Another reality check.

Another piece of information I picked up this weekend from Ms. J. was the results of the test of phonological processing she did with Ava. Ms. A and I had already given Ava a basic articulation test several weeks ago and she did pretty poorly. I also wanted to give Ava a phonological processing test because that gives you a completely different set of information. Ms. J offered to administer the test and she had the test scored by the weekend.

I don't have all the specifics, because she had forgotten to make a copy for me, but I did get the bottom line. The test scores fall into one of five levels. The best is in the normal range, and the worst is a profound phonological processing disorder. Ava scored one tier higher than profound. Her score fell into the very severe phonological processing disorder range.

Sigh. Again, this isn't a huge surprise. Six months ago she had so little speech we couldn't even have administered the test. But it definitely puts things into perspective to realize that compared to other girls her age, the phonological processing patterns in her speech put her in the very severe range.

I'm looking forward to seeing the detailed results because that is where I'll get more clues about what exactly is going on.

K is here!

This past weekend was one of Ava's twice a month therapy sessions with Ms. J. When I walked in the therapy room at the end of the session, Ms. J very matter of factly told me that we'd be adding final /k/ to her list of things to practice because she can do it now. Then she said to Ava, "say, /k/." And she did. I was completely surprised and so pleased.

It is hard for her. She still substitutes a /t/ for the /k/ the vast majority of the time. I always feel mean when I tell her, "No baby, that's /t/. We need a /k/." and I have to ask her to say the word again. In order for her to even have a chance of getting it, I need a slight pause between the first half of the word and the final /k/ sound. So, I say, "boo - k". And when I make that final /k/ sound it has to be really guttural. If I just make a regular /k/ sound she'll repeat with a /t/ every time.

But /k/ is here and we can finally start to work on some back sounds. Progress!

Toddler and Preschool Online Activities

I made a list of some of websites Michael and Ava spend time on when we let them have computer time. Some of the sites have animated songs, some have animated stories, and some have simple games appropriate for young children. With some basic computer skills my kids are even pretty independent with most of these. I usually sit down and watch everything with them or play each game with them once showing them how it works, and they can take it from there in the future. Everything listed has a link that will actually take you to the site, so check them out and let me know if you enjoy visiting them with your little ones.

Toddler and Preschool Online Activities

I'll be adding to the list as I remember ones I've forgotten and as I find more. If you have some favorites I should check out tell me about them in the comments.