A short WHAT?!

Today I took Jed to an appointment to be evaluated by a speech therapist/pathologist. Any of you who know Jed and have talked with him know that certain sounds are hard for him to make, making it difficult to understand sometimes what he's trying to say. This problem has not improved with time. The school system evaluated him last fall but didn't consider him bad enough to want to offer their help. I finally got desperate this spring and sniffed out a speech and rehab center in Nashua. And I am one happy mama tonight to finally have some answers and some hope!

At the end of the nearly two-hour evaluation today the therapist shared her preliminary findings with me. What she found makes so much sense! Apparently Jed has a very weak tongue, making it difficult for him to form certain sounds. He can form his problem sounds if he puts his mind to it, but it takes extra effort. And some words, like calendar, come out ca-ender. This is because his tongue is not strong enough to make some of the rapid sounds that most of us can make. Now her belief is that this is due to a short frenulum. I'll be impressed if any of you know what one of those is! I completed a medical transcription course four years ago and never came across one in my studies. Well, it's that little stringy thing under your tongue that anchors your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. The therapist wants me to take him to his doctor to have it evaluated. If the doctor considers it too short, she'll snip it. Ouch! Once that's done, or that possibility is at least ruled out, the therapist will know better where to begin with his therapy.

Jed has also had difficulty learning to read. Time after time, using different methods, I've hit a brick wall in his mind trying to teach him his letter sounds. In math and other areas he's brilliant, but reading is extremely hard. When I told the therapist, she said there's often a connection between speech problems and literacy problems. Sure enough, another evaluation revealed that he has difficulty with phonological awareness. For instance, she would have him say CAT, then ask him to say CAT without the K sound--AT. He couldn't do it. With about ten words he completely bombed out. Same with other similar tests. His poor little brain just doesn't get it. So apparently this is something they can help him with too. PRAISE THE LORD! I'm not just a bad homeschool mom! There's help and hope!