Speech

This is one of the follow up posts from my 'Ringing in the New Year' post. And just to clarify...there will NOT be a pregnancy announcement. Sorry to disappoint. That is not what I was alluding to AT ALL! 

My reference to Hannah's attempt to say "baby" being music to my ears, is just that. Music to my ears. Why? Because she has a speech delay. Which at 17 months equates to basically NOT talking. So hearing her try to talk...it was magical. And blog worthy. Even if her "baby" came out sounding like "ba-ba". I will take it. 

Speech delay at 17 months! What?! How can that be? She's just a baby. She will talk when she's a little older. She is just a late talker. She's a third child. She doesn't need to talk yet. It's normal. 

Yes. Yes. I have heard all of those things. And I agree with many of them. She is one smart cookie and behaves like a completely normal, happy toddler. Except she doesn't talk. Which wouldn't be all that bad except she screams. 

She screams A LOT. It's her form of communication. And it's effective most of the time. Especially with her siblings. However the endless high pitch screaming is driving me bonkers. And I don't say that lightly. It makes me feel like I live in a mad house. I love my third child fiercely but her screaming is wearing at me. It makes me an impatient, sometimes unkind mother. I just need less screaming. I need my sanity back. 

Admittedly, when our pediatrician recommended speech therapy at her last well baby visit, I thought it was maybe a little ridiculous and unnecessary for such a young toddler. However by the time Hannah had her speech evaluation with the therapist (the day we left for Minnesota/Mexico) and the therapist offered me advice on how to help Hannah to learn to communicate without screaming, I cried. Tears of relief. I felt hopeful. And joy. It seemed possible that I wouldn't be living in a mad house anymore. There was hope. Someone was going to help us. 

So this month Hannah is starting speech therapy. Once a week in our home. And I couldn't be more excited! She needs it. We need it. It's going to be good. It already has been good. The last couple weeks we have been following the speech therapist's advice and I have already seen improvements. She signs more and screams less. 

So here's to 2014! The year with less screaming and more talking!