Cody's Speech

As the school year is coming to a close in a few months, so is our certification with CPSE. So Tish and I have been gearing up for this. Cody has made huge improvements in his speech - mastering the /f/ and /v/ sound. Tish tested him the other day and he only had 16 errors, testing age appropriate at a 4 year 1 month level. Exactly his age. Yeah. We feel based on this test score - he won't qualify for speech. That is why I am taking him to Syracuse on Monday for a speech evaluation with the team ST. Dr. Tatum told us once that if we can make Eileen happy then Cody is doing great. So we'll see what she says. She knows her stuff - so I am sure she will give us good advice. If she agrees with no more services at this time - I am OK with that. Cody after all has been seen by a speech therapist since he was 8 weeks old.

Tish asked my opinion of intelligibility with understanding Cody. I gave it a 95% of the time but I'm his Mom and that's my job to understand my kids when nobody else can. My sister said 90%. So I called Mrs. Testani (the pre-school teacher) and had a really nice talk with her. She said Cody is doing great and that she never has a hard time understanding him. She said he has mastered not only speech but is really excelling at everything he does. (good to hear). I told her my concerns with speech and she did give me the option of having Cody go to the school ST once a week for a speech class with other children. While that is a good thing to know about - my goal all along for Cody is not to have to be pulled out of school for special services. I had to when I was younger and really remember hating it. She asked if he would need more surgery (very common question as everyone thinks he won't ever have more) and I explained yes but I just don't know when. She said the cleft or his scars have never been mentioned by anyone is school. (also good to hear). I told her Cody and I had our first chat about it very recently. She just told me that if there was anything she could do - to let her know. I appreciated that!

So after talked with the teacher at school today - I had a moment to myself at work and just closed my eyes. It's been 4 years of so many wild emotions with Cody. A year ago even I wasn't ready to give up speech. I would be OK with it today. He is one tough little boy and has gone through a lot. Tish comes twice a week and he never puts up a battle - just goes with her to "practice his words".............. Thank you Tish - you have no idea what you have done for me and for Cody. And Dylan and Tyler for that matter as she never turned her cheek to Dylan when they were young - she just included Dylan. Now she is helping Tyler over come his speech hurtles. I will update Monday after seeing Eileen.