Speech Evaluation Checkup
My son had his 3-month "checkup" from Early Intervention. We reviewed all the goals we set out 3 months ago, and while there's progress, none of the goals have been achieved yet.
It's difficult to describe the pain a mom feels when her son is 29 months old, and has yet to say "Mama". Most children are saying "mama" and "dada" at about 12 months old. When I take my son to playgroups, I see little 14 month olds crying for their mothers with wails of "Mommeeeeeeeee!" and my heart just breaks. Why did my son have to go through all the pain of his surgery? I always feel like I should have done more to get him over his oral trauma from his hernia. I feel like I should have tried harder and longer to breastfeed him, so his mouth muscles would have developed at a normal pace instead of this terrible underdevelopment. I wish I could take all these problems and bear the burden myself, so he doesn't have to go through this.
And there's a selfish element too. I want my son to run up to me saying "Mommy!" instead of a nondescript grunt. I'm frustrated at my inability to communicate with my son, and I've begun to learn sign language in earnest, so I can actually "talk" to him.
Difficult as this is for me, I'm continually stepping back and reminding myself of one simple truth: if it's this frustrating for me, just think how frustrating it is for him. No wonder he's having meltdowns. All he wants are some grapes from the fridge, and he can't tell me that. All he can do is point and grunt out a nondescript "ehhhh ehhhhh". He'll make the sign for food, and I'll give him something to eat. But he'll get upset, shake his head, and throw the food. Then he'll point to the fridge and make the sign for food again, with a lot less patience. it's obvious he has a specific food in mind, but his frustration at his inability to articulate *which* food he wants causes a complete meltdown in the kitchen. I'm not a psychic, so I'm busy trying to figure out which food he wants before I'm stomping on the kitchen floor wailing in frustration too!
It's difficult to describe the pain a mom feels when her son is 29 months old, and has yet to say "Mama". Most children are saying "mama" and "dada" at about 12 months old. When I take my son to playgroups, I see little 14 month olds crying for their mothers with wails of "Mommeeeeeeeee!" and my heart just breaks. Why did my son have to go through all the pain of his surgery? I always feel like I should have done more to get him over his oral trauma from his hernia. I feel like I should have tried harder and longer to breastfeed him, so his mouth muscles would have developed at a normal pace instead of this terrible underdevelopment. I wish I could take all these problems and bear the burden myself, so he doesn't have to go through this.
And there's a selfish element too. I want my son to run up to me saying "Mommy!" instead of a nondescript grunt. I'm frustrated at my inability to communicate with my son, and I've begun to learn sign language in earnest, so I can actually "talk" to him.
Difficult as this is for me, I'm continually stepping back and reminding myself of one simple truth: if it's this frustrating for me, just think how frustrating it is for him. No wonder he's having meltdowns. All he wants are some grapes from the fridge, and he can't tell me that. All he can do is point and grunt out a nondescript "ehhhh ehhhhh". He'll make the sign for food, and I'll give him something to eat. But he'll get upset, shake his head, and throw the food. Then he'll point to the fridge and make the sign for food again, with a lot less patience. it's obvious he has a specific food in mind, but his frustration at his inability to articulate *which* food he wants causes a complete meltdown in the kitchen. I'm not a psychic, so I'm busy trying to figure out which food he wants before I'm stomping on the kitchen floor wailing in frustration too!
posted by Mama Padawan | 8:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home