Today was speech therapy day! As most of you know, Hunter is experiencing a little bit of a delay in his speech. At 22 months he can say "buh" for bye(and blows kisses) and "haw" for hot(holds hands out). He was saying "ta" for thank you, but has recently stopped like most of the other words he has lost(ball, dada, mama, Tucker, uh oh, hi). Hunter has always done things early, but talking seems to be a struggle for some reason. As a mom, panic sets in and self diagnosing occurs. But, thanks to family and friends I can honestly say that my mind was at ease... Until today.
Maybe I wasn't mentally prepared for this appointment or educated enough on how these things work, but I sure did get my hopes up. First off, I woke my(still recovering from a stomach bug) little boy up TOO early from his nap. So, he was not really in the mood for this lady to evaluate him. She recorded a detailed history of his birth information to present time. What foods he likes/dislikes(what does that have to do with anything?), does he throw temper tantrums(ummm.... He's 2 lady!), what are his sleep patterns, favorite toys, and things he likes to do at a park?
I'm not going to bore you with the details of this hour long session, but here's the verdict I received. She said Hunter is known as a "squishy" child. Um, excuse me? "He has no muscle tone", she says. Ok, apparently I missed the memo on toning your toddler. Also, he is a sensory seeking child, which is actually a disorder. This being said because of his need to constantly rub ears, fall off things, splash in puddles, wrestle, tickle excessively, and be "squished" between things. Minus the ear rubbing, I thought that was all pretty normal. So, she suggested him seeing an occupational therapist. Hmmm... Oh wait, let's go ahead and add a physical therapist in there for his feet. By this point I was frustrated we hadn't covered his speech problem and I was becoming more emotional with everything she was pointing out about Hunter, so I have no idea what was wrong with his feet. To me, I see nothing.
So basically, we go back in two weeks for speech therapy and then possibly start OT and PT. If it is a positive experience next time we will continue therapy, if not then maybe we can find someone else. But, as we drove away today and tears are falling from my eyes I see my sweet boy in the rear view mirror wearing my Ray Bans and a big smile. I think that was Hunter(and Gods) way of letting me know everything will be ok.
