I thought I would do a quick update on Zay's AEA Early Access progress! I'm sad, but also thrilled that we won't be seeing the AEA teacher anymore. I've been so spoiled having our teacher come about every other month since Zay was born to 'observe' him and make sure he's where he needs to be developmentally. And they've been so helpful giving me ideas on everything from the pacifier to educational activities! They've calmed my worries many times and overall just been a big help to me as a first time mom!
When we moved we met a new teacher and after she came a couple of times and worked with Zay, we both decided that he just didn't need to be observed anymore. She was giving him activities for 3 and 4 year olds and he was whizzing through them. Not bad for a little guy that just turned 2! I was surprised when she told me how far advanced he was, and of course so thankful that Zay is progressing so well! :) We can call her at anytime if we have questions, etc. Although Zay still qualifies for this service because of his PKU, we are thankful that he just doesn't need it. I'm happy to free up our teacher's time to go work with other children that need the extra help.
With that being said, we have started meeting with a Speech Pathologist. They tell me that Zay's speech is borderline on needing help, but since he qualifies for the service I feel strongly that I want the extra help for Zay (really the help is for me...teaching me how to work with him!). We've let go of one service and added another!
It's funny, because it's only Zay's speech that suffers...his language and vocabulary are amazing! We can teach him a sign and he only needs to be shown once before he immediately starts using it! I've met multiple speech pathologists through various situations and they all have highly encouraged sign language! This helps with a lot of things, but it keeps the communication flowing and helps kids not get frustrated!
Our speech pathologist was also mentioning that there have been studies done that show babies that have been taught sign language are more likely to develop larger vocabularies and become better readers. The signing stimulates the synapses of the brain by using both the right and left hemispheres of the brain, whereas learning spoken language by itself only uses the brain's left hemisphere. Now, I haven't read these studies, but I thought it was interesting!
It's a bummer that Zay's little mouth just doesn't want to make all the sounds we want him too, but I know it will come with time! We already are hearing more and more words! Shane and I laugh, because we know that one day Zay is going to just start talking away and we will REALLY know everything that he's been hearing!
I always remember my mother-in-law's words..."you work so hard trying to get your kids to walk and talk and then you spend the rest of your parenting years trying to get them to sit down and be quiet"...Ha - so true!!
Anyway, we were happy to hear some great news on Zay. Always happy to have a good report on our little guy! :)
2 comments:
Glad for the update! I'm glad he is doing well in other areas. I am hoping Carson is where he needs to be too. They have already come and evaluated him and I am getting the results this afternoon. We know he qualifies, but don't know what all he needs to work on yet. Hopefully it is just his speech also. To me he seems to be so smart! He can already recognize and say almost every letter in the alphabet! He loves to point them out everywhere. I can't wait to get this started and get some help teaching him to talk too. I agree with what you said, that one day we will wish they would just be quiet! lol Good luck to you guys!
Glad to read he is doing well! They are growing up so fast :)
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