back to square one

Well, Logan didn't qualify for the preschool. I was quite surprised by that. He does qualify for speech therapy (which is nice--the school's about 6 blocks from home) and we will add that to the private speech he already gets. MORE speech therapy won't hurt him! But his fine motor skills are within the range of normal, and because his language delay is so severe they don't think putting him in a special needs preschool with language delayed students is a good idea. Their recommendation was for Logan to attend a private preschool with "typically developing" preschoolers. (Oh, how I HATE politically correct terminology!!)

They tested his receptive and expressive language skills and made their recommendation based on the results. His expressive language (the words he says) tested in the 1st percentile. Based on the results they shared, I would guess that puts him at about the 24 month level. I was surprised by that--while his speech is NOT clear, he communicates way better than the students in my preschool class, who are that age! I know that some of it is truly a speech issue. He couldn't label scissors when asked. Well, he can't say the word! But he knows what they are, knows what they do, knows where to find them in the house, and can ask for them appropriately if he needs them. The word he uses just doesn't sound anything like scissors. Also, when showed a picture of a cat, he called it a "meow." Okay by me--I know that meow sounds much like the Chinese word for cat so we've never corrected him on that one. Not a huge worry. He can use all the speech and vocabulary help he can get so we'll go see Miss Mary once or twice a week. The part of the testing that blew me away, though, was the receptive language. Receptive language measures how much he understands. I would have guessed that Logan's receptive language was about the 36 month mark. That's pretty good for 9 months in the states, and we would be fine with that. But I was SO surprised! His receptive language tested in at 54 months, or 4 years 4 months, which is his current age!! Apparently our little sponge is soaking up WAY more than we thought. Just proves what we've always felt--that there's a very bright little mind inside our sweet boy, one that just needs more help unlocking the words and the speech so he can tell us clearly what's on his mind.

So we're back to square one. In many ways I'm relieved and thankful. Relieved because I don't have to rearrange our lives to accommodate the special needs preschool. Thankful because I've seen so clearly that God is leading here. We've investigated preschools and different options for Logan, and God has clearly closed the door on many/most choices. It's what I needed to see. For next year, the boys will probably be home with me again, doing our normal routine of life. And when I need a break, I'll take one! : )

Our next step is his hearing, again. We see the audiologist and the ENT on March 11. I truly believe that the eartubes have done nothing for him, and that he'll fail yet another hearing test. That's okay by me! Let's move forward and get this guy some hearing! I suspect that once we do, his language will take off. Then, watch out world...