Early Intervention Evaluation

We had the Early Intervention evaluation done at our home last Wednesday but have not had a chance to post until now. Two therapists (a speech and a developmental therapist) came along with our Early Intervention coordinator that we had filled all our paperwork out with. They were two super nice and professional ladies who you can tell really enjoy what they do! I don't remember the exact wording they used for their results of the evaluation (we will get copies of it all in the mail soon), but the overall result is that Chun Le is functioning age appropriate in all areas except for speech/language. Not a surprise! They were quite impressed with how well she did with gross motor and she is even a bit advanced in her fine motor skills and her social interactions were normal for a two year old. :) Since she is still learning English in addition to the challenge of her cleft palate and lip that prevent her from making many/most consonant sounds correctly, she shows developmental delays in that area. They felt that she is at about a 14 month old age for language/speech development. They thought it was positive that she does so much gesturing and uses several signs correctly to communicate with us what she needs and that she tries to say the words that she is signing. The past couple of weeks we are noticing that she is trying to imitate things that we say or sounds that we make. If you hear what we say first, you can figure out what she is saying, but without that clue it would be difficult to understand her. Her words come out with the best vowel approximation that she can make due to the cleft palate. So we were recommended to receive speech therapy for her two times a week. Early Intervention of IL is in the process of getting this all setup right now and going through insurance, etc. Our coordinator thought they would know of our options for therapists in our area in about two weeks. That will be perfect timing so that Chun Le gets some recovery time after her lip revision surgery on Jan 31st. The speech therapist will be coming to our home to do the bi weekly sessions so that will be so convenient! Looking forward to learning things from the therapist so that we can continue to help our littlest girl grow in her language development!