Elias’ Speech and Developmental Evaluation

Last week Thursday, we took Elias in to our county’s school board Pre-K disabilities program, for an evaluation. They evaluate him in all areas, including Speech and these other areas…

• Pre-Academic Skills: early learning skills such as matching, memory skills, counting and naming colors.
• Communication Skills: ability to understand spoken language, express wants and needs clearly, and follow directions.
• Social/Emotional Skills: interaction with peers and/or adults and the ability to follow directions.
• Adaptive or Self-Help Skills: toileting, dressing, feeding, and attending to tasks.
• Gross and Fine Motor Skills: large motor movements such as running, jumping, and skipping.
• Vision and Hearing: small motor movements such as cutting, drawing, and stringing beads.

We took Elias to another agency when he had just turned 2 because his speech was not clear, but everything he was doing, and saying was age appropriate. We decided to have him tested again, but now through the school board because if he qualified for services he would receive speech therapy, or any other necessary therapies at the school. So about 5 months ago, I called the school board to have him evaluated (they never called me back) because he was having a hard time adjusting to his new class back in September. He would get really emotional over certain situations, and cry uncontrollably, and have slurred and wet speech. Aside from those 2 things, he was good. He played well with friends, he was/still is very social and outgoing, and hitting all his correct milestones. It honestly took Elias, 2-3 months to 100% stop his crying spells, and be able to calm himself.

Fast forward to last month, his teacher brought up how much he’s improved. No more crying, he’s listening and following directions, he’s being a good friend and just overall a great kid who came a long way from how he was beginning of the year (around the time Laila was born). But asked if we ever got ahold of the speech therapist from the school board. I decided to call again because I never heard back from them from 5 months ago, and to my surprise, they answered and we had an appointment set for 4 weeks later.

This was the appointment I waited so long for, because I thought for sure he would meet the criteria to receive services, and he’d get the help he needs. Prior to the appointment, we had a LONG questionnaire to fill out, it asked so many questions about how he plays with friends, who can/cant understand him, how’s his sleep, when was he walking, crawling, sitting, etc. It even asked how my delivery was, and when his first words were. Let’s just say my mom brain was real, and I really had to put my thinking caps on. I have 4 kids….so thats 4 birthdates, 4 weights, 4 lengths to memorize…thankfully I did lol.

Once we got there, we were taken into a small room, with a little kid’s size table and chair for Elias, and chairs for my husband and I. They tested his hearing-Passed. Then his vision was tested-passed. They asked Elias so many questions, had him talking, they played games (which was all apart of their assessment to analyze his fine motor skills). They had him walking with one foot in front of the other, like he’s getting a DUI lol, and jump up and down on one foot, and he rocked it all. He literally scored perfectly in everything.

When it came to his speech, he was saying everything, he was super social, and straight up talking about his life with this lady. She noticed, when he slows down and annunciates his words, he sounds nasally and has a ton of saliva in his mouth, therefore, his speech is not clear, hence why no one can understand him and he’d get frustrated. He’s saying the correct things, and using the right words when he speaks, but its just not clear. She then asked us about his sleep, how is it? Elias used to wake up 1-2 times in the night, but we recently changed his mattress to Zinus he’s now sleeping much better and is rested when he wakes up, instead of grumpy. We also shared that he snores when he sleeps, and the one time he slept with us at night I noticed he would stop breathing, and then catch his breath. Right when we told her that, it’s like all the puzzle pieces fit. She told us to take him to his primary or ENT to get his tonsils and adenoids checked out. She said kids with enlarged adenoids have all the same signs and symptoms that Elias has, which ultimately affect their speech in the same way his is affected.

Next she had him repeat certain words after her, and certain sounds of the word he wouldn’t say in the beginning of the word, but would say at the end. And he would replace the B sound with a P sound, and replace the F sound with a B sound. So the word is “LEAF” he would say “weeb” If you look below, you will see that the letters he cant say are age appropriate and even appropriate for a 4 year old. So he’s doing much better than we thought.

Next steps:

Right now, our next steps are to 100% remove the pacifier at night time use, because his tongue is acting all crazy when he talks due to his extended pacifier use. (update: He’s on night 2 of no paci and he’s doing SO good). We also need to take him to his pediatrician to get a referral to an ENT to get his adenoids and tonsils checked out, and potentially having them removed. I’m hoping this is the solution to his speech problems (wet and nasally speech) and his snoring. And after all that, looking into a private speech therapist to then help him out with the annunciation of the words.

We are really hopeful all of this will help him out. As a mom, I’m really happy he’s developing perfectly, and doesn’t qualify for the services. But at the same time, I want to see him do better and get the help we feel that he needs. He’s such a smart, kind, and sensitive boy, I will do anything to continue being his advocate, and just sharing our journey throughout all of this.