Parental Description
of Need for Special Services for Tavin Melder
At age 2 our son, Tavin, spoke many words with
confidence. He just failed to articulate well. Since he was only 2 at that time we were not
concerned. As he progressed through his
2nd year into his 3rd we noticed his vocabulary increasing,
his words stringing into sentences and sentences then into paragraphs, but
unfortunately, he still lacked clear articulation. Actually, instead we noticed patterns in his
speech and that his verbose conversations were very much in his own language
and unintelligible to everyone outside of his big brother, myself (his mother)
and his father. At his 3 year check-up with
his pediatrician, in December of 2012, I
casually mentioned our concerns and the pediatrician, Dr. Paul Rowland,
suggested we have him evaluated by UPMC’s Children’s Hospital here in
Pittsburgh. At that evaluation (in late
January 2013) it was clear that Tavin falls short of the average
intelligibility for his age group and they found him to have phonological
disorders causing the lack of articulation.
Upon this evaluation they recommended that we have speech therapy twice
a week. Starting in mid-April of 2013,
Tavin has had speech therapy twice a week at Children’s Hospital. During the time between his evaluation in
January and the commencement of therapy in April, we learned of the
intermediate unit of Pittsburgh Public Schools’ early intervention
program. We pursued this avenue of treatment
as well and therapy began once a week with Pittsburgh Public starting in early
April 2013 as well. So by May 2013,
Tavin was seeing a qualified speech therapist three times a week between the
two programs.
In the past three months we have seen progress in Tavin’s
phonological issues, but there is much work to be done. We are thankful that particular words have
improved and those words are more understood by peers and adults, but his
conversational speech remains mostly unintelligible by those outside his
familiar inner circle. In this process
of therapy we have come to terms that we will most likely need to continue
treatment three times a week until Tavin is school age or perhaps further in
order for him to learn how to overcome these phonological problems. In the paperwork we received from the County Assistance
Office we were told to provide how this “disability” causes our child difficulty
in social relationships and situations and educational opportunities.
Here are my explanations…
Tavin is a child filled with joy. He is vibrant, expressive, creative and
imaginative. He is full of life and this
pours out of him when speaking to me (his mother), his father and his brothers
(ages 6 and 1). But in social
environments, a paragraph of excited information can be cut short when he, at
the age of 3, sees that he is not being understood. When asked his name and he states it in his
own way, he turns to me and says, “oo say i-ya, Mommy?” He is clearly starting to be quite aware that
he needs a translator and is misunderstood much of the time by most of the
people he spends time with. We are
obviously working against this with therapy, but it is a long, uphill battle. His social capability is great due to his
fantastic personality, but the ill-function of his conversational speech does
threaten it severely.
As for education…Tavin is heading into preschool this Fall
(2013). He will be attending a private
preschool two days a week. At the
preschool, Pittsburgh Public’s early intervention intermediate unit will be
providing 45-60 minutes of therapy in this social environment. That being said, we are concerned about Tavin’s
ability to be understood by his teachers and peers on his own. He is so excited to go to preschool as he
remembers his brother attending this particular school, but as parents we are
wary about how it will go due to his language skills. It particularly pains us to think that
perhaps his lack of intelligibility could cause him to withdraw from his vivacious
personality and feel uncomfortable in educational settings. This is why we are so passionate about Tavin
receiving the therapy needed to help him overcome his speech problems. This child is not only gifted, tenacious and
a huge blessing to us, but he has so much to say. We know this, but we want the world to know
what this special little guy has to say and we look forward to when they will.
You are such an awesome Mom, Amy, and Tav will one day know how you worked to help him in all ways possible.
ReplyDeleteI feel for your mamma-heart and how difficult this whole process must be for you, Amy, but I second Krissy - you are an incredible mother, and your boys will grow up seeing in all the big AND little things how hard you love and fight for them. Praying for you.
ReplyDeleteAn awesome mom is right! My sister is a speech therapist and I am often in tears over the remarkable stories she shares about her kid's accomplishments. I look forward to hearing how Tavin's own special journey will unfold! We will be praying for him, you all and this situation with all the logistics. Ugh...the red tape! xoxo, Kristen
ReplyDeleteAmy - Megan shared your blog with me, as my organization provides early intervention services. Trust your gut and continue to be an adovcate for Tavin. It is a confusing system that can be overwhelming, but know that you are doing the right thing for Tavin.
ReplyDeleteAmy, being a speech therapist working in early intervention, I'm so glad that you are both advocating for Tavin's needs and that you see him for what he is which is a child with a lot to say and a blessing to your family. Having the combination of concern for his needs, confidence in his abilities and love for him are what is needed to support his speech/language needs. Keep on pursuing services, I know the paperwork is a nightmare!!!
ReplyDelete