Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Is My Scooter Broken?

So I ask the question: is my Scooter broken? My hubby thinks so.

No, we don't technically own a scooter, motorized or other but we do have a Scooter. Or at least that is the nickname he has acquired. But why do I ask if he is broken? Well, since he turned two a few months back I began to realize that he is not talking. Some would say that isn't too much to be concerned about but then I tell them that he did have 5 words that he spoke rather clearly for a 18 mo old at one time. Then one month after his 18 month milestone he became a big brother. And from some point after that until his 2 yr well check did I realize that he went from 5 words to no words. Still, most would say that might be an appropriate reaction to the birth of a younger sibling. And that is where I agreed. Our Scooter was still the most fun loving, energetic, busy 2 year old boy. Always doing something to make us smile. And having no real problem communicating what he wanted, just non-verbally. Well, I can't say it was NON-verbal, he definitely likes to use his voice, just doesn't put the right sounds together to make recognizable words.

So after a couple sick appointments for common colds with my two little ones, I finally brought it up again to our pediatrician. (I had been told about a program at his 2 yr check up but choose the 'wait & see' approach) Her suggestion was to go ahead and contact Babies Can't Wait, "It can't hurt, it can only help" were her words. This was back before Christmas, and my thought was I would go ahead and start the process, by the time the whole things actually gets to the therapy starting I'm sure he will be talking a mile a minute. Because this whole time my thought was, "He will talk, just on his own time table." Well, here we are just over 2 months later and day one of speech therapy and still no real progress. (I will have to say that I was impressed with the timely manner the entire process has taken from contacting the agency to getting the therapy started.)

But to go back to my original questions, "Is my Scooter broken?" Well, from the evaluation, we are told he has a speech disorder. Not just a speech delay, but a disorder. I am pretty sure that is due to the fact that he has a very high cognitive understanding of the spoken language but just can not formulate the words himself. Well, after hearing that our son has a disorder, my husband has mentioned that he thinks Scooter is broken. Now this is not to be taken wrong. My husband is a very loving father and might even say Scooter is his favorite if he could. I just think that it breaks his heart to watch his son play, wrestle and having a fun loving time and know he has a 'disorder' too. We have always felt so blessed that we were given three healthy childern. So now knowing that there is something wrong, even just for the time being, breaks our hearts. I truely believe that the speech therapy is going to help and will expedite his verbal skills to bring him back to his peers, but the question will always be in the back of my mind, "Is My Scooter Broken?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My heart goes out to you. There are a lot of things that are easy to say in this sort of case, but aren't really helpful in any practical sense. I think that dealing with any sort of disorder or disability is a journey in itself. I know you love your Scooter whether he's broken or not. I hope that this early intervention proves to be just what's needed! xo