One of the things that I have looked forward to since Lucas was born was for him to talk to me. At nearly 3 years old his vocabulary is that of maybe an 18 month old. It is difficult for him to communicate what he needs or wants. Mostly Lucas uses gestures to let us know what he is wanting. We use words with him, we read with him, we talk to him (not baby talk), we try to get him to say words back to us, but it isn't working well. With his hearing problems it's like he is hearing under water, everything is muffled so he talks as such if he does talk. Mostly all Lucas does is babble...yes at nearly 3 my son still talks like a baby. I would give anything to hear him speak clearly to have him tell me what he needs. So...I took him to be evaluated for speech therapy, and he was approved...under certain conditions. The speech pathologist believes Lucas has something called Apraxia which means that there's a miscommunication in his brain and it hinders him from speaking although he can understand clearly. He has a severe annunciation disorder. So as for now he will be set up for speech therapy for 2 days a week 30 minutes a session. Then when his pediatrician diagnoses him with Apraxia then he will go to 3 days a week. However, in August Lucas turns 3 so he will age out of the Child Program he was just accepted into. But they will help me and set me up so I can apply to put Lucas in preschool because of his needs.
Another thing the speech pathologist suggests is sign language. I have always been fascinated with signing. I just never thought I would have to learn to sign in order to communicate with my son. I never thought I would be on this road. I know God is in control therefore we will just work with this and pray God helps us.
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