Grandview
When Hadley was 18 months old I signed her up for a speech assessment program provided by the government at Grandview. It had a 9 month wait and after finally being assessed it was determined that she was pretty much right where she should be with her one word sentences. However, because we waited and went through the process, we were allowed to go into the 5 week program that shows different strategies to help kids learn to speak.
So over the past 5 weeks we attended a one hour session every Friday morning where we would learn new strategies and have play time with one on one advisors. I learned that Hadley sometimes needs to lead, we need to offer opportunities for turn taking, I needed to provide temptations so Hadley wants to communicate. As well, I needed to simplify my language, and finally I now need to repeat what she says and show her how to add a word. Over the past 5 weeks Hadley really learned to connect words. In fact she now has quite a few 3 and four word sentences up from her one word utterances.
We are also working on finishing words. Hadley has some words that I know what they are but others who don't talk with her everyday do not. An example of this is: Ahh, it is often used for off. When we show her that off has an F sound at the end, she will try it. We just have to have patience and continue to model words.
I am grateful for the program and feel good to know that Hadley is where she should be compared to others her age. They told me I should not be worried at all.
Sometime throughout the year they will contact me to re-asses Hadley to confirm she is continuing her speech growth at the appropriate level. I love free government programs!