Figured I had better call the folks over at infant & toddler services to get Oliver evaluated for speech. Personally I think Oliver is awesome and gaining both receptive and expressive language at a steady pace, but I'm usually wearing rosy colored mommy glasses and I don't really even know what a two year old should be chatting about. I know even less about what a 26 month old who was adopted 6 months ago from a foreign country should be chatting about. So I'll leave it to some experts. Currently in the midst of an intense game of phone tag with the scheduling coordinator.
The thing that I think is a bit odd is that they told me Oliver has to be 25% behind other adopted children, his age, to qualify for services. I just wonder why he can't be assessed against all other children his age. It's not like the class he ends up in at school is going to be filled with all internationally adopted children. Also, the woman who asked about Oliver commented on his age at adoption saying, "oh he was adopted older then most." Maybe? But I don't think I would consider a 20 month old as old. Then I get sad for all those "old" kids at the orphanage. 3, 5, 10, 15 year old kids need mommies just as much as 11 month old babes.
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Below you can find a few examples of Oliver trying to talk.
Play-Doh (as already told on facebook, sorry)
I've told Oliver so many times that Play-Doh is not food. I've told him so many times that he thinks the word for Play-Doh is "no food." The other day I'm in the kitchen washing something or cooking something or whatever and he comes in saying "no food open" "no food open" "no food open please" (in Oliver speak it sounds like "no foo opo peas") Once I figure out that he wants the play-doh open, I open it, hand it to him, put him in his chair, and he tries eating it.
Talking to himself
While I work on painting the ceiling (read yesterday's post) Oliver hangs out on the deck splashing around in a tub of water. It struck me this morning that he was being really chatty while splashing around. Not talking to me, just talking to/about the stuff around him. "wow big bug" he says about the dead cicada. "big bug sip" he says about giving the cicada a sip of water, more like dumping a watering can of water over it but if I correct him and say big bug shower he will start going nuts and want to take a shower. Big bug sip it is.
During this deck water time he also mentioned a few other things
-"no wawa insi" (inside)
-"more wawa peas"
-"hot grill, no!"
-"up high mama"
-"swim"
-"eat, food, nak peas"
We have also been working on identifying letters and singing the alphabet. Singing has gotten just about no where. It's kind of like when I love a song on the radio, but I just don't know all the words so I sing loudly the ones I know. Oh, don't act like you don't do it too. Anyway, that's what Oliver is like with the alphabet song. Starts out strong with AB, jumps back in with M, big excitement for SSSSSSSSSS, ends with W (dub-a-do), X, Y, ZZZZZZZZZZZ. He is a little better at recognizing the letters. About 90% of the time he is successful with; A, B, M, O, R, S, U, W, X, Y. For whatever reason he really favors the end of the alphabet.
The thing that I think is a bit odd is that they told me Oliver has to be 25% behind other adopted children, his age, to qualify for services. I just wonder why he can't be assessed against all other children his age. It's not like the class he ends up in at school is going to be filled with all internationally adopted children. Also, the woman who asked about Oliver commented on his age at adoption saying, "oh he was adopted older then most." Maybe? But I don't think I would consider a 20 month old as old. Then I get sad for all those "old" kids at the orphanage. 3, 5, 10, 15 year old kids need mommies just as much as 11 month old babes.
---------
Below you can find a few examples of Oliver trying to talk.
Play-Doh (as already told on facebook, sorry)
I've told Oliver so many times that Play-Doh is not food. I've told him so many times that he thinks the word for Play-Doh is "no food." The other day I'm in the kitchen washing something or cooking something or whatever and he comes in saying "no food open" "no food open" "no food open please" (in Oliver speak it sounds like "no foo opo peas") Once I figure out that he wants the play-doh open, I open it, hand it to him, put him in his chair, and he tries eating it.
Talking to himself
While I work on painting the ceiling (read yesterday's post) Oliver hangs out on the deck splashing around in a tub of water. It struck me this morning that he was being really chatty while splashing around. Not talking to me, just talking to/about the stuff around him. "wow big bug" he says about the dead cicada. "big bug sip" he says about giving the cicada a sip of water, more like dumping a watering can of water over it but if I correct him and say big bug shower he will start going nuts and want to take a shower. Big bug sip it is.
During this deck water time he also mentioned a few other things
-"no wawa insi" (inside)
-"more wawa peas"
-"hot grill, no!"
-"up high mama"
-"swim"
-"eat, food, nak peas"
We have also been working on identifying letters and singing the alphabet. Singing has gotten just about no where. It's kind of like when I love a song on the radio, but I just don't know all the words so I sing loudly the ones I know. Oh, don't act like you don't do it too. Anyway, that's what Oliver is like with the alphabet song. Starts out strong with AB, jumps back in with M, big excitement for SSSSSSSSSS, ends with W (dub-a-do), X, Y, ZZZZZZZZZZZ. He is a little better at recognizing the letters. About 90% of the time he is successful with; A, B, M, O, R, S, U, W, X, Y. For whatever reason he really favors the end of the alphabet.
Marina still tries to eat Play-Doh - and she's 3!! What is it about that stuff?? Sounds like Oliver is doing great - you are a super mommy!!
ReplyDeleteBTW, I believe that Playdoh IS edible - but don't tell that to Oliver. And it sounds like Oliver is doing GREAT. According to "the sources", a 2YO should have 50 word vocab and be putting 2 word "sentences" together. IT sounds like he is there. You don't have to worry about whether they are understood until age 3. I have an article that charts the results of a study of kids adopted from EEurope/Russia and notes that range of language acquisition depending on age of adoption. If you want/need it for reference, let me know.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could get all our kids together and let them "chat" with each other. It is so hard to know what is normal, what will get better over time and what is a problem. We took Charlie (3 in March, he's been home 6 months) to a speech eval. through Scottish Rite (Rite Care) a few weeks ago. He qualified for services (and they're FREE!). After 6 pages of typed findings, the therapist basically stated his comprehension is at a 4 year old level and his speech is at a 2 year old level. So, as you can imagine we have one frustrated little boy! I plan on blogging about this at length on the blog (fromrussiawithlove2009.blogspot.com) soon! I feel like I'm babbling on in this little comment square!
ReplyDeleteTrish, I think you're doing great and so is Oliver. I can understand your concern about his speech because you've never raised a 2-year old from Russia before, but it sounds like he's getting the idea and can communicate really well.
ReplyDeleteCertainly you should get him evaluated if that will give you some peace of mind, but remember that boys, in general, are a little slower at this stuff, and that it will probably all equal out in the end.