We said goodbye to Derrick's speech therapist today. Her husband is leaving the military and they are moving out of state. Derrick will still be in therapy, and we met the new therapist today as well.
This transition made me think back to what Derrick was like when he first started therapy. That was about 7 months ago. At the time he could say only a handful of sounds. He only had a few words. One of the words was "Ahhh-Dahh" for vacuum. Another word was "Dah Dah Dah" for "what is that?"
He's learned a lot since March. His vocabulary has increased to about 30 words. His most recent word is "help." You have no idea how much easier life is now that he can ask for help instead of grunting or screaming about it. He can also mimic most words (when he's in the mood to do it).
He loves letters. He knows the name or at least the sound of every letter. He can even read a few lowercase letters. He's always reading the letters that he sees throughout the day. When we were visiting my parents I had them film me reading Dr Seuss's ABC book with Derrick.
If you want to really appreciate how much Derrick has improved the last few months you should check out this video of him with the ABC book that I filmed in February.
I'm so glad that I followed my instincts and got Derrick into speech therapy. It's been such a positive experience. At first Derrick didn't seem to make any progress, but overtime he improved. I liked that I could talk about my concerns with his therapist and she could offer encouragement and ideas. Sometimes I was just happy that even the professional couldn't get Derrick to talk either.
I'm curious how much Derrick will improve over the next few months. He qualifies for in home therapy through ECI until his third birthday which is 6 months from now. After that we'll see where he is and what we need to do next.
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He loves his letters!
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