamed, but I would have absolutely been too late.  Thankfully, the woman driving the minivan was paying attention.  She had stopped to let us across the crosswalk and was apparently watching the children race along the sidewalk to our van.  She stopped as soon as Ava ran into the parking spot.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nOnce my heartbeat slowed and I managed to unwrap my arms from around her body, I had a talk with Ava about object lessons and how they applied to this particular situation.  We very clearly reviewed our safety procedures and talked about how they are even more important when the spots next to our car are empty.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nI'm ready for a hiatus from the non-hallmark milestones. Really.  I am.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ESomehow, this story reminds me of another non-hallmark milestone: \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/08\/what-came-out-when-i-let-my-mouth-run.html\"\u003Eremember that time my almost-5 year old tried to find out how many marbles could fit in his mouth\u003C\/a\u003E?\u003C\/i\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7033162080188165215\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/11\/non-hallmark-milestones-pt-2.html#comment-form","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/7033162080188165215"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/7033162080188165215"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/11\/non-hallmark-milestones-pt-2.html","title":"Non-Hallmark Milestones Pt. 2"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2522593221428423055.post-561177698417459401"},"published":{"$t":"2012-10-17T05:02:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2012-10-17T05:02:00.496-05:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Ava"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"therapy"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Speech Therapy At Home: A Minimalist Approach"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"I've experimented with several approaches to home therapy.  We've done 30 minutes sessions five times a week in addition to the therapy services Ava was receiving elsewhere.  That was intense and a schedule that was hard to maintain even when the children were only in daycare two mornings a week.  \n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nWe tried doing a 15-20 minute therapy session nightly after dinner.  That was working well at least 3 days a week until summertime hit and our schedule was less regular.  Then sessions dropped to once a week and then we got distracted all together.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nWhen fall approached, Ava was switching from daycare two mornings a week to preschool five mornings a week.  She was also starting her speech group again twice a week for 45 minutes after the summer break.  I decided to postpone home sessions until we settled into our school-year schedule.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nThings are finally calming down.  Ava has transitioned well to preschool.  She's doing fine in her speech group twice a week.  Her speech group is wonderful.  They have a group for preschool-aged speech-only children.  The therapists use a cycles approach working on each sound for a week or two before moving on to another sound.  After moving through all the targeted sounds they begin the cycle again.  Ava has a somewhat unique spectrum of speech sounds she has vs. has not acquired though.  She has (with the exception of \/sk\/) pretty much mastered the \/s\/-blends.  \/s\/-blends are typically a sound most preschool children need to address, so the group spends quite a few consecutive sessions on \/s\/-blends Ava already knows.  Therefore, I am feeling the need to supplement at home again.\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nI don't want to overwhelm her though.  Already her schedule is at least three times as busy as it has ever been.  So I'm taking a minimalist approach to home therapy right now.  I've taken a card deck upstairs to her bedroom.  Usually we do final \/k\/, but right now her speech group is working on \/sk\/ so I'm switching to \/sk\/ this week (\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/09\/speech-therapy-kit-s-blends-card-sets.html\"\u003Eextensive \/s\/-blend sets\u003C\/a\u003E are currently available in the Testy Shop).  \n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lLLzIgU3AAI\/UH2zl0wGDxI\/AAAAAAAADiQ\/zpJjGjTCb_8\/s1600\/SK%2BSpeech%2BArticulation%2BPicture%2BCard%2BSet.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"400\" width=\"395\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lLLzIgU3AAI\/UH2zl0wGDxI\/AAAAAAAADiQ\/zpJjGjTCb_8\/s400\/SK%2BSpeech%2BArticulation%2BPicture%2BCard%2BSet.JPG\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nI keep the deck on her bedside table and we practice the deck before nap and again before bed.  It takes no more than 5-7 minutes to do a speed drill consisting of at least 50 productions.  I can tell she's fatiguing near the end of the 59 card final \/k\/ deck (coming soon in the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/p\/testy-shop-speech-therapy-kits.html\"\u003ETesty Shop\u003C\/a\u003E) because she's at 90% accuracy for the first 20 and down to more like 30% accuracy by the final 20).  \n\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\nI like this approach.  It meets the two essential criteria for getting it done in our house.  \n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIt is quick.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EIt is built into our routines (before bed and nap) in a hard to forget way.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003EAs a bonus, it is heavily focused on child productions which is essential for progress with motor-speech problems.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/feeds\/561177698417459401\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/10\/speech-therapy-at-home-minimalist.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/561177698417459401"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/2522593221428423055\/posts\/default\/561177698417459401"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"https:\/\/testyyettrying.blogspot.com\/2012\/10\/speech-therapy-at-home-minimalist.html","title":"Speech Therapy At Home: A Minimalist Approach"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Dala"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/09390391982768152147"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-lLLzIgU3AAI\/UH2zl0wGDxI\/AAAAAAAADiQ\/zpJjGjTCb_8\/s72-c\/SK%2BSpeech%2BArticulation%2BPicture%2BCard%2BSet.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});