From Diagnosis to Determination

My son was diagnosed four months ago. Expressive Language Disorder. Receptive Language Disorder. Speech Articulation Disorder. Each diagnosis felt like a bomb exploding in my heart. My vision of his easy, carefree childhood was gone. I was overwhelmed with grief.

So I cried, hard. I called my friends, hugged my husband, kissed my kids and ate about a pound of chocolate. In one weekend. And then I moved forward. I could cry, but that was not going to help him! He was only two so he sure couldn't help himself! It was my job as his Mom to generate a change in focus. I started looking around for info, and there was nothing out there! No one was discussing Language Development. I could find information about autism, aphasia, but nothing about what to do to help MY child. I realize there is no easy fix for language development, I realize every road is different and that's part of why it is so hard to uncover what you can do to help your own child.

I got him into a Speech and Language Pathologist twice a week. I asked her a million questions every chance I got, and diligently reported his developments at home. I watched her work with him, and started mimicking what she did as well as teaching my husband to do it also. I integrated "table time" where we sit and drill, or play a speech focused game everyday into our daily routine. We do vowel sounds when we brush our teeth. We practice hard consonant sounds in the car. It's become a lifestyle.

This blog will be about our experiences navigating Expressive Language Disorder. I know now how fortunate I am that is his most serious battle. I want to address the roadblocks and frustrations as well as all the small victories. I am going to talk about what I do with my son to improve his language skills. I will discuss how I advocate for him with SLP's, insurance co's etc. Nothing is off limits. I expect a long road, but I know I can help him.