A speech lesson

Here is something interesting I learned from last week's speech session. I asked Monica about Dominick dropping or substituting letters in words and whether that was normal. She said it's actually fairly normal, and she'd rather get him saying more words and worry about Dom's articulation later if it doesn't resolve itself. What's interesting is why he's substituting as he is. If you concentrate when you say a word, you notice that the sounds are made in different parts of the mouth. Some, like t, d, and b, come from up front, while others, like k, are made farther back. For someone who is just learning to talk, it's much easier to combine sounds that are made in the same area. That's what is happening when Dominick says "dat" instead of cat. Combinations of consonants are difficult, too, hence story becomes "so-ee" and truck becomes "guck." (But then so does duck. And don't ask me why Dom can say the m in the middle of mommy but not at the beginning. By the way, he's using "ommy" quite a bit. He came looking for me the other day, calling it out several times. And when I was gone the other night, Mike told me Dom said "ommy" every time a car went by. Awww!)

All this aside, Monica said that Dom's progress is excellent, especially in such a short time. She's seen kids for a very long time who have barely improved, so she said he is doing great. Even during our sessions, he's spontaneously saying words on a regular basis. He usually gets quieter toward the end, though that may be because we're working on some word cards, which are not his favorite activity.

I wish I could post sound recordings so you can hear Dom counting. It's hilarious. He counts from one to ten, and usually by about six he starts getting louder and less articulate. He likes to count along when I'm doing the brushing technique. Everything is done in tens, so it's perfect.

Tomorrow we start OT again for real. I will let you know how it goes. With any luck there won't be too much frantic crying involved.