Parenting Toddlers

My third toddler moved from toddler to preschooler the day before yesterday. Drew is quite proud to tell everyone she is now 4 years old and she goes to preschool. She wants to do almost everything herself because, she says, “I a big girl now!”

In most areas of toddlerhood, Drew was as typical as they come. She went through the age of 2 with all the tantrums 2s are infamous for throwing, she walked at 12 months, she was engaged in her world and scrambled to keep up with her older siblings. When Luke arrived shortly after Drew turned 2, she accepted him with open arms albeit a few moments of jealousy.

By the time Drew was a year old, my husband started making comments about her lack of babbling and other vocalizations that our other children had made. She wasn’t a totally silent baby and she was fine in all other areas so we decided to wait and see. By the time she was 15 months old, though, we both were concerned enough to seek our doctor’s opinion. He was concerned but convinced us to wait until she was 18 months old before seeking an evaluation through our county’s Early Intervention program.

I also called an acquaintance from church, who is a Speech-Language Pathologist, and asked for her thoughts. She agreed that Drew did sound as if she had some delays in oral motor skills and speech. She gave us some ideas for working with Drew and suggested that we get Drew evaluated around her 2nd birthday when the criteria changes, thus making it more likely for Drew to be accepted into the EI program.

At 22 months old, we decided to seek a private evaluation since our insurance would pay for it. Drew was diagnosed with a severe speech impairment. At 24 months old, the EI evaluators concurred and therapy began. Eventually it was determined that Drew likely has a phonological disorder. At the present time she is doing fine with speech, having “graduated” from speech therapy last June. We were told to be aware while she is learning to read because phonological disorders can affect the child’s ability to appropriately hear and understand letter sounds.

If you were to ask Drew, she is a big kid, too. She so much wants to keep up with her older siblings. She is also determined to be the baby in our family. Quite loudly in speech class one day last year, Drew announced, “I don’t like babies!” All the parents immediately turned to looked at me, and I had to explain her intense desire to be the baby in our family. Drew is fortunate that her Daddy and I are also determined to also keep her status as the youngest in our family.

As much as she wants to be the youngest, Drew is happy to have as many older siblings as we will allow and our house will hold. Some time by the end of this year or the beginning of next, we will gain two more members in our family, bringing us to six children. All of our Haitian born children have come or are coming to us as older children so we have truly only experienced three toddlers though we’ll soon have six children.

© Copyright 2007 Rebecca Wilson.  All Rights Reserved.
Used with permission.