"There are four pictures on this page..."

Hannah recently had her Language/Speech Assessment on January 9, 2013 where Hannah met her speech therapist, who she loved, and I had the privilege of sitting in on the session and I observed Hannah as her language skills were evaluated.  Two areas were evaluated, how much language she is able to understand, and how well she is able to communicate.  We were unable to complete the evaluation in one session as Hannah got frustrated with certain questions she didn't understand and decided to give up participation.  Her attention and behavior were rewarded with adding pieces to multiple Mr. Potato Heads, which she enjoyed, however, as the questions got more complex, Mr. Potato Head was not enough of a reward to desire to participate any longer.  Hannah would then slouch in her chair and respond, "I can't".

Hannah answered questions about pictures on pages.  There were stories that went along with the pictures, for example, Ms. Minda, her therapist, would say something like, "There are four pictures on this page, a bike, a book, a crayon, and a flower.  Amber fell off of one of these and hurt her knee.  Which toy was Amber playing with when she hurt her knee?"  Hannah successfully pointed to the bike and got it right.   Hannah struggled with instructions to find the child with the shortest pair of pants, while she looked at a photo of three children standing with different lengths of pants.  Hannah also struggled with picking out a kitten "that was not black" on a page with pictures of kittens that were different colors.  Instead, she pointed to a black kitten.  The area where Hannah got the most frustrated was the exercise which required her to pick, out of four pictures on the page, which object was different from all of the rest.  She would stare at the picture, think for a while, and then slouch in her chair and say, "I can't".  Minda asked me if she was tired or frustrated, and I could tell Hannah was frustrated with the situation by her body language, so I told Minda that Hannah was frustrated.  It was about that time we had been in there around an hour and we decided to stop and pick up again the next week on January 14, 2013.  John took her to that appointment and reported that she did wonderfully.  Based upon her scores it was determined that Hannah would definitely benefit from participating in Speech Therapy.   Hannah was a little low on reception, we need to do a hearing test to rule out any possibility of hearing issues, she was a baby who had a lot of inner ear infections, and there is a chance there could have been some damage as a result. Hannah also scored a little low in her ability communicate to others as well.  Hannah, rather than using full sentences as her responses to questions, spoke in one word responses.  It was recommended that Hannah receive Speech Therapy weekly.   

It is hard to think about your child needing some extra help in different areas.  I can't help but wonder how she will feel about the conversations we will have when she is older about the assistance she needed in her speech development, while there is nothing to be ashamed of, people don't always feel that way, society doesn't always communicate that, and I make it a prayer that Hannah is never upset that she needed some help, but instead sees the blessing of the results. I also pray for positive results, that she continues to develop in her thoughts and words.  When I think about the anxiety of making sure we get the appointments she needs, helping her succeed any way we can, thinking about the monetary toll of attending speech therapy, copays and allowed number of visits, those things begin to float to the back of my mind when I think about the conversation portion in general.   The thought that down the road I could hear Hannah clearly communicate what is on her mind and in her heart excites me.  I won't always agree with what comes out of her mouth and I will even have to discipline her for some of it I am sure; however, I want to really hear Hannah.  I want to really hear what she has to say.  I believe all of this will be documented in my "Hannah's Superhero Handbook" where,one day, we will look back and remember how brave and insightful Hannah is,  as well as how capable.