Some developmental updates

Now that Cedar’s almost 3, I feel like I’m starting to see the “language explosion” that people talk about toddlers having. It’s gratifying because he has a pretty serious speech delay, and I was really starting to worry big time this summer. It seems like in the past month or so, Cedar’s been doing a lot more talking than he had been up to this point—which was not a lot… Are we anywhere near the normal range of what toddlers normally do? No way, but I’m seeing a ton of great progress, and am hoping this means that he’s starting to catch up.

What it looks like is I’m noticing him imitating more of what we say (or things he hears in songs or on TV), and starting to attempt bigger words (with more syllabication). Still miles from talking like a normal kid this age, but we are getting a lot more intelligible speech, and the beginnings of syntax (sentence formation). Once he makes the leap from single word utterances to phrases and sentences, I think he’ll take right off.

Clear through August, I’d say he probably had about 10-15 words max and was mostly using sign language. Most of his speech was restricted to one-syllable words, and often just a single phoneme (sound).

Towards the end of September, we started hearing a couple of 2-word noun phrases. Then in late September, he started counting from 1-10 (he doesn’t like to say “seven” so he says “eight” twice. He also added a few words.

Then in October, he was able to read along with the ABCs in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (he skips W and X—something about those letters doesn’t work for him). Towards the end of October, he was able to do it without any verbal prompting at all. And he started saying some of the things he was only signing before (although he still signs when he says them). He also added some new words.

Now in November, he is counting away (pointing out things in the environment that interest him), and has added 11-20 (although he skips a few when he gets over 10, but he clearly has the basic idea). He’s also approximating a lot more words (for things that he can see in the immediate environment), and if you read a familiar repetitive book, will often supply the missing word. He also is attempting to read a long with books he’s heard me read numerous times. He’s also pointing out numbers/letters that he sees in the environment, and starting to take notice of the clocks (and counts down with the microwave).

I’ve known for quite a while that he “knew” all this stuff—he was able to prove that when he was totally non-verbal by pointing, that he could identify colors/objects/numbers/letters, but it’s wonderful to hear him actually SAYING these things now. I’ve got an IFSP (IEP) meeting coming up next week, and there’s going to be a lot to talk about since a lot has changed since this summer. I’m hoping by continuing speech services, he’ll be able to catch up by the time he starts school, and his early lack of speech will no longer present so many barriers.